New York Philharmonic. Jaap van Zweden, conductor; Antoine Tamestit, viola. May 23, 2024.

David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center.  Tier 2 (Seat CC03, $85).

Program

Concerto for Viola and Orchestra (1996, rev. 1998) by Sofia Gubaidulina (b. 1931).

Requiem, K. 626 (1791, completed by F.X. Sussmayr) by Mozart (1756-91).

Ave Verum Corpus, K.618 (1791) by Mozart.

Tamestit at the end of the viola concerto, with van Zweden looking on.  One can see in the front NY Phil's principal bass as part of the quartet.

A digital organ was evidently used in the concert.  One would think an organization such as NY Phil would have a "real" organ installed (even if most people can't tell the difference).  It's is the only major auditorium I've been to without a pipe organ.

Artists

Amanda Forsythe, soprano; Cecelia Hall, mezzo-soprano; Nicholas Phan, tenor; Michael Sumuel, Bass-Baritone

Musica Sacra, chorus; Kent Trittle, director. 

The New York Philharmonic's last concerts of the season constitute to a farewell to van Zweden, who will leave after the conclusion of this season.  We have tickets to the last three concerts for the "occasion."

Gubaidulina is a Russian composer who now lives near Hamburg, Germany.  Shostakovich was quoted as encouraging her to "... continue along your mistaken path," something she has carried "close to her heart."  Of course many would argue that Shostakovich chose his own mistaken path also.

This viola concerto has many interesting aspects to it.  Very noticeable is the large orchestra, and the myriad of instruments used, including the Wagner tuba, finger cymbals, piano, celesta, and an amplified harpsichord.  There is also a quartet comprising the principal players of the violin, viola, cello, and bass sections with instruments tuned a quarter-tone lower.  The piece itself is quite long (ca. 32 minutes per the Program Notes), without any distinct movements.  The violists get to play most of the time - there are only two extended passages the violist gets a break.

This must be one of the more interesting viola concertos around, and satisfying for the violists who can pull it off.  There are so many passages played in the high registers that even I could hear the notes clearly.  It is somewhat unfortunate that Tamestit had a bit of intonation problems at the top end of the fingerboard.  The harmonics, however, were well executed.  There were a couple of themes - a la Shostakovich - that were easy enough to pick out, and they provided some continuity for me.  The differently-tuned quartet was quite visible, but I simply couldn't tell how its playing affected the music.  Perhaps things would sound "sunnier" if their instruments were tuned "properly?"  If A were set at 440 Hz, then G# would be 415.3 Hz, so would the "lower" A be tuned to 427.65 Hz?  And would that drive someone with perfect pitch crazy?  During my best days as a violinist I could tell if the pitch was slightly off (never measured it, but much less than a quarter-tone, I am sure).

With modern compositions I often complain they are too long, usually after 10 minutes as I feel the composers had by that time exhausted all their ideas.  Not this one, I stayed with it for most of the 32 minutes.  Sitting in Tier 1, I could see the percussionist hitting the fourth drum of the timpani set, which was usually in the domain of the timpanist.  At one point, when I felt the the composer had run out of things to say, she kept it interesting by added an extended del segno passage for the orchestra.  (Well, sometimes I feel Schubert's Great Symphony is too long.)

Before Tamestit played an encore, he mentioned he met with Gubaidulina and the experience was like talking to one's grandmother (she will turn 93 later this year).  He probably explained how that led to the encore piece (he?) constructed out of Ukrainian melodies with some Bach thrown in.  It was an enjoyable piece.

Ken Trittle has been NY Phil's organist for a long time.  Today he figured prominently in the program, mostly through the ensemble Musica Sacra, and his role at the organ for the Ave Verum Corpus.

It is well-known that Mozart's Requiem was a commission by an anonymous wealthy patron, widely believed to be Count Walsegg.  It was to be used at the anniversary of the Count's wife, who died at age 20.  Mozart finished a few sections, sketched out a few, and didn't do much work on the rest.  Many people (even today) have attempted to complete the work, although the most widely performed version is that by his student Sussmyer.

I jot down from the Program Notes what Mozart did before he passed away: Introit, Kyrie, and Sequence (through the beginning of Lacrimosa).  Sussmyr composed the Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei (partially drawing on ideas Mozart had shared with him).  For the Communion, Mozart's Introit and Kyrie were reused.

