# The best classical music event you've attended



## kingtim

What was the best classical music event you've even attended.

I remember when I invited my (now)ex-girlfriend to the nearby University. I didn't even know what was playing, I just knew I wanted to see her.

Next thing I knew I was mesmerized by a single magician working wonders on the piano. All in all my single best event, and it was at the University of Houston!

What event most moved you and why?


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## Head_case

Janacek ~ String Quartet (Kreutzer Sonata) 

The venue - London's Wigmore Hall, spring 2007.

Why was it so great? 

The electricity failed. Suddenly the lights went out. The Wihan string quartet members had just finished the Beethoven Quartet as the lighting failed, and finished the quartet in darkness, mind-reading the music. 

The electricity wasn't coming back on as the platform was in darkness. A fuse or other had blown. Rather than cancel the rest of the evening, some bright spark trailed an extension cord to a traditional lampstand. It was hilarious watching the behind the scene guys bring an ancient floor standing lamp onto stage. 

And then ~ behold! The most sublime music as the quartet worked their hearts out, illuminated solely by the floor standing lamps. They got a standing ovation for such an incredible performance. I'll never forget that evening. In the face of adversity, they created music of such intimate dimensions that Janacek would have wept.


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## jurianbai

That's a lucky experience, have you check if they not purposely done it ? 

My best memorable classical music event is a CHOIR. It's a Messiah (that's Hallelujah) choir done in a Stadium at Jakarta, around 2006 I think. About 5000 to 10,000 attendants to a Christmas event and when the conductor ask the audience to do an encore, you can felt like to an earthquake of 8 scale richter overthere.


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## Ilych

It was 1978. I can't remember the month. I was still in college and took my mother to a pension fund concert of the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Giulini with Emil Gilels as the soloist in the Beethoven fourth concerto, followed by "Pictures at an Exhibition". 

The hall was over half empty but you would never have known it by the way the orchestra played. I have always much preferred Giulini's ability to coax a stunning performance out of an orchestra. 

Gilels was stunning in the Beethoven. What a superb pianist he was.

Nothing prepared us though for the Mussorgsky. It has never been among my favorites, but what an electrifying experience. I don't think I've ever been to a symphonic concert that moved me so much. The emotion Giulini was able to instill in the musicians is something I will never forget.

After the concert we finagled our way backstage where we were lucky enough to meet both Gilels and Giulini. They were very kind and great gentlemen. It was an honor to have been able to attend a concert that reminds me why I love classical music so much.


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## World Violist

Bruckner 8 at Cincinnati Symphony Hall, Paavo Jarvi conducting the Cincinnati Symphony. Simply overwhelming.


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## Weston

A few years back I saw Terry Riley premier his piano concerto at the local university where I work. Also the Paul Dresher Electro-Acoustic Ensemble played a number of microtonal works. It was quite an eye opening evening, especially experiencing an amplified bassoon. 

The next biggest thing was a 5th or 6th grade field trip to see the Nashville Symphony perform Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 1. I still remember it to this day, though it seems the work was nearly a new one back then.


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## Romantic Geek

Haven't been to too many live performances outside of my university's ensembles, but I did get to see my composition teacher's (Kenneth Fuchs) world debut of "Canticle to the Sun" - a French horn concerto. It was incredible. Elgar's Enigma Variations was also on the concert.


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## Sid James

Seeing Carmina Burana done live last year here in Sydney, with the Sydney University symphony orchestra and musical (choral) society was a great experience. It was at the university's historic Great Hall.

Another good concert from last year was seeing the Australian Chamber Orchestra doing Bartok's _Music for Strings, Percussion & Celesta_ at the Sydney Opera House. R. Vaughan Williams (_Tallis Fantasia_), Xenakis (_Shaar_), R. Strauss (_Metamorphosen_) & a new work by local composer Peter Sculthorpe were also on the bill.

