Category: Music

Borodin String Quartet At The Wigmore Hall, 13 November 2001

I thought Janie might like string quartets and thought that this programme might please her:

  • Dmitri Shostakovich – String Quartet No 9 in E flat major Op 117
  • Ludwig van Beethoven – String Quartet in E flat major Op 74 “Harp”

Possibly a Tuesday evening after a long day of work was not the ideal testing ground for my assumption.

But I also think that this sort of string quartet is not much to Janie’s taste on any occasion.

Still, Janie says it is always good to relax and listen to music at The Wig, even if the music would not be one’s first choice.

Here’s a recording of the Novus String Quartet playing the Shostakovich:

And here is the Alban Berg quartet playing the Beethoven one:

Droopy Drawers Of Schubert & Bruckner At The Barbican Hall, 4 November 2001

In bingo parlance, m’lud, “droopy drawers” stands for 44 – all the fours. This concert was playing on the fact that it was utterly focussed on fourth symphonies:

  • Franz Schubert – Symphony No 4 in C minor “Tragic”
  • Anton Bruckner – Symphony No 4 in E flat major “Romantic”

The London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mariss Jansons played the tunes.

Here is a video recording of Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo under Nathalie Stutzmann playing the Schubert.

While here is the London Symphony Orchestra, under Haitink rather than Jansons, playing the Bruckner 4:

It was even the 4th of November, the evening of that concert, so it really was an evening of:

Diana Dors – all the fours.

Ciaccona, Wigmore Hall, 28 October 2001

Good gig this, at the end of a culture vulture week – two visits to the theatre Friday and Saturday, then this concert at The Wig on the Sunday.

We heard:

  • Johann Sebastian Bach – Cantata BWV 82 “Ich Habe Genug”
  • Johann Sebastian Bach – Concerto in C for two harpsicords, BWV 1061
  • Johann Sebastian Bach – Concerto for Oboe d’Amore BWV 1055 (also transcribed Harpsicord)
  • Johann Sebastian Bach – Cantata “Non sa che sia dolore” BWV 209

Ciaccona were very good.

I cannot find Ciaccona performances on-line. But here are some decent substitutes if you want to hear the programme.

Ich habe Genug is normally sung by a baritone, but here is a soprano singing it – albeit not Julia Gooding:

Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Ton Koopman, Wigmore Hall, 13 October 2001

This might have been the first time we saw Ton Koopman lead the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra. Decades later, we helped Ton celebrate his 80th birthday.

Ton Koopman 80th Birthday Celebration, Soloists of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Wigmore Hall, 29 November 2024

Excellent they were too, both in 2024 and in 2001.

In 2001 we saw/heard:

  • Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber – Battalia
  • Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer – Concerto No 2 in B flat major
  • Antonio Lucio Vivaldi – Concerto in B minor for four violins, cello and strings Op 3 No 10 (RV580)
  • Carlo Farina – Capriccio Stravagante
  • Johann Sebastian Bach – Brandenburg Concerto No 3 in G Major BWV 1048
  • Johann Sebastian Bach – Brandenburg Concerto No 5 in D Major BWV 1050

Here is the andante from the Wassenaer:

I cannot find a recording of Koopman’s lot doing the Farina, as it were, but this Irish interpretation is rather jolly:

The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra under Ton Koopman did most of their recording of this type of stuff in the late 1980s. Here’s an example of their Brandenburg Concerto performances:

Schubert & Bruckner At The Proms: Saying Goodbye To That “Magic Wand” Conductor, 24 August 2001

This was the seventh and last time that I saw the great, nominatively determined conductor, Günter Wand, perform. It was his last Prom and one of his very last performances.

We heard:

  • Franz Schubert – Symphony No. 8 in B minor, ‘Unfinished’
  • Anton Bruckner- Symphony No. 9 in D minor

Here is the BBC Prom stub for this concert.

I’m not certain that Janie and/or the Duchess were as awe-struck by this event as I was. We’d actually made one or two failed attempts to see Gunter perform Bruckner in the preceding years, which meant that I was especially delighted that he was well enough to attend and perform the advertised programme that night.

Wand’s touring that summer and autumn with the NDR Symphony Orchestra (now known as the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra) was his last hurrah. This link, and the following embed, is their performance of the Bruckner, a few week’s before our Prom, at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival in Lübeck.

Returning to our Prom, it gathered rave reviews.

Here’s a link to the one in Classicalsource.com

This obituary piece from music-web-international also contains a review of the 24 August 2001 concert.

Coincidentally, trawling my log, my first encounter with Günter Wand, in November 1986, included the same Bruckner Symphony in the programme. I have a private recording of the 1986 concert, made in rudimentary fashion by setting the 1980s gizmondry to record while I was out!

Now I have found the formal 2001 recording in the public domain, I must make the time to listen to both recordings and see if I can sense Gunter’s journey with that astonishing but unfinished piece.

I was trying to think of something profound to say, to conclude this Ogblog piece. But given the two unfinished symphonies that were performed that evening, surely it is more fitting for me to…

The Proms – Sir Colin Davis & The European Union Youth Orchestra Doing Tchaikovsky & Elgar, 5 August 2001

The first of two visits to the Proms with The Duchess that season.

We heard:

  • Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 4 in F minor
  • Elgar – Symphony No. 1 in A flat major
  • Dvořák – Slavonic Dances, Op 46 No. 1 in C major (encore)

Here is a link to the BBC stub for this concert.