Ave Verum Corpus was composed in June, 1791, and describes Christ's death on the cross.

This was the first time I sat in the Second Tier of the renovated auditorium (it's been a few years), and I must say the acoustics were quite excellent.  The chorus's singing was great, and the soloists came through with their lines.

The Ave Verum Corpus was performed right after the Requiem.  Standing next to van Zweden are Sumuel, Phan, Hall, Forsythe, and Trittle.

Anne couldn't make this event due to her recent surgery, so I dropped her off at Ellie's place before taking public transportation to Lincoln Center.

Recital. Geneva Lewis, violin; Evren Ozel, piano. May 5, 2024.

Town Hall, NYC.  Orchestra (Seat N117, $15.45).

Program

Sonata for Violin and Piano in G Major, Op. 78 (1879) by Brahms (1833-1897).

Out of Doors, Sz. 81 (1926) by Bartok (1881-1945).

Sonata for Violin and Piano, Op. 7 (1997) by Fazil Say (b. 1970).

Per the Program, both Lewis and Ozel are up and coming musicians.  They were recent Avery Fisher Grant winners, which put them in great company.

I have loved the Brahms G Major sonata since I studied it in high school.  It was the first "complete" work I played, with a conservatory student playing the piano.  I still remember my mother - not a great fan of classical music - telling me how nice the melody sounded.

Lewis explained this as a work expressing Brahms's love for Clara Schumann.  Their relationship is also a mysterious and possibly sad one.  However, by the time the sonata was finished, Robert Schumann had been dead for over 20 years, and Brahms and Clara probably had parted ways (permanently) by then.  Thus I find it unlikely Clara Schumann commented on it the way Lewis described it: that she would want the third movement to accompany her to the next life.  Makes for an wistful story, though; and certainly more intriguing than simply calling that movement "raindrop."

All that aside, it was an enjoyable performance.  My only "wish" would be for a louder violin.

Bartok's piece "Out of Doors" was for piano only.  And it was Ozel's turn to talk about it before the performance.  With his reputation of being an ethnomusicologist, it's no surprise that there were considerable folk elements in the Bartok piano suite.  Ozel gave a brief description of each of the movements.  I.  With Drums and Pipes - Pesante, just as the title suggests; II. Barcarolla - Andante, boatman's song; III. Musettes - Moderato, (I forget); IV.  The Night's Muse - Lento - Un poco piu andante, what you expect to hear at night; V.  The Chase - Presto, galloping horses.  That helped considerably with my appreciation of how the music progressed.

Ozel also described how he heard and fell in love with Say's sonata at a very young age, and that he asked the piece be put into today's program.  The names of the movement certainly correlated well with how the music sounded, and Ozel described it as a romp (my word) through the Anatolian landscape.  Since I have never been to that part of Turkey (not completely true as I did visit some cities once), I will have to take his word for it.  The movements are: I.  Melancholy - Andante mysterioso, II.  Grotesque - Moderato scherzando;  III. Perpetuum Mobile - Presto; IV.  Anonymous - Andante; and V.  Melancholy (Da Capo) - Andante mysterioso.

One way to characterize the piece is a Mozart sonata on steroids.  In two senses: first, the piano part clearly dominates in terms of what the audience hears; and second, the violin part is extremely difficult, I am sure the piano part is equally virtuosic.  I can like the piece if I get a chance to be more familiar with it.

The astute observer will notice there are two more pieces in the program which I didn't describe.  I left after the Say piece.  Not because I wasn't enjoying the concert, it's that there were other things on my mind.  The day started quite early in Hackensack, I had an evening meeting, and I hadn't eaten anything since toast for breakfast.  Together with being back from Europe just a few days ago, and that this would be a busy week, I just didn't want to miss the 4:07 pm train.  Given what I heard, I am sure the last two pieces would also be nicely done.

Studio L Dance Co. 2024 Recital. May 5, 2024.

Bergen County Academies, Hackensack, NJ.  Left Section (Seat P-1, $25).

Everly is the rightmost kid in this group of purple dresses.

The Program.  Everly's group did "Make Some Noise."

The music was generally too loud.  It hit as high as 102 dB where we sat.  The little girl seemed unprepared for that level of noise.  I covered my ears a few times during the show.

