# Music You'd Like to Hear in a Live Performance



## LvB (Nov 21, 2008)

It is probably the case that most if not all people now living have hard far more music through recordings than in live performances. Opportunities for the latter can be scarce and expensive, and are getting scarcer and more expensive all the time; a single opera ticket might cost as much as several recordings of the same opera-- and of course many operas are seldom heard outside major cities. Ditto orchestral and even chamber pieces.

What pieces, known to you through recordings, or perhaps even just a description in a book, would you _most_ like to hear?

For me, any major work by Anton Rubinstein would be high on the list, as would any of Allan Pettersson's symphonies. Of the former I've heard a live performance of only the Opus 55 Quintet for Piano and Winds, and of the latter nothing at all. Alongside these I'd love to hear/see a good performance of _Der Ring des Nibelungen_ (though at least I have seen _Gotterdammerung_).

The list goes on (and on (and on and on)), of course, but these are some from the top of my wish list. What are some of yours?


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## Isola (Mar 26, 2008)

For me, all Mahler's symphonies; Beethoven's symphonies 3, 5, 6, 9; piano concerti by Beethoven, Brahms, Prokofiev, Shostakovich... soloist must be Argerich, Kissin or Pletnev.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Interesting that you should mention the recording generation. Having grown up with hi-fi's and amplification I often find live classical music to be a little lackluster.

It isn't just about volume, there seems to be some enthusiam lacking in the few classical live performances I've seen, and maybe this is a byproduct of the recording age where you can release the best takes. Or maybe I need to see a world class orchestra and this is just a local phenomenon.

As for pieces I'd like to see live, I'm interested in the handful that feature narration. I think this is a neglected art form. The words take the music firmly away from the abstract and into a specific program of course, but the timing and quality of the speaker's voice can add such an interesting dimension very different from singing.

*Tobias Picker's The Encantadas (for narrator and orchestra)* is a prime example of what I would like to hear live, though it would be hard to top Sir John Gielgud's recorded performance.

Sadly I can find no YouTube links for this.
http://www.tobiaspicker.com/encantadaspress.html


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## Yagan Kiely (Feb 6, 2008)

Theatre Works and dynamic works (symphonies, maybe piano concertos etc. etc.)

I don't like seeing chamber or solo in person, recordings are very fine.


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## R-F (Feb 12, 2008)

I would love to here something like the Rite of Spring live. I'd be willing to travel. I travelled two hours last tuesday just to see a 45 minute concert!


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

I've been out to the Cincinnati Symphony; their performances are anything but lackluster, except for a certain performance of Mahler's Second under Gilbert Kaplan that I had high hopes for but was utterly boring, unexciting, and, at the end, had no emotion at all but was just loud and bombastic. It almost hurt my ears.

But getting away from that unfortunate experience (which cast Kaplan's recording into the very depths of the CD's on my "not to buy" list), I am going to say I really would like to see the Mahler symphonies performed live as well, and part of that is going to be fulfilled tonight actually; the Mahler First at the CSO, with Paavo Jarvi conducting. The ones I'd really like to see conducted live (and well, if you'll excuse the pun), are 2, 6, 8, and 9. The other ones are also at the top of my "music to see" list, but those ones stand out as the ones I'd most like to see.


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

LvB said:


> What pieces, known to you through recordings, or perhaps even just a description in a book, would you _most_ like to hear?


Wow... what _wouldn't_ I want to hear live?! Is it safe to say that I speak for most when I hypothesize that items that we haven't yet heard live would figure more prominently than material that we've already experienced in that manner?

There's also a pitfall to strong familiarity with a work through studio-recorded music, as: 1) One can't help but develop a viewpoint on interpretation (particularly for those who have multiple recordings of the same piece) and what a listener might feel is an indifferent interpretation would detract from the experience, and 2) the studio-granted opportunity to have do-over after do-over until the recording is note-perfect can create an unreasonable expectation for live performances. Don't know if there's a lot we can do about item one, but item (2) is best dealt with by recognizing that musicians, even front-desk virtuosi for major orchestras and world-class soloists, are human beings and are occasionally capable of flubbing a note or a passage. Having said that, _technical_ standards for performance are probably higher now that they've ever been. In that respect, at least, we're lucky to be living in this age.

I should limit this list. Maybe (typing stream-of-consciousness here) to a half-dozen. Many of my favorite composers won't figure on this list, because of "been there, done that." O.K.:

1. Bruckner- any symphony from #3 onward. 
2. Ambroise Thomas' opera _Mignon_. _Mignon_ is a "childhood friend" of mine, amongst operas- it I can, I *must* see it before I die.
3. A late Mozart Piano concerto. Somehow, I suspect the experience will fit together better if I see it live.
4. Dvořak's "Slavonic Dances" opus 46. I just feel like it would be- fun in performance, fun for the orchestra, fun for me! 
5. Richard Strauss' _Death & Transfiguration_. (confession- it's not that it's my FAVORITE Strauss work; it's actually that I'd carry fewer preconceptions into my listening.)
6. Some manner of all-Ravel program. Too often, I've seen Ravel "sprinkled in" a program as the "designated short-piece." I'd be happier with the "full-Ravel-monty!"


