Was at Concerto for Orchestra performed by Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, which features Debussys lesser known songs paired up w/ Bartoks most popular piece. Its quite noticeable to that the orchestra is really excited and enthusiastic today despite the fact that they dont show it. From the moment when they started the tuning, the oboe got ahead of himself and youll feel the brimming energy that seem to promise a really great performance. It took me a little later to actual notice the familiar face of the conductor, Zoltán Kocsis – its until that I checked out the program that I realize that he is the co-founder of Budapest Festival Orchestra, which I consider to be one of the most memorable orchestra that I have recordings for that impresses and charms me to this day. The programme started off w/ Debussys Marche écossaise and features Debussys Ariettes Oubiées and Seven Songs, arranged for orchestra by Kocsis himself and sung by Kimy McLaren; with Danse (Tarantelle styrienne) (w/ Ravels orchestration) interleaving the two groups of vocal works. For me, it is quite a treat and surprise only having known Debussy for his more impressionistic works like La Mer or Images – that he also does marches and dances as well. The familiarity and passion for Debussy of Kocsis really shines throughout the Debussy half of the performance, and the orchestra resonates with that quite masterfully. The vocal performance from soprano Kimy McLaren is really a treat, well articulated and quite rich in timbre. Then we reach the second half with Bartoks Concerto for Orchestra. And Id have to admit that Im having a hard time understanding this Bartoks piece hearing it for the first time. Taken only at a performance point of view, it is really superb, the technical bits are taken care of masterfully and each section and soloists never fails to deliver a solid presentation as they get highlighted one by one throughout the whole piece while the other cast of the orchestra supported each other really well. At the same time, am struggling to comprehend the piece as a whole – Bartoks quite a deep character and it really shows in his composition. I think Ill probably want to get back into listening to it again on a separate recording later. So yeah, going to MPO is always a joy for me :). So much to explore and yet so little time :).
Posted on: Sun, 19 Jan 2014 16:34:22 +0000
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