Sunday, January 28, 2007

NHK Symphony with Denyce Graves

NHK Symphony
NHK Hall
January 27
Charles Dutoit

Charles Dutoit seems to be a reliable conductor - particularly of French music, although he did a fantastic job with a big Tan Dun piece a couple years back. This concert began with the Mozart 35th symphony (Haffner), and I ask again why they bother playing things like this. What can be possibly added to what has already been heard repeatedly of these Mozart and Haydn symphonies? This was followed by Berlioz's "La mort de Cléopâtre" with Denyce Graves. She looks wonderful and sounds wonderful except a couple grainy high notes. Her medium range is rich and full and filled the house effortlessly. Unfortunately I don't find it a very interesting piece as I've never had much time for old Hector.

But after the intermission she returned to sing the old chestnut "Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix" from "Samson et Dalila", and it was splendid, including the ending high note. I was hoping for an encore, but alas. The program ended with Saint-Saëns' Symphony No. 3, an old favorite of mine, and it was performed admirably. The orchestra sounded great, the organ in NHK hall seems well designed for the space, and Mons. Dutoit led and shaped with panache and elan.

posted by Larry Wells @ 6:39 PM 0 comments

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Mahler 9th - Japan Philharmonic

Japan Philharmonic - Mahler 9th
Conducted by Ken-ichiro Kobayashi
Suntory Hall - 25 January

After his spectacular Mahler's 3rd a year ago, I was looking forward to this. The whole performance, however, was an exercise in playing the notes without much emotional content. He conducted without a score - showing off? Someone told me it was his first Mahler 9th - so using the score might not have been a bad idea. But, there will be two opportunities to hear other Tokyo orchestras do Mahler's 9th next month. What other city in the world would have that much conflict of interest? (Perhaps it's because this symphony is just about 100 years old.) In essence it was $60 down the tubes for a mediocre performance. C'est la vie.

posted by Larry Wells @ 9:35 PM 0 comments