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## confuoco (Feb 8, 2008)

I love to see performances of any kind of work: piano, chamber, orchestral, balet and opera...maybe except works of classicism.

Among my the most impressive and memorable orchestral experiences are live performances of:
**Bartók: Concerto for orchestra*
**Messiaen: Turangalila Symphony*

The best soloists I saw on live performance:
*Olga Kern* (Rachmaninov: Piano concerto No. 3)
*Fazil Say* (Saint-Saëns: Piano concerto No. 2)
*Jean Dubé* (Turangalila Symphony)
*Johannes Moser* (Schumann:Cello concerto)

My dream (still did noz become true) is live performance of
*Brahms: Piano concerto No. 2*
I also would like to see some really good performance of any *Wagner opera*


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Chi_town/Philly said:


> 3. A late Mozart Piano concerto. Somehow, I suspect the experience will fit together better if I see it live.


I believe I have seen the Piano Concerto No. 21 live several years ago (it was twenty-something anyway), but I suppose that's not one of the late concerti. It was one of the few pieces I found fairly exciting live. To add fuel to your comments I was not very familiar with it at the time, so as you say I had no preconceived notions of interpretation.

An attractive young lady was the soloist, but I have forgotten her name, sadly.


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## Isola (Mar 26, 2008)

I've also seen Mozart concerto No.21, played by Mitsuko Uchida and LSO/Colin Davis. It was a fine performance, however I have decided not to go for Uchida's live performance any more because although she is an excellent pianist her expression and body movement can be a bit too much to watch. I'd rather listen to her recordings.


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## shsherm (Jan 24, 2008)

I recently heard "Carmen" by the Los Angeles Opera for the first time in live performance and I have never heard "Aida" which I know I would enjoy because I've heard it on the radio several times.


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## JoeGreen (Nov 17, 2008)

I have several operas I'd like to hear live. Top of my list are *Don Carlo*, *Otello*, and *Falstaff*. All by Verdi.

Orchestral music would be... 
Tchaikosky's *Symphony No. 6*, 
Stravinsky's *Petroushka* 
Poulenc's *Nocturnes *and *Concert for Two Pianos and Orchestra*
anything by Erik Satie
Rimsky Korsakov's *Russian Easter Overture*
Richard Strauss' *Alpine Symphony* and *Death and Transfiguration*
and anything by Vivaldi


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## confuoco (Feb 8, 2008)

JoeGreen said:


> Poulenc's *Nocturnes *and *Concert for Two Piano and Orchestra*


Yes, you remind me...I also would like to hear Poulenc' double concerto live very much!


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## JoeGreen (Nov 17, 2008)

ah, yes your welcome, and you reminded me that I made a typo


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## Rondo (Jul 11, 2007)

_Fidelio_- Beethoven
_Symphonic Metamorphosis_- Hindemith
Symphony No. 5- Nielsen
_Wellington's Victory_- Beethoven
Dance Suite for Orchestra- Bartok
Violin Concerto in D minor- Khachaturian
and any Shostakovich Symphony staring with # 11 on...(for once!)


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## PostMinimalist (May 14, 2008)

One thing I love is a Puccini opera live. Last year I went to Verona opera festival and heard Tosca from the back of the Roman open-air arena which seats 40,000, almost 100 meters away from the orchestra (wich uses 4 harps in order to be heard).
While roaming the streets around the back on the day of the performance I witnessed the winching and hoisting of the scenery for the performance. Since they have several productions running at one time throughout the festival and there are no two consecutive evenings with the same opera, this happens everyday!

Here's a surreal shot from the skies over Verona!


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## tahnak (Jan 19, 2009)

*Music I would like to hear live*

I live in a country where classical music performances. and orchestra tours are as rare as a leap year.

Yet I would have loved to see a live performance of Sir Georg Solti (he is dead now) performing Mahler's Symphony of a Thousand with the Chicago Symphony.

Another wish is to see Tchaikovsky's 'Swan Lake' ballet performed by the Bolsho at St. Petersburg.

Regarding watching the Ring cycle of Wagner, no better place than Munich/Bayreuth and by performers like the bayreuth Festpielhaus under Zubin Mehta or Pierre Boulez.


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## Habib (Jan 29, 2009)

I would like to hear orchestral music that requires large forces, say like Shostakovich's Symphony No.4 or Varese's Ameriques or Arcana. The latter especially is not often played due to the large number of extra musicians it requires.


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## Composer1992 (Feb 9, 2009)

Weston said:


> [...] I often find live classical music to be a little lackluster.
> 
> [...] There seems to be some enthusiam lacking in the few classical live performances I've seen[...].


So much classical music suffers from this 'lackluster' now. Performers, in some cases, have lost the excitement in their playing and might only play notes. I know of one or two players who are excellent technically and can play very well but there is no -music-.

