InfernoSTi Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 I didn't spring for season tickets because work keeps me from being around on certain weekends but I did pick up four nights that I'm really excited about...and my seats are center orchestra midway back which I hope are good. The venue has good acoustics by all accounts. Anyone else going to the symphony in their cities this coming season? Best, John Positive emotions enhance our musical experiences. Synology DS213+ NAS -> Auralic Vega w/Linear Power Supply -> Auralic Vega DAC (Symposium Jr rollerball isolation) -> XLR -> Auralic Taurus Pre -> XLR -> Pass Labs XA-30.5 power amplifier (on 4" maple and 4 Stillpoints) -> Hawthorne Audio Reference K2 Speakers in MTM configuration (Symposium Jr HD rollerball isolation) and Hawthorne Audio Bass Augmentation Baffles (Symposium Jr rollerball isolation) -> Bi-amped w/ two Rythmic OB plate amps) -> Extensive Room Treatments (x2 SRL Acoustics Prime 37 diffusion plus key absorption and extensive bass trapping) and Pi Audio Uberbuss' for the front end and amplification Link to comment
InfernoSTi Posted February 7, 2015 Author Share Posted February 7, 2015 Terrible to post the *only* reply to one's own thread...but I am excited to go see the Austin symphony tonight. I've been going to the San Antonio symphony a lot lately and now I'm heading the other direction from home. Nice to have two symphonies within an hour of one's home (most people have to live in a large metro area to have that!). Cheers, John Positive emotions enhance our musical experiences. Synology DS213+ NAS -> Auralic Vega w/Linear Power Supply -> Auralic Vega DAC (Symposium Jr rollerball isolation) -> XLR -> Auralic Taurus Pre -> XLR -> Pass Labs XA-30.5 power amplifier (on 4" maple and 4 Stillpoints) -> Hawthorne Audio Reference K2 Speakers in MTM configuration (Symposium Jr HD rollerball isolation) and Hawthorne Audio Bass Augmentation Baffles (Symposium Jr rollerball isolation) -> Bi-amped w/ two Rythmic OB plate amps) -> Extensive Room Treatments (x2 SRL Acoustics Prime 37 diffusion plus key absorption and extensive bass trapping) and Pi Audio Uberbuss' for the front end and amplification Link to comment
pdvm Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 I didn't spring for season tickets because work keeps me from being around on certain weekends but I did pick up four nights that I'm really excited about...and my seats are center orchestra midway back which I hope are good. The venue has good acoustics by all accounts. Anyone else going to the symphony in their cities this coming season? Best, John I bought tickets for a series of concerts this year in Utrecht, the Netherlands, where the concert hall opened again last year after 7 years of renovation. It includes, among other concerts: - Budapest Festival Orchestra with Ivan Fischer playing Mahler 4th - Rotterdam Philharmonic with Valery Gergiev and Janine Jansen playing Brahms violin concerto and Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker - London Philharmonic playing Beethoven 7th - Orchestre des Champs-Élysées playing Brahms Fourth symphony In one week, I'm going to the Dutch National Student Orchestra playing Rachmaninoff 2nd symphony in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam (for an indication of the level of playing: ) Probably I'll attend a lot more concerts on a last minute basis, either in Utrecht or Amsterdam. It is a luxury to have these very good concert halls within 30 min of travelling time! What do they play tonight? Enjoy! Link to comment
astrotoy Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 I am able to go to a lot of classical music concerts every year, about 70-90. Mostly they are chamber music in the SF Bay area, but also orchestra concerts, too. We have our local band, the SF Symphony, headed by Michael Tilson Thomas, going into his 20th year here. Also some very fine orchestras come by on tour. We heard the Vienna Philharmonic do three concerts last spring, and the Czech Philharmonic this past fall. We heard the Academy of Ancient Music last fall also. The St.Paul Chamber Orchestra is coming in a couple of months. We spend about a month in London each year, so we get to hear the London Symphony, Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, and the London Philharmonic. Also smaller groups like the AAM, English Chamber Orchestra, Academy of St. Martins in the Field. I understand London has close to 50 orchestras, small and large. Live orchestral music is wonderful, especially if you have a good band and a good hall. This includes soloists playing concerti with the orchestras. Solo and chamber music is also great - a different experience, more intimate and a different repertoire. We are also fortunate to have grand opera, with the San Francisco Opera and in London both the Royal Opera and the English National Opera. We've only been able to hear one concert each in the Concertgebouw (with the regional Brabant Orchestra) and the Musikverein (in Vienna). We did hear the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam in London however - a great band, on a par with the Vienna Phil (and probably the Berlin Phil, though I have never heard them live.) Have fun listening. Larry Analog-VPIClas3,3DArm,LyraSkala+MiyajimaZeromono,Herron VTPH2APhono,2AmpexATR-102+MerrillTridentMaster TapePreamp Dig Rip-Pyramix,IzotopeRX3Adv,MykerinosCard,PacificMicrosonicsModel2; Dig Play-Lampi Horizon, mch NADAC, Roon-HQPlayer,Oppo105 Electronics-DoshiPre,CJ MET1mchPre,Cary2A3monoamps; Speakers-AvantgardeDuosLR,3SolosC,LR,RR Other-2x512EngineerMarutaniSymmetrical Power+Cables Music-1.8KR2Rtapes,1.5KCD's,500SACDs,50+TBripped files Link to comment
