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I was buying other tickets for events at the Kennedy Center and I've been thinking I really should listen to at least some serious music and I like cellos. So I also bought a ticket to tonight's National Symphony Orchestra concert, which included Steven Isserlis playing Haydn's Cello Concerto in C major. It's a piece that I'm reasonably familiar with as Mstislav Rostropovich played it quite a bit, though I'm not sure if I've ever heard the entire concerto li ve before. It's certainly a piece that gives a cellist a workout and Isserlis was suitably passionate about it. He did just about everything but have sex with the cello. I will admit, however, that I'm not all that crazy about the adagio movement, perhaps because the first (moderato) movement is more baroque in style and I prefer the baroque era to the classical when it comes to concerti. (Give me a Telemann oboe concerto any day, for example.)
The other (non-Isserlis) pieces were interesting. The opening was Weiner's Serenade in F minor, Op. 3, which I had never heard before. In fact, I'm sure I'd never heard of it before and I'm not convinced I'd ever heard of Weiner. The program notes contrasted Weiner with his more famous Hungarian contemporaries, Bartok and Kodaly. It's an interesting choice for the NSO, since their principal conductor, Ivan Fischer, is Hungarian. I enjoyed the piece, though I'm not sure I'd necessarily seek out a recording of it to listen to over and over.
The final piece was Racmaninoff's Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27. The introduction is a bit too long, but once the piece gets going it's an interesting piece. The orchestration is nicely complex and is particularly strong for the woodwinds.
Overall, it was an enjoyable concert. I'm not sure yet how I feel about Fischer as a conductor. I once read that orchestra conductors have a particularly low rate of heart disease and I have to assume that Fischer's style must provide quite an aerobic workout. That's entertaining in some ways, but it can also be distracting, especially as I find that listening to orchestral music takes a lot of concentration. (I have no idea why that should be true, but I've noticed it over and over. One would think that lyrics would demand more mental effort. Perhaps this is a sign that I am too left-brain dominant.)
The other (non-Isserlis) pieces were interesting. The opening was Weiner's Serenade in F minor, Op. 3, which I had never heard before. In fact, I'm sure I'd never heard of it before and I'm not convinced I'd ever heard of Weiner. The program notes contrasted Weiner with his more famous Hungarian contemporaries, Bartok and Kodaly. It's an interesting choice for the NSO, since their principal conductor, Ivan Fischer, is Hungarian. I enjoyed the piece, though I'm not sure I'd necessarily seek out a recording of it to listen to over and over.
The final piece was Racmaninoff's Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27. The introduction is a bit too long, but once the piece gets going it's an interesting piece. The orchestration is nicely complex and is particularly strong for the woodwinds.
Overall, it was an enjoyable concert. I'm not sure yet how I feel about Fischer as a conductor. I once read that orchestra conductors have a particularly low rate of heart disease and I have to assume that Fischer's style must provide quite an aerobic workout. That's entertaining in some ways, but it can also be distracting, especially as I find that listening to orchestral music takes a lot of concentration. (I have no idea why that should be true, but I've noticed it over and over. One would think that lyrics would demand more mental effort. Perhaps this is a sign that I am too left-brain dominant.)
