There was a concert conducted by Temirkanov in January with british pianist John Lill who most of you probably have never heard of. They play the Beethoven 5th (Emperor) concerto. Lill was a Tchaikovsky runner-up in the 60s. He does not usually play much outside of europe. Well the concert was fantastic; as good an any Beethoven played by Solomon, Curzon, Perahia, etc. The concert hall was only about 60-65% full at the most. Regular concert goers are not interested in a Bald, middle-aged foreign pianist they have never heard of. The people who did show up probably did so because is was a chance to hear Temirkanov. In the end happily, the ones who did show up gave Lill four rounds of loud well deserved applause.
It is frustrating.....
I'm an audiophile because I'm a music lover. Like most of the people on this site, I try cables, equipment, spikes, etc with one goal : to get the best out of 'canned' music, make it as close to life performance as possible. Knowing that 'perfect' reproduction is impossible, I go to live concerts as much as I can - on the average 10 classical music concerts, 2 ~ 3 operas, some jazz concerts per year.
Than it starts to become frustrating. Third time this year, I have left a concert at the break in Lincoln centre (NYC).
The acoustics : great, individual instruments : very palatable (!), no coloration, yadi yada yada...
Performance : miserable. No soul, no urge, no involvement from the orchestra... No pride in their work ?
Give me my 'miserable' listening room, 'coloring' cables, 'imperfect' equipment ... even a 'mono' CD - but a good, involving performance !
I'm not even talking about 'technical / mechanical' performance of the musicians - for me, technical brilliance is important, but secondary. It is the feel, interpretation, the 'soul' which is more important.
And the audience - horrible (see the thread 'cough vigilante). It is actually worse ... May be someday they will sell popcorn in the concert halls...
I have decided that I can save that $50/$60 per person / per concert, plus the trimmings, to buy 'canned' performances.
No wonder that the industry is complaining about less and less concert goers - they've just lost two.
Sorry for the rumblings.... I had to let some steam out...
Than it starts to become frustrating. Third time this year, I have left a concert at the break in Lincoln centre (NYC).
The acoustics : great, individual instruments : very palatable (!), no coloration, yadi yada yada...
Performance : miserable. No soul, no urge, no involvement from the orchestra... No pride in their work ?
Give me my 'miserable' listening room, 'coloring' cables, 'imperfect' equipment ... even a 'mono' CD - but a good, involving performance !
I'm not even talking about 'technical / mechanical' performance of the musicians - for me, technical brilliance is important, but secondary. It is the feel, interpretation, the 'soul' which is more important.
And the audience - horrible (see the thread 'cough vigilante). It is actually worse ... May be someday they will sell popcorn in the concert halls...
I have decided that I can save that $50/$60 per person / per concert, plus the trimmings, to buy 'canned' performances.
No wonder that the industry is complaining about less and less concert goers - they've just lost two.
Sorry for the rumblings.... I had to let some steam out...
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- 22 posts total
- 22 posts total