Enjoying retirement
In The Red Rose County
On hearing the characterful French conductor Maxime Pascal explain 'the plot' of Symphonie Fantastique I do wish we had arrived early and heard his pre-performace chat. Witty and to the point his intro greatly added to our enjoyment. But before that we had violinist Stephen Waarts who was playing Beethoven’s 'noble and spacious' Violin Concerto. A virtuoso performance indeed. It is a real privilege to see these marvellous artisites at close hand. One can only wonder at their skills. Maxime Pascal was making his first appearance in Manchester. Let's hope he returns soon. Conducting the Berlioz, his extraordinary Symphonie Fantastique, Pascal put so much effort into it and was so deeply involved in getting out the last ounce of magic that his standing ovation (and cheers) was no more than he deserved. The soloist and the whole of the very large orchestra also got their due rewards to their obvious delight. Conceived in the wake of his ardent, initially unrequited, love for the actress Harriet Smithson, Berlioz described the piece as ‘Episodes in the life of an Artist’ (aka Berlioz himself) each movement portraying his strange opium induced dreams such as the famous ‘March to the Scaffold’. '192 years since its premiere, the sheer originality of this great masterwork never fails to astonish.' And astonished we were. It was memorable. We also recently paid our third visit to Salts Mill within the last twelve months for Sunday lunch. Verdict........probably the best value Sunday roast ever. All in memorable surroundings. The service was great too. Our next visit to the Bridgewater was my mistake. I was expecting to hear Vaughan Williams 'The Lark Ascending'. Something most people know of course. I had the dates wrong and instead we were to hear the BBC Philarmonic play four pieces of very 'modern' music. Now if I had heard any of these pieces individually on the radio I would have switched straight off. But to hear them in the round and to follow the various sections of the orchestra in turn (and the absolutely brilliant soloist Guilia Cotaldo above) was an altogether different experience. Schumann's piece was futuristic. He foresaw a time when instead of soloists being somehow separate from the orchestra they were woven together as equals. His wife Clara played his Concerto in private and she thought 'the piano is most subtly interwoven with the orchestra.......the pianist is not only soloist but orchestral musician as well'. I say in private because, as is quite often the case, the composer didn't hear his piece played in public in his lifetime. We were sitting halfway back in the stalls (with our reduced price £7.50 tickets!) and so we had a brilliant view of the sheer virtuoso playing of Contaldo. All from memory, incredibly complicated. How do they do it? One of the other pieces, Aziza Sadikova's Marionettes, was a UK premiere. And she took well-deserved applause on the stage too. So she did hear her composition played in public in her lifetime. I find it fascinating watching the different characters playing and their different habits, one sucking a cough sweet, some with high heels, some with flats, all glamorous (as were the men). My favourite was the Second Cellist who never stopped talking and laughing in between the playing. I would have loved to hear her conversation! Really an enjoyable evening.
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August 2023
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