Alison Balsom - 2008/03/14 07:36
I was at the concert last night and did not catch the name and composer of the encore she did. I found the piece to be beautiful and would like to put it into my collection.
Can anyone tell me what is was?
regards, Keir
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DJMurdoch
Posts: 39
Re:Alison Balsom - 2008/03/14 09:24
Didn't catch the title (), but it was by Debussy.
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Carol
Posts: 2
Re:Alison Balsom - 2008/03/14 09:38
I believe the encore was a piece called Syrinx by Debussy.
Carol Fleming RSNO Marketing Manager
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Keir
Posts: 4
Re:Alison Balsom - 2008/03/14 12:10
Thanks to both.
What a lovely piece of music. Of course what else would you expect from Debussy.
I loved "The Confession of Isobel Gowdie" - powerful and very emotional but it certainly split the crowd. A woman behind us waited for a quiet moment to indicate her displeasure so that we all heard her "whispered" expletive.
This was brave of RSNO and Carlos Kalmar and I salute you both for this. Despite the Herald's comments I thought it was a magnificent performance.
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DJMurdoch
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Re:Alison Balsom - 2008/03/14 14:46Keir wrote: I loved "The Confession of Isobel Gowdie" - powerful and very emotional but it certainly split the crowd. A woman behind us waited for a quiet moment to indicate her displeasure so that we all heard her "whispered" expletive.
This was brave of RSNO and Carlos Kalmar and I salute you both for this. Despite the Herald's comments I thought it was a magnificent performance.
CoIG brought to mind for me the words of BBC SSO cellist Anthony Sayer in their blog at the time they played Shostakovich 8 at City Halls last year:
It is meant to hurt you, it is not entertainment, it is meant to leave you cowering.
He was talking about a "crucifyingly painful dissonance" that appears as a unifying element throughout that work, but I think those statements could equally apply to a lot of the violent elements heard in CoIG as well.
Given that this "Hear Here" project is supposed to be about educating ourselves about the way we listen to music (or something like that!), perhaps in that regard CoIG should have been chosen as the "featured work" instead of the Mendelssohn...yes, it could be described as a "racket" in places, but it's WHY James MacMillan made it a "racket" in those places that makes it such a powerful piece.
Needless to say, I'm looking forward to next month's performance of his Third Symphony under Donald Runnicles more than ever now!
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Ann Dante
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Re:Alison Balsom - 2008/03/15 15:06
I enjoyed Alison Balsom's playing very much although I find trumpet concertos difficult to listen to. Fer me, trumpets, like bagpipes, are best appreciated from a distance.
The Mendelssohn was well played but unmemorable and the highlight of the concert was indeed the MacMillan. I love this piece. I have every available recording of it and also an off-air version with the RSNO and Lazarev. I could have forecast that Tumelty wouldn't like it because it was not conducted by Vanska or played by the BBC Scottish Orchestra. How good it is to see an American conductor taking up the work of a living Scottish composer.
Scotland's National Orchestra should play a lot more of the music of Scotland's, and in my view the UK's, leading composer.
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DJMurdoch
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Re:Alison Balsom - 2008/03/15 23:21Ann Dante wrote: I could have forecast that Tumelty wouldn't like it because it was not conducted by Vanska or played by the BBC Scottish Orchestra.
Interestingly enough, one contributor to the BBC SSO blog seems to think he doesn't like them either!
), but it was by Debussy. 