The Duchess was always partial to a youth orchestra, so Sir Colin Davis conducting the European lot was bound to be a good choice for her.

I have always been partial to Tchaikovsky’s 4th symphony and don’t mind admitting it. It’s the classical/romantic music equivalent of admitting to liking Mr Blue Sky by ELO. Almost everyone likes it really but only some of us are brave enough to admit to that guilty pleasure.

Here is a video of an antipodean youth orchestra belting out the finale of Tchaikovsky’s 4th.

Janie tends to find Elgar a bit heavy-handed and frankly I find it hard to disagree with that, although he doesn’t displease me as much as he seems to displease Janie.

Here’s the BBC Symphony Orchestra doing the Elgar a few years later at The Proms:

Daniel Hope & Friends, Wigmore Hall, 16 April 2001

I think I booked this one because of the Weill/Brecht. I really like the songs from The Threepenny Opera and you don’t often see them on the Wigmore Hall listings. Janie likes a bit of Shostakovich, so we thought we’d give it a try.

The concert comprised:

  • Alfred Schnittke – Sonata No 1 for Violin and Piano
  • Dmitri Shostakovich – Sonata for Violin and Piano Op 134
  • Maurice Ravel  – Kaddish
  • William Walton – Sonata for Violin and Piano
  • Kurt Weill, Simon Mulligan & Bertolt Brecht – Songs from “The Threepenny Opera”

In truth, I think this concert convinced us that 20th century music, on the whole, is not for us.

Here’s the first movement of the Schnittke, to give you an idea:

Try the last movement of the Shostakovich

I do recall rather liking the Kaddish, which I hadn’t heard before:

Here’s the first movement of the Walton:

Finally, here is a link to a more recent recording by David Frühwirth & Henri Sigfridsson, which I think is a similar sound to that of Hope & Mulligan doing the Threepenny Opera thing, although I think Hope and Mulligan were a bit more jazzy.

Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Wigmore Hall, 30 March 2001

Janie and I were partial to the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and also we are Telemaniacs, so this concert was an obvious one to book, even coming so soon after another delicious-looking Baroque concert on the preceding Sunday.

We were not disapointed.

We heard:

  • Georg Philipp Telemann – Volker Ouverture in B flat major TWV55:B5
  • Johann Sebastian Bach – Harpsicord Concerto in D minor BWV1052
  • Antonio Lucio Vivaldi – Concerto Grosso in A minor Op 3 No 8 RV522
  • Georg Philipp Telemann – Ouverture La Bizarre in G major TWV55:G2

Below are some good embeds of the above pieces:

The Musicke Companye, Wigmore Hall, 25 March 2001

I sense that this particular collection of musicians under this particular “olde worlde nayme” did not last long, despite the plaudits.

But what a lovely concert. Sunday evening bliss.

  • Alessandro Scarlatti – Motet “Salve Regina” in F minor for soprano, alto, strings and continuo
  • Antonio Lucio Vivaldi – Concerto in G minor RV 416 for cello, strings and continuo
  • Domenico Scarlatti – Motet “Salve Regina” for soprano, alto and continuo
  • Giovanni Battista Pergolesi – Motet “Stabat Mater” for soprano, alto, strings and continuo
  • Johann Sebastian Bach – Concerto for Oboe d’Amore BWV 1055 (also transcribed Harpsicord)

I have replicated the gig below with some excellent versions in YouTube embeds.

Real Millennium Concert, Florilegium & Emma Kirkby, Wigmore Hall, 31 December 2000

Unusually, this was an afternoon, not an evening concert. It had a very geeky name for a very beautiful concert.

Technically speaking – geeky people took great pains to point out when we all celebrated the new millennium on 31 December 1999 – as there had not been a year zero – the real millennium must be 31 December 2000. The fact that calendars had changed, days added and all sorts was put to one side for those who wanted to celebrate the new millennium on 31 December 2000.

Janie and I just wanted to see this lovely concert and we were not disappointed. We were very keen on Florilegium and Emma Kirkby and the programme was enticing:

  • Antonio Lucio Vivaldi – Flute Concerto “La Notte” in G minor Op 10 No 2
  • Johann Sebastian Bach – Susser Trost, mein Jesus kommt from Cantata BWV 151
  • Arcangelo Corelli – Trio Sonata in D major Op 1 No 12
  • Giovanni Battista Pergolesi – Salve Regina in C minor
  • George Frideric Handel – Sweet Bird from L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato
  • Henry Purcell – The Fatal Hour Comes On Apace
  • Henry Purcell – Music for a While
  • Henry Purcell – Suite from The Fairy Queen

Here is a nice vid of James Galway with the Ventian Soloisti under Claudio Scimoni playing La Notte:

Here’s Maria Keohane singing Susser Trost – very Christmassy it sounds to me:

Here is the start of the Pergolesi Salve Regina performed by Florilegium, with Robin Blaze, not with Emma Kirkby. I love this album, which I think I bought at that time – possibly that very night.

Here’s a link to the whole album on YouTube Music.

Here’s Emma Kirkby singing Sweet Bird, with the Academy for Ancient Music under Christopher Hogwood – then Music For A While.

Oh boy, can she sing.

I don’t think Florilegium and Emma Kirkby have ever recorded together, so you’ll just need to take our word for it that the combination for the real millennium was the real deal…

…or, as we put it in my log:

Super.