N.Y. Philharmonic concert

[Beethoven1]

The N.Y. Philharmonic toured in South Florida for 2 days, and I went to the concert last night in Miami. They did 3 movements from Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Mozart's Symphony No. 38 (Prague) and Beethoven's Symphony #5. They also did an encore of B's Egmont Overture, which was a wonderful surprise. The performance was great. Of course, Beethoven was by by far the highlight of the evening.
That fourth movement is so exhilarating to see live!
The tempo of the 5th was relatively quick, which I like. However, in the first movement, the Philharmonic did not hold the fermatas (the e-flat in the G-G-G-E-flat) very long, probably for the length of a dotted quarter note. What do you all think? Do you like it when orchestras hold the note a little longer, or do you prefer it to be let go more quickly?

[Peter]

The pauses are there for a purpose and should not be cut short - what I do object to however is the usual practice of taking the opening bars at virtual half-speed.

Re.Egmont, the overture is of course the famous bit but there is fine music in the rest of the work as well.

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'Man know thyself'

[Andrea]

Originally posted by Peter:


Re.Egmont, the overture is of course the famous bit but there is fine music in the rest of the work as well.

[/B]

I must agree with Peter here. The Egmont Overture is one of my favorite Beetoven pieces and I also enjoy the rest of the music that was composed to this tragedy written by Goethe. I have this on a CD with the Berliner Philharmonic conducted by Herbert von Karajan. The soprano is Gundula Janowitz. This CD also includes "Wellington's Victory" and 7 military marches. A wonderful CD and one of my favorites.

[Chaszz]

Originally posted by Beethoven1:
The N.Y. Philharmonic toured in South Florida for 2 days, and I went to the concert last night in Miami. They did 3 movements from Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Mozart's Symphony No. 38 (Prague) and Beethoven's Symphony #5. They also did an encore of B's Egmont Overture, which was a wonderful surprise. The performance was great. Of course, Beethoven was by by far the highlight of the evening.
That fourth movement is so exhilarating to see live!
The tempo of the 5th was relatively quick, which I like. However, in the first movement, the Philharmonic did not hold the fermatas (the e-flat in the G-G-G-E-flat) very long, probably for the length of a dotted quarter note. What do you all think? Do you like it when orchestras hold the note a little longer, or do you prefer it to be let go more quickly?

Who conducted, please, Beethoven1?

[Sorrano]

Originally posted by Peter:
The pauses are there for a purpose and should not be cut short - what I do object to however is the usual practice of taking the opening bars at virtual half-speed.

Re.Egmont, the overture is of course the famous bit but there is fine music in the rest of the work as well.

Too often those half notes sound more like triplets.

[Peter]

Originally posted by Sorrano:

Too often those half notes sound more like triplets.

They can if the first is stressed - the 2nd should be stressed but not accented. Isn't a half-note a Minim (2 beats)? Don't you mean 1/8 notes (Quavers)? I have to say I much prefer our English terminology - Semibreves, minims, crotchets and quavers, although the American names are far more logical, they aren't quite as poetic!

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'Man know thyself'

[Beethoven1]

Originally posted by Chaszz:
Who conducted, please, Beethoven1?

The concert was conducted by Lorin Maazel, who is also the director of the N.Y. Philharmonic.

[Joy]

Originally posted by Beethoven1:
[B]The N.Y. Philharmonic toured in South Florida for 2 days, and I went to the concert last night in Miami. They did 3 movements from Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Mozart's Symphony No. 38 (Prague) and Beethoven's Symphony #5. They also did an encore of B's Egmont Overture, which was a wonderful surprise. The performance was great. Of course, Beethoven was by by far the highlight of the evening.
That fourth movement is so exhilarating to see live!

[B]

That sounds like a wonderful concert you saw! I agree with you that Beethoven is always the highlight of a concert, that's how I feel when I go and there are pieces performed by other composers. I enjoy all of it, but really wait for Beethoven!! I've seen the 5th Symphony performed live a few times and the first movement always puts you in the mood for more and I know what you mean about the 4th movement, how exciting it is to see live. Makes me want to go see it again!
I also like when they hold the notes a little longer which is why I like Carlos Kleiber and the Weiner Philharmoniker performance. They play it with such force.

Joy

[This message has been edited by Joy (edited February 06, 2003).]

[spaceray]

Originally posted by Peter:

I have to say I much prefer our English terminology - Semibreves, minims, crotchets and quavers, although the American names are far more logical, they aren't quite as poetic!

Yes I agree ,very poetic terminology.

[Sorrano]

Originally posted by Peter:

They can if the first is stressed - the 2nd should be stressed but not accented. Isn't a half-note a Minim (2 beats)? Don't you mean 1/8 notes (Quavers)? I have to say I much prefer our English terminology - Semibreves, minims, crotchets and quavers, although the American names are far more logical, they aren't quite as poetic!

You are quite right! I had a brain cramp when I wrote half notes; I meant 8th notes. Seems that I once, long ago, had some sort of feel for the British way of reference, but that has since long escaped me. The only problem with learning them here in America is that no one else would have the foggiest idea as to what I was referring to.

[Chaszz]

Originally posted by Beethoven1:
...The tempo of the 5th was relatively quick, which I like. However, in the first movement, the Philharmonic did not hold the fermatas (the e-flat in the G-G-G-E-flat) very long, probably for the length of a dotted quarter note. What do you all think? Do you like it when orchestras hold the note a little longer, or do you prefer it to be let go more quickly?....The concert was conducted by Lorin Maazel, who is also the director of the N.Y. Philharmonic.

That's why I asked. Maazel's reviewers here in N.Y. have praised his ability to make the Philharmonic play together like a well-oiled machine, produce very clean sound and exquisite detailing, but have faulted him somewhat on feeling.

[John Rasmussen]

Originally posted by Chaszz:
That's why I asked. Maazel's reviewers here in N.Y. have praised his ability to make the Philharmonic play together like a well-oiled machine, produce very clean sound and exquisite detailing, but have faulted him somewhat on feeling.

I have never liked Maazel. The man is all technique and no heart. Even when he modifies the tempo for stylistic reasons there's no real flexibility. Now if Wolfgang Sawallisch or Daniel Barenboim or even Andre Previn had conducted that concert...!!

As for the fermatas, they need to be very long and intense, the second longer than the first since it's two measures long in the score.

While we're on B5, the first movement is one in which Beethoven's metronome marking of 108 to the half note (all right, minim to you English) makes sense. It's easily playable at that speed, although you have to count one beat to the bar, as if it were 1/2 not 2/4. If only his other metronome marks were so sensible!

[Rod]

Originally posted by John Rasmussen:
If only his other metronome marks were so sensible!

If only these other metronome marks were actually taken into account in performance!

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"If I were but of noble birth..." - Rod Corkin

[John Rasmussen]

Originally posted by Rod:
If only these other metronome marks were actually taken into account in performance!

Touche'!