I don't know how to judge dance.  But some of these moves are clearly very acrobatic.

Our youngest granddaughter goes to this academy for her dance lessons.

For this event they hired a rather large auditorium seating approximately 1200.  Not filled, but a respectable showing nonetheless.  Of course each student brought in several audience members - in Everly's case, 5.  So 200 students would fill the auditorium if all the families are equally enthusiastic; and there were easily 200 students.

Afterwards Anne and the Garssons went to P F Chang's for lunch.  I took the Route 4 Jitney (first time) to cross the GW Bridge, and then the A train to Port Authority to attend a concert in the Town Hall.

New York Philharmonic. Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor; Sheku Kanneh-Mason, cello. May 1, 2024.

David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center.  Orchestra (Seat J103, $80).

Frank Huang, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, and Salonen at the end of the Shostakovich Cello Concerto.

Program

Concerto No. 1 for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 107 (1959) by Shostakovich (1906-75).

Symphonie fantastique: Episode de la vie d'un artiste (Fantastic Symphony: Episode in the Life of an Artist), Op. 14 (1830, rev. 1832) by Berlioz (1803-69).

Let's jump right into it, starting with the Shostakovich concerto.

Fairly or unfairly, the British cellist Kanneh-Mason is best known for performing at Harry and Meghan's wedding, believed to be seen by 2 billion (yes, B) people.  I suspect that number eclipses all other cellists - even Yo Yo Ma playing at a president's inauguration did not garner such numbers.  The natural question is: how much hype, and how much substance?

Having listened to this, there was a lot of substance.  To this non-cellist, the concerto seems impossible to play well, and they young (b. 1999) Kanneh-Mason did an excellent job.  Being seated in the tenth row, it was amazing to see how he pulled the piece off without any difficulty.  He played an encore: Prelude No. 18 by Mieczyslaw Weinberg.  (Per the review in "New York Classical Review,"  Google couldn't figure it out.)

Whenever it comes to this work, a couple of things come to mind.  One is for me the definitive performance remains the one by Alisa Weilerstein, back in 2011.  That was the performance that made me "understand" the concerto, and it was the first time I heard it.  The specifics may not stay with me, but the "spark of understanding" will always be there.  The other is this Shostakovich theme of D-S-C-H, which we heard in his quartet performed in Hamburg not even a week ago.  I am happy to say that idea still remains refreshing.

The story behind Berlioz's symphony, and Berlioz's obsession with Smithson, is well-known.  Today's Program Notes includes the notes Berlioz himself penned, although the narratives are so familiar by now that it was barely necessary.

The piece is also a showcase for an orchestra's capabilities, and NY Phil certainly met the challenges with ease.  I suspect this piece is so "standard" that the ensemble would put in a solid performance even without a conductor.  Salonen, who recently quite the San Francisco Symphony, was certainly enjoying himself.

Four harps (!) used in the Berlioz piece.

Sitting in Row J, we could clearly see Salonen enjoying the concert.  What's not to like?

In Berlioz's own words.  I suppose this was translated from the French, especially the composition was premiered in Paris.

All in all a great concert.  One could ask how these two pieces found their way into the same program.  I can offer up one compelling reason: both pieces rely heavily on their respective themes.  We talked about Shostakovich earlier, and in Berlioz's case it was the "idee fixe" that did the job.  Well, Dies Irae didn't hurt, either.

Regardless, this was an immensely enjoyable concert; and I didn't even have to prepare for it.

We were in NYC earlier in the day for Anne's medical appointments, and drove to Hoboken, parked our car, and took public transportation into the city.  It worked out well, but made for a long day.

Stevens Cooperative School. The Jungle Book Kids. April 30, 2024.

Stevens Cooperative School Jersey City.  (Free)

Reid was the Baby Elephant, Maisie a Vulture.

Notice that Reid's ears grew.

We got back from Europe the day before, and were a bit exhausted from the trip, so we skipped the 4/29 performance and attended this one instead.

In addition to the rehearsals, the kids also helped out in making the costumes and preparing the props.

The performers enjoyed themselves.  The audience had a good time.

By coincidence, this is the same play put on by the Hoboken Children's Theater earlier.  They felt very different, though.

Reid had his first solo line.