As for what I want to hear live, I've listened to Rachmaninoff's third concerto in excess of one hundred times (I am learning the first movement to perform) yet I have not heard it live.


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## theclassicalguy (Jan 21, 2009)

Great question. So many pieces come to mind! Here are a few:

Le Sacre du Printemps-I just love this piece so much and haven't had a chance to hear it live. 

Ring Cycle-A life goal of mine

All the symphonies of Mahler + Das Lied von der Erde. This is another life goal of mine and so far I've heard 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7. Fortunately for me the Cleveland Orchestra seems to be doing one or two a year. I missed 9 a few years ago (I must confess, even though everyone is enraptured with it, I don't understand all the excitement...at least not yet) and I had tickets to see DLVDE last year in March, but we got a foot of snow. But the ultimate would be to see #8, even in some sort of reduced version.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Forget seeing it live, I got to play in Elgar's Enigma Variations live. Now that was something. And I was in the middle of the orchestra also (3rd chair viola). I'd still like to see it done live by a professional orchestra though.


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## marinermark (Aug 23, 2008)

Respighi's "Church Windows" the last two minutes are too big for any recording media or sound system. 
"Le Sacre" - saw it once about 50 years ago; would love to see it again.
A distant third - Respighi's "Roman Festivals"


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## nickgray (Sep 28, 2008)

Wagner's Ring in a traditional production. But that's unlikely to happen anytime soon - I live in Israel (these ******** ain't playing Wagner here ) and nobody does proper productions now, afair.


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## Mr Dull (Mar 14, 2009)

I would like to hear Vaughan Williams fantaisia on a theme of Thomas Tallis as it was performed originally in a cathedral. The acoustic of the building would have made it sound amazing.


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## handlebar (Mar 19, 2009)

Back when James Depriest was the Oregon Symphony conductor, many contemporary composers were represented as well as earlier to mid 20th century.
Now with Kalmar, those days have gone away. The old warhorses gallop all the time.

I want to hear more Creston,Diamond and Schuman symphonies performed as well as some Harris and PLEASE more Hovhaness. Alan Hovhaness lived here in the pacific NW for a good part of his life and I can only recall one concert in Portland that featured a work of his. The Seattle Symphony has performed some though.

Please,more AH!

Jim


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Haha, I'd LOVE to see Lady Macbeth in a live performance! (this should clue people in on how I liked the CD)

I'd also like to see Wagner's Ring once I can get my head around it some more.


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## Margaret (Mar 16, 2009)

The symphony next state over has had Ma and Perlman. So I know for some things there's a chance....

I dream of what there's little / no chance of my ever seeing. Say *truly* grand opera. Like "Aida" (despite how I feel about the ending) staged with live elephants and every role played by first rate performers. The kind of thing we're never going to get here.


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

Margaret said:


> The symphony next state over has had Ma and Perlman. So I know for some things there's a chance....


I got to see Zukerman live once. That was amazing: Bruch 1.



Radecal Signs said:


> Anything by Shostakovich.


Haha, yes!


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## bassClef (Oct 29, 2006)

Another vote for The Rite of Spring - that must sound terrific live, if performed well.

I'm lucky enough to live in Prague where there are concerts daily - but it's mostly Mozart, Vivaldi and Dvorak, for the tourists I suppose. I do see a few but am still waiting for Le Sacre. 

The Prague Proms are coming but I was a bit disappointed with the programme (eg. James Bond night??) - but from what is on I'd like to catch Dvorak's 7th (my favourite of his) and Saint-Saens 3rd.


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## JTech82 (Feb 6, 2009)

jezbo said:


> Another vote for The Rite of Spring - that must sound terrific live, if performed well.
> 
> I'm lucky enough to live in Prague where there are concerts daily - but it's mostly Mozart, Vivaldi and Dvorak, for the tourists I suppose. I do see a few but am still waiting for Le Sacre.
> 
> The Prague Proms are coming but I was a bit disappointed with the programme (eg. James Bond night??) - but from what is on I'd like to catch Dvorak's 7th (my favourite of his) and Saint-Saens 3rd.


Since you live in Prague, do you get to hear any Smetana? I would imagine he would be performed a good bit.


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## bassClef (Oct 29, 2006)

I've only heard Ma Vlast, but I think there's plenty of his works performed.


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## marinermark (Aug 23, 2008)

Handlebar, I agree. I am partial to the mid-century American composers also. Among my introductions to modern music were Schuman's "Judith" and "Undertow" ballet suites. I recall hearing a broadcast of Hovanhess' "Mt. St. Helens Symphony" and enjoy my recordings of "Great Whales" and "Mysterious Mountain." Haven't seen much of that genre performed in Florida, though.


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## PartisanRanger (Oct 19, 2008)

I'd love to hear Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, Mozart's 39-41st symphonies, and Beethoven's 5th symphony especially.


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## confuoco (Feb 8, 2008)

I forgot one important work I would like to hear live - *Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 "Organ"*


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