Olafsson and Bychkov after performing Beethoven's Op. 73 piano concerto. Usually known as either the fifth concerto or the Emperor concerto.
Program
Coriolan Overture in C minor, Op. 62 by Beethoven.
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in E-flat major, Op. 73 by Beethoven.
Symphony No. 5 D minor, Op. 47 by Shostakovich.
We bought tickets for Berlin Philharmonic and Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin for the off days during the Ring cycle. Of course both organizations are well-known in their own right.
We heard a concert in this hall back in 2019, and Blomstedt was conducting. At that time he was still doing his conducting standing up; in the last couple of weeks he was in the news for needing a lot of help getting on and off the podium. Time comes for us all.
Looking back over that blog entry, I also remarked how the acoustics didn't live up to the venue's reputation. Our seats were in Section B, quite a bit more expensive than ours today in Section D. However, my first reaction was how great the sound was. Clear, "true," and rich. (I don't have the vocabulary of a sound technician.)
Per my blog, this was the third time I heard the Coriolan Overture. My reaction is the same as on prior occasions: not familiar, yet definitely Beethoven. But the clear sound of the orchestra came through.
After the Coriolan overture by Beethoven. The piano (a Steinway) is already set up on stage.
That the acoustics was great was confirmed by the piano concerto. For a real performance, the balance between the soloist and the orchestra is always a challenge. Perhaps it's our seat location, but that wasn't an issue at all today. Neither "side" overwhelmed the other, a close to perfect balance.
It may not have been the best Emperor concerto I have heard, and I have heard many, but the performance by Tsujii with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, back in 2014, always stand out. That was a great performance, but I was also moved by how difficult it must have been for a blind person to get the piece right. Olafsson delivered the piece without any fuss, clearly enjoying himself while doing so. I often joke that Beethoven's violin concerto shows how a genius can string together a series of scales, arpeggios, and other standard violin techniques to form beautiful music; I sometimes wonder if a pianist would say similar things about the Emperor concerto.
Olafsson played an encore based on Bach's Air on G String written for the violin. He joked that he would be using many strings.
Per Google.
After the intermission we heard Shostakovich's Fifth. I remain baffled by the piece, but I am also glad to report that it begins to make some sense. What's most noticeable, though, was how clear the parts sounded.
I had written about this piece several times before. Some of the blog entries actually made sense, I am glad to report. In any case, the four movements are simply marked Moderato, Allegretto, Largo and Allegro no troppo. It's about 45 minutes long.
We have operas and concerts every day for six days, so I am falling behind in these entries, and thus must keep them brief. And if I didn't write any remark down right afterwards, then I can remember only the vaguest details.
The ticket, at 51 euros, was a great bargain. The concert began close to 8 pm, and didn't end until 10:15 pm. I wonder if Berlin Phil would move to a 7:30 pm start time soon.
The acoustics at our seats in the D-section was excellent.
The Philharmonie is a short walk from our hotel, so we didn't have any of the transportation issues we experienced last time.
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