Staatsoper Hamburg. Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito. April 28, 2024.

Staatsoper Hamburg.  Parkette Links (Seat 19-8, 143 Euros).

The person in the middle of the front row (of 7) is Adam Fischer.  To his left is Sesto, and second to his right is Tito.

Story.  See previous post.

Adam Fischer - Conductor; Tito - Bernard Richter, Sesto - Michele Losier, Annio - Kangmin Justin Kim, Servilia - Katharina Konradi, Vitellia - Tara Erraught, Publio - Han Kim, Berenice - Anna Wrobel

We had seen this opera once at the Metropolitan Opera, back in 2012.  Reading over that blog entry, the conductor was Harry Bicket, and Sesto's role was sung by Elina Garanca.  I don't remember much of it.  My remarks in that entry were generally neutral, except I thought the opera was a bit long.

Certainly the performance tonight didn't feel long.  The performance started quite on time at 6 pm, and ended at 8:30 pm, and there was a 30-minute intermission in between.  By opera standards it was a short two hours.  That has to be attributed to how engaging the performance was.

A major reason for that was how well the singers did.  For the 2012 performance I recorded the confusion caused by Sesto being sung by a woman, and Annio by a countertenor.  Sitting in the Met balcony I had trouble seeing who was doing the singing.  Today I was less confused, probably because I knew the story better, and I was close enough that I could often tell which individual was doing the singing.  My other complaint with the Met performance was that Tito took forever to decide what to do with Sesto's betrayal.  Things didn't feel so tortuously protracted tonight.  Perhaps the second act was shortened, or because I was more engaged?

To say there were different sets used for the different scenes is probably an overstatement.  There is basically this "room" decorated differently to depict the different scenes.  The only "complex" element was this hole being dug, probably to represent the uncertain fate that awaited Sesto in the second act.  Four different words appeared: Delizia, Potenza, Tradimeto, and Clemenza.(delight, power, betrayal, clemency), describing the main theme of the segment of the drama.

We had seen Adam Fischer at the Met before.  He did justice - and more - to the music score.  At the Met there probably would be applause at the end of every "memorable" aria - and there were many - here Fischer seemed to strive for continuity.  His arms were up most of the time (but the audience didn't respect that!), except on a few occasions where a pause to acknowledge a great job was warranted. 

The production team also came on stage, this being the premiere for the season.

The acoustics in the hall was great.  With 1690 seats, the opera house is medium size by European standards (smallest I have been to: Zurich at 1100 seats; largest: Covent Garden at 2250 seats).  And that there were these walls behind the singers certainly helped with their sound projection.  This performance was the premiere of a 10-performance run, so I was a bit surprised that there were quite a few empty seats.  In fact I moved one seat over to have a less obstructed view of the stage.  (Northern Europe has a lot of tall people.)

The Hamburg State Opera's non-imposing exterior.  Other than the sign and the banners, it is just a building at a street corner.

Mahler was the music director of Hamburg State Opera for a few years.

The interior foyers (one on each floor) are functional, but not ornate.

View from my seat.  I moved one seat to the right and had a clear view of the stage.

The seating capacity is 1670.

Today was our last day for our trip; we would be flying back to NJ tomorrow.  We checked into a hotel near the Hamburg Airport so we wouldn't have to rush the next day.  To attend this concert would mean taking the subway (or rather the U) into town again.  Anne decided not to do it, so I went by myself.  I ate a hamburger at a nearby place before the show, and picked up a muffin at the U-station close to the hotel on my way back.

Hamburg Symphony/Chamber Music Concert. April 28, 2024.

Kleiner Saal, Laeiszhalle, Hamburg, Germany.  Empore Links (Seat 1-4, 30.8 Euros).

The quartet at the end of the concert.

Program

String Quartet F-Major, Hob. III:17 (Serenade Quartet) by Joseph Haydn.

String Quartet in A-minor, Op. 13 by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy.

String Quartet No. 8 in C-minor, Op. 110 by Dimitri Shostokovich.

Performers

Hovhannes Baghdasaryan, violin; Makrouhi Hagel, violin; Sebastian Marock, viola; Theresia Rosendorfer, cello.