pdvm Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Never heard one of the 'great' American orchestras live. I did though attend an exciting concert of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra playing Mahler Sixth in the Concertgebouw. It was conducted by Jaap van Zweden (who was at 18 years the youngest concertmaster of the RCO ver a few decades back). I (generally) like the MTT Mahler cycle. It is superbly recorded and the playing is technically flawless. I also really like their recent West Side Story recording. I never heard a recording of them playing the older German romantics though. Would love to hear the SF Symphony live with MTT conducting! Link to comment
InfernoSTi Posted February 8, 2015 Author Share Posted February 8, 2015 I bought tickets for a series of concerts this year in Utrecht, the Netherlands, where the concert hall opened again last year after 7 years of renovation. It includes, among other concerts:- Budapest Festival Orchestra with Ivan Fischer playing Mahler 4th - Rotterdam Philharmonic with Valery Gergiev and Janine Jansen playing Brahms violin concerto and Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker - London Philharmonic playing Beethoven 7th - Orchestre des Champs-Élysées playing Brahms Fourth symphony In one week, I'm going to the Dutch National Student Orchestra playing Rachmaninoff 2nd symphony in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam (for an indication of the level of playing: ) Probably I'll attend a lot more concerts on a last minute basis, either in Utrecht or Amsterdam. It is a luxury to have these very good concert halls within 30 min of travelling time! That is an amazing session you have! What wonderful orchestras you have coming so close to your home. I hope the new renovations make your hall a pleasure to attend. I am able to go to a lot of classical music concerts every year, about 70-90. Mostly they are chamber music in the SF Bay area, but also orchestra concerts, too. We have our local band, the SF Symphony, headed by Michael Tilson Thomas, going into his 20th year here. Also some very fine orchestras come by on tour. We heard the Vienna Philharmonic do three concerts last spring, and the Czech Philharmonic this past fall. We heard the Academy of Ancient Music last fall also. The St.Paul Chamber Orchestra is coming in a couple of months. We spend about a month in London each year, so we get to hear the London Symphony, Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, and the London Philharmonic. Also smaller groups like the AAM, English Chamber Orchestra, Academy of St. Martins in the Field. I understand London has close to 50 orchestras, small and large. Live orchestral music is wonderful, especially if you have a good band and a good hall. This includes soloists playing concerti with the orchestras. Solo and chamber music is also great - a different experience, more intimate and a different repertoire. We are also fortunate to have grand opera, with the San Francisco Opera and in London both the Royal Opera and the English National Opera. We've only been able to hear one concert each in the Concertgebouw (with the regional Brabant Orchestra) and the Musikverein (in Vienna). We did hear the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam in London however - a great band, on a par with the Vienna Phil (and probably the Berlin Phil, though I have never heard them live.) Larry You must really enjoy the opportunity to hear such a wide variety of world class performances (and to have MTT for twenty years would be enough on it's own, really). I hope to go to the SF Symphony someday. I am in Sonoma County just an hour north twice a year but have not managed to time a trip with a visit to the symphony. What do they play tonight? Enjoy! Have fun listening. Two interesting pieces, one by Dukas and one by Glazunov, where the openers (played together without a pause). The headline performance last night was Karen Gomyo, violinist, performing Jean Sibelius' Violin Concerto in D Minor. Karen Gomyo plays on the “Aurora, ex-Foulis” Stradivarius violin of 1703. The work is extremely technical with extremes in every aspect of the music. I was told there are only a handful of violinists touring currently who can play the work. That was followed by Jean Sibelius' Symphony No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 39 for an enjoyable evening of Sibelius. Having lived in Finland for a year, I am attached to Sibelius and the Nordic emotions. To my ear, the Long Center in Austin has a deep soundstage that, while balanced, seems to emphasize the midrange tones over the high tones. This makes the hall sound creamy smooth and it is never too bright. What it gives up in width, it makes up for in depth, and not too forward sounding. This really works well with a violin soloist, and Gomyo really filled the hall from the most delicate notes to the most dramatic passages. After the concert, I was able to grab a bite to eat that was a bit rich for a late meal but just right for an evening of Finnish music (a winter greens salad, oyster mushroom and cabbage soup, and axis deer risotto). I really had a nice evening and completely relaxed and took in the music. John Positive emotions enhance our musical experiences. Synology DS213+ NAS -> Auralic Vega w/Linear Power Supply -> Auralic Vega DAC (Symposium Jr rollerball isolation) -> XLR -> Auralic Taurus Pre -> XLR -> Pass Labs XA-30.5 power amplifier (on 4" maple and 4 Stillpoints) -> Hawthorne Audio Reference K2 Speakers in MTM configuration (Symposium Jr HD rollerball isolation) and Hawthorne Audio Bass Augmentation Baffles (Symposium Jr rollerball isolation) -> Bi-amped w/ two Rythmic OB plate amps) -> Extensive Room Treatments (x2 SRL Acoustics Prime 37 diffusion plus key absorption and extensive bass trapping) and Pi Audio Uberbuss' for the front end and amplification Link to comment