Compared to our recent experience sitting in the back of the Main Hall, today's was much better

I feel I need to repeat that I am not a chamber music person every time I write about chamber music.  However, I must say today's concert was great, even though I had little knowledge of the three pieces performed.

Haydn's quartets have a distinctive feel to them.  They generally sound more complicated than his symphonies (even though quartets have fewer parts), and make one wonder if Haydn indeed was more than 20 years Mozart's senior.  The slow movement contains a lovely, and well-known, melody.  Another example of a well-known quartet melody is from Tchaikovsky's First String Quartet.  (It was quite difficult to recall how the Tchaikovsky sounded while listening to Haydn's.)  The quartet lasted about 15 minutes.  Haydn's compositions sometimes are numbered using the "Hoboken" system (as in the Program), but this is also known as Op. 3, No. 5.

Mendelssohn's is a solid composition that allowed great interplay among the string players.  I did say I don't know much about chamber music, didn't I?  That didn't stop me from enjoying the performance.

The Shostakovich quartet isn't as gripping as some of his other works. (I would probably have a different assessment if I had read up on the work before the performance.)  However, he used repeatedly the "Shostakovich Theme" that I first heard in the cello concerto, and in this piece - it seems - more frequently and with more variations.  Embarrassingly I have not heard the theme in other works by the composer.  The Wikipedia on this theme (D-S-C-H) lists eight compositions of Shostakovich's where this theme was used, and mentions it is used in all the movements in this quartet.

Entrance to the Kleiner Saal is at the other end of the building.

Not sure who these people are.  The small plaque has the name of the sculptor; if it lists the names of the people depicted, the print would be too small for me to read anyway.

This hall seats 639 people (per web search).  It has a simple elegance to it.

Even with all these misgivings (i.e., inadequacies on my part), this was an enjoyable concert.  Our seats were in the first row of the balcony.  Anne chose to sit further back by the aisle to accommodate her mobility problems.

Today was Hamburg Marathon day, so many buses were not running.  We walked to the Baumwell U-station to catch the train, but had trouble getting the bus on the way back.  It was easy enough to catch a taxi using the Uber APP.

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra. Alan GIlbert, conductor; Thomas Hampson, baritone. April 27, 2024.

Grosser Saal at Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg.  Orchestra (Section 13E, Seat 5-1, 107 Euros).

Gilbert acknowledging Hampson at the end of the Walt Whitman Songs by Kurt Weill.  Hampson sang from amidst the orchestra.

Program

Adagio for Strings Op. 11 (1936) by Samuel Barber (1910-1981).

Songs My Mother Taught Me (1895) by Charles Ives (1874-1954).

Tom Sails Away (1917).

Memories: a. Very Pleasant; b. Rather Sad (1897).

The Housatonic at Stockbridge (1921).

The Things Our Fathers Loved (1917).

(Arranged for Orchestra by Toshio Hosokawa)

Four Walt Whitman Songs (1942-1947) by Kurt Weill (1900-1950).

O Captain! My Captain

Beat! Beat! Drums!

Dirge For Two Veterans

Come Up From the Fields, Father.

Friede auf Erden (Peace on Earth) fur gemischten Chor a cappella Op. 13 (1907) by Arnold Schonberg (1874-1951).

Symphony No. 4 (1910-1925) by Ives.

The Elbphiharmonie website has an English page.  The programs handed out the concert were in German only, but the lyrics in the Ives and Weill songs were in English, which helped.

Listed Artists

Prague Philharmonic Choir

Ulrike Payer - piano; Dalit Warshaw - theremin; Lukas Vasilek - choir rehearsal; Gregor Mayrhofer - Co-conductor.

A major reason we chose Hamburg as a stopover is to see if Elbphilharmonie lives up to its fame or notoreity.  Fame is because of the claim that the sound is amazing, with every seat engineered to "perfection" (my words, I also heard every seat would have a great sound); notoriety because the project went way over budget, from the original estimate of 80M to 240M Euros to a final cost of between 800 to 900M Euros (depending on the source).  And I am not sure if that's the entire project or just the concert halls portion of it.

Let's first dispense with the sound aspect.  Of course all concert halls sound "real" as we hear real players performing, but I must say it also felt intimate and immediate (two adjectives that come to mind, but don't exactly describe how I heard the orchestra).  And without the "sterility" I sometimes use to describe the sound at Carnegie Hall.  Even though we were about 3 floors up from the stage, we still felt very close to it; that may also explain the sound.