pdvm Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 That is an amazing session you have! What wonderful orchestras you have coming so close to your home. I hope the new renovations make your hall a pleasure to attend. In fact, the main concert hall was left exactly like it was. They built a huge multi-hall music centre around it, with rooms for pop, jazz, and chamber music. (TivoliVredenburg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) The 'grote zaal', mainly used for classical concerts, is a octagonal hall built in the seventies, with surprisingly good acoustics (mainly because they used a lot of wood). The headline performance last night was Karen Gomyo, violinist, performing Jean Sibelius' Violin Concerto in D Minor. Karen Gomyo plays on the “Aurora, ex-Foulis” Stradivarius violin of 1703. The work is extremely technical with extremes in every aspect of the music. I was told there are only a handful of violinists touring currently who can play the work. It is a very difficult work. It is fullblood romantic though it can seem a bit unaccessible for listeners at first. My favorite recording of it is by Itzhak Perlman with the Pittsburgh Symphony conducted by Previn. I have heard Janine Jansen playing it live, and I still hope very much that she will record it... Link to comment
astrotoy Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 Interesting that the Hong Kong Philharmonic has hired two Dutch conductors as their most recent music directors. Jaap van Zweden is their current conductor and he was preceded by Edo de Waart, who was the MD of the SF Symphony back in the 80's,after Ozawa. They are getting to be quite good. We heard them in HK a couple of years ago, with Garrick Ohlsson playing the Brahms 2nd piano concerto. The Sibelius is a wonderful violin concerto. One of the great recordings is by Heifetz, with the Chicago Symphony and their then associate conductor, Walter Hendl. I'm pretty sure that the recording from around 1960 has been reissued on an RCA SACD, if you don't have a TT. The SFSymphony is especially fun to watch when MTT is conducting. We know quite a few of the members and many play in some of the chamber music series that we attend. My wife runs one of them, 15 concerts annually at UCSF, where she is now an emeritus professor. Many of the symphony players love to play chamber music, but they don't get to do it very often. We were fortunate enough to have 5 of them over at our home in 2012 to play Schubert's Trout Quintet. That was what chamber music used to be about, music written to be played in the home or small chambers. Larry Analog-VPIClas3,3DArm,LyraSkala+MiyajimaZeromono,Herron VTPH2APhono,2AmpexATR-102+MerrillTridentMaster TapePreamp Dig Rip-Pyramix,IzotopeRX3Adv,MykerinosCard,PacificMicrosonicsModel2; Dig Play-Lampi Horizon, mch NADAC, Roon-HQPlayer,Oppo105 Electronics-DoshiPre,CJ MET1mchPre,Cary2A3monoamps; Speakers-AvantgardeDuosLR,3SolosC,LR,RR Other-2x512EngineerMarutaniSymmetrical Power+Cables Music-1.8KR2Rtapes,1.5KCD's,500SACDs,50+TBripped files Link to comment
Paul R Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 Missed this thread! We are doing the Rodgers and Hammerstein in June at the Parmer center. We are looking to pick up tickets for the Carl Orff performance in May too. Did I mention that *all* tickets are $20 all day tomorrow, February 10? Starting at midnight tonight. -Paul Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat DAC. Robert A. Heinlein Link to comment
pdvm Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 The Sibelius is a wonderful violin concerto. One of the great recordings is by Heifetz, with the Chicago Symphony and their then associate conductor, Walter Hendl. I'm pretty sure that the recording from around 1960 has been reissued on an RCA SACD, if you don't have a TT. Larry I heard the Heifetz recording, authoritative playing for sure. A bit to 'straight' for me, but absolutely a great performance. Last night, I decided to put my money where my mouth is and attended the Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest in the Concertgebouw. Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest Vadim Gluzman, viool Mei-Ann Chen, dirigent Alexander Borodin - Ouverture ‘Prins Igor’ Alexandr Glazoenov - Vioolconcert Antonin Dvořák - Symfonie nr. 8 This Vladimir Guzman I had never heard of, but he played very virtuosic and self-assured (during one orchestral tutti even standing with one hand in his pocket before playing again). Glazunov's concerto was also new to me. Fun fact: the violinist played on the same Stradivarius that was used by Leopold Auer during it's premiere in 1905! The American conductor (a woman) made the orchestra play all-out during Dvorak, and especially the fourth movement with its galloping french horns can very well stand a rough ride like that. All in all I have to say I heard Dvorak 8th more subtle than this before, but rarely as much fun as last night. Link to comment
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