The last time Barber's Adagio for Strings left a strong impression on me was in a Japanese production of MacBeth.  As in the other piece in that play, Faure's Requiem, the music brought on incredible sadness, probably enhanced by the events happening on stage.  Tonight's performance still set the dark (again my vocabulary fails me) tone for the evening.  I was surprised that a full orchestra (the string sections, anyway) was used for the performance, and it felt just right.

Any hope that we would find redemption was quenched by the two groups of songs.  The lyrics are in English, and printed in the program (otherwise in German), that helped drive the sadness home.  The Whitman songs were sung in the order 2-1-4-2, so the last one sung before the intermission was the Dirge for a father and a son.  The other songs all spoke of death.  They were written during the civil war.

Thomas Hampson is usually very dependable.  He was standing among the musicians while he sang, and I had some trouble with picking out his voice.  Anne said she could hear him well.  Since I also have problem picking out the violas, perhaps I am losing that range in my hearing.  For the passages I heard well, he was good at bring out the emotion.

After Barber's Adagio for Strings.

After the Songs by Ives.  Hampson can barely be seen in this photo.

Peace on Earth was intended as an uplifting composition, it is also Schoenberg's last tonal piece (tonal is relative, of course).  After its composition, Schoenberg concluded that it was an illusion.  One might give up, but the Program Notes stresses the importance of repeating these words.

The piece is sung without accompaniment (although the first performance did use an orchestra).  The Prague Philharmonic Choir consisted of about 60 members, evenly divided between men and women.  The were seated in the section behind the concert stage, I wonder if that was always the intention, or an oversight on the part of the designer.

One could argue Ives' Fourth Symphony contains no emotional message.  It was an exercise in composition, very complex composition at that.  The Prelude does include the chorus, and contains the words "Trav'ler, yes; it brings the day, Promised day of Israel.  Dost thou see its beauteous ray?"  Interesting words, but I don't see how the words set the tone for the rest of the composition.

A huge orchestra was used.  I can only point out some observations I made during the concert.

The most noticeable aspect was the use of a "co-conductor."  On many occasions he would conduct together with Gilbert, but in a different rhythm.  For example, Gilbert might do 4-beats while Mayrhofer would do 3.  I assume the individual sections knew whom they should follow.  (I do wonder if a conductor can keep 3/4 and 4/4 time simultaneously.)  The other would be use of some musicians in the balconies.  There were two pianos, one was center-stage, and the pianist got her name in the program.  The theremin is not an instrument one sees often, it's quite eerie that sound is produced by hand gestures rather than physical manipulation of the instrument.

The second movement "Comedy: Allegretto" lived up to its name.  The audience applauded when that movement ended.  Generally Gilbert seemed to frown on such interruptions.

The four movements are (1) Prelude: Maestoso; (2) Comedy: Allegretto; (3) Fugue: Andante moderato con moto; and (4) Finale: Very slowly - Largo maestoso.

"Peace on Earth" was Schoenberg's last tonal piece.  The choir sang without accompaniment.  Here Gilbert greeting the Rehearsal conductor after the performance.  One can also see the huge orchestra (at least the instruments and seats) to be used for Ives's Symphony No. 4.

I think the people standing in front at the conclusion of Ives's Symphony are (from left) Theremin player, Principal Piano (2 pianos were used, second piano may have two players), Co-Conductor, Choir Rehearsal Director.  It's quite a large ensemble, and complicated music.

It was an overall enjoyable concert, regardless of the acoustics.  Or the acoustics helped, who knows.  One thing I do feel is that Gilbert has found his new home very comfortable.  His contract with the Orchestra has been extended through 2029.

The Main Concert Hall occupies the center of the new building.  On the left is the Westin Hotel, and on the right are residential apartments.

Taken with wide angle from where we sat.  The projection on the roof is a reminder that tonight's concert is the (second) opening concert of the Hamburg International Music Festival.

The concert hall occupies the 11th to the 16th floors (my guess).  It is 60 steps from the foyer on the 8th floor to the first level of the auditorium.  Or one can take a lift to the 13th floor (that's where our seats were).

These "cells" all look different.  I do wonder the science and art of the design.

I got to the 15th floor for this shot of the auditorium.  The design isn't symmetric.

One of the few openings (balconies) in the entire building.

We are staying in the Westin, also located in the same building, so one could say it was easy to get to the concert hall.

Hamburg Symphony. Sylvain Cambreling, conductor; Martha Argerich, piano. April 25, 2024.

Laeiszhalle Grosser Saal, Hamburg, Germany.  2. Rang/Galerie Links (Seat 5-6, 9.9 Euros).

Anne sneaked in a photo of Argerich doing an encore (Third movement of Ravel's piano concert in G).

Program

Philippe Boesman's Chambres d'a cote

Maurice Ravel's Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in G major

Sergei Prokofiev's Suites from "Romeo and Juliet" op. 64 (excerpts)

One major reason we are in Hamburg for a few days is to attend a concert at the Elbphilharmonie.  We managed to get tickets for only one concert at the venue (as usual, hesitation was the culprit).  We did get tickets for two concerts at Laeiszhalle - the venue before Elbphilharmonie came into existence.  This one in the large hall, and a chamber concert in the small hall this coming Sunday.  I am also thinking of going the Hamburg Opera Sunday evening, even though we are flying back to NJ the following morning.

As I am also trying to record the "travel" aspect of this trip, I am a bit pressed for time to write my impressions of these concerts, so here we go ... Not being able to find a program for this concert helps as I don't need to digest and react to it; all I plan to do is write what comes to mind.

First note the ticket price, not even 10 euros.  The most expensive tickets sold for 62.70 Euros, so the concert was not expensive.  But 9.9 euros.  When we got to our seat, we found out the section is behind these arches which severely limited visibility of the stage.  The photos included in this entry were made with me standing up.  We moved to different seats, but they were all "bad."  A friend used to say they went to concerts for the real time sound, I had to try to adopt that attitude today.  In my defense ... One, those were probably the only seats left when I tried to book, I might have chosen the aisle seats for ease of access, but they were blocked most by the arches; Two, who would have thought of such a design?  There are examples of old concert halls built without such huge arches.

Laeiszhalle was first augurated in 1908.

When seated, our seat in the Gallery afforded a very limited view of the stage.  And this is before people sat down.

Front of hall.

Back of Hall.  Seats behind the arches have a very limited view of the stage.  The auditorium seats over 2000.

The Boesman piece can be characterized as a sound experiment.  There are quite a few sections to this (about 20 minutes) piece, with each exploring a different effect created by different voices and techniques.  It was quite interesting.

A while back I was confused about Gershwin's piano concerto, and concluded soon after it start that it was not Ravel, somewhat to my credit.  I must say Ravel's concerto can easily be confused with Gershwin's, especially the first movement.  (I vaguely remember Ravel visiting Gershwin at some point.)

The definitive performance of this concerto was by Yuja Wang a few years ago (with the London Symphony at NJPAC).  It "broke the code" and I have since come to understand and appreciate the piece.  Argerich's performance certainly was good, but didn't add new insight into the piece, and the "message" wasn't as clear as Wang's performance (or how I remember it).

She performed two encores.  The first one was with the orchestra, and for a while I thought it was composed by Gershwin, and that would have been a natural thing to do.  When I turned on the Google APP, it returned the third movement of Ravel's concerto.  Well ... this was one of the few instances an encore actually was a repeat.  She played a solo piano piece as her second encore.  The Google APP returned Arthur Rubinstein's Fantasiestucke, Op. 12: Traumes Wirren.  Let's go with that.

The concert concluded with excerpts from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet Suites, I take that to mean the conductor selected different movements from the several Suites Prokofiev constructed.  The individual movements are quite familiar, I wish I had a listing of what they were so I can imagine along.  (Or, having heard this so many times, I should know the scenes depicted in the numbers.)  It was clear there were two families, things were tender, things got violent, and death ensued.

A rather small ensemble was used by Boesman to produce some very interesting sounds.

At the conclusion of the concert.  The Hamburg Symphony calls Laeiszhalle its home, and Cambreling is the music director.

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Overall, I enjoyed the concert, even though I had a limited view of the musicians, and the sound reaching my seat wasn't ideal (I am sure).

We ate at a Japanese restaurant before the concert.  It was close to 10 pm when we got back to the hotel.