I also remember a piano concert of works by Ravel & Debussy played in the (now gone) boardwalk studio at Sydney Opera House in about 1989. The pianist was Roy Howat, and what was most engaging about this concert is that it was not formal at all, he actually talked about the pieces before he played them.

The concert I'm most looking forward to this year here in Sydney will be Australian pianist Kathryn Selby and her trio with a clarinettist playing Messiaen's _Quartet for the End of Time_. Can't wait, it will be superb for sure...


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## Chi_townPhilly

Hmmm... I have co-favorites- and it's hard to choose between the two.

It's either this one, or this one!


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## Artemis

I think the most memorable concert I have ever attended was in September last year at the BBC Proms at the Albert Hall, with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Franz Welser-Möst performing Schubert’s “Great” C Major Symphony. The VPO is, and has been for a long while, one of my favourite orchestras. The previous time I saw them was in Vienna a couple of years ago, a place I love to go to as often as possible. 

This Prom was a truly sparkling performance. The gorgeous strings of the VPO are to die for. The concert was televised live by the BBC because it was rated to be one of the best events of the season. I have a copy of the TV recording which I play quite often. Perhaps because I was there, I find that it beats all other versions of this symphony which I have CD. I would say that this piece of orchestral music is probably the one I enjoy most of all in my entire collection. 

What made the Prom an extra special event was that I attended it with various other members of my family on the occasion of my parents’ 40th wedding anniversary. Together with my sister and brother and his wife, we took our parents to that concert, and afterwards stayed in one of the big London Hotels. 

Obviously we’re all very keen on Schubert. My mother used to teach music and her favourite composer has always been Schubert, so that's where it all stems from. I grew up surrounded with lots of his music – being played on CDs, piano, sheet music scattered about the house, etc - and I had learned to play all the Impromptus by the age of 15. Although I have wandered all over the classical music scene since then, I still find that Schubert occupies the dearest place in my affections.

I can only say to any non-UK members that if they would like to visit this country an excellent way to do so would be to combine it with a an event or two at the next Proms in the Summer. The Albert Hall (where many of the concerts are held) is in a very posh/expensive part of London, and there's lots to do in between concerts.


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## shsherm

The best perfomance I ever attended was The Chicago Symphony playing the Mahler 5th Symphony on January 23, 1970. Sir Georg Solti was the conductor. I have heard this music many times by many orchestras but no performance even came close to this one.


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## StlukesguildOhio

I'm not certain I could limit it to a single performance. I still have memories of my first live opera, _Aida_, by the Cleveland Opera. In the great processional where all the supplicants to the King of Egypt bring him gifts of satins and silks to the glorious music an actual tiger was brought unto the stage as the music approached the climax... Just as I believed nothing could top this, a pair of elephants marched out, the intensity of the lights was virtually doubled leading to an almost telescopic experience and the music reached its crescendo... and I was absolutely transfixed and became an instant opera convert.

Another stunning concert was seeing the Cleveland Orchestra under Christoph von Dohnányi perform an absolutely hair-raising rendition of the Pictures at an Exhibition seen from the first row. My wife was in tears.

Yo-yo Ma performing the whole of Bach's _Suites for Unaccompanied Cello_ was equally enthralling, as was a performance of Schubert's _Winterreise_ by Matthias Goerne.

Most recently... well actually several years ago... but still... I was floored by a performance of Haydn's _Creation_ by the Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus under Franz Welser-Möst. One of the soloists was Thomas Quasthoff. I had never seen Quasthoff before and knew nothing of him. As the orchestra was tuning up this dwarfish man with deformed arms came out onto the stage and was joking about with the various musicians. In my naivete I thought "how nice, the orchestra has hired this handicapped stagehand." But then the lights dimmed, and this same little man pulls up a chair up front... and I realize... "he's one of the soloists". Still it hasn't sunken in and I'm thinking "how good can this guy actually be?" until he first opens his mouth and I'm absolutely stunned. My wife was again in tears and made me buy several of his discs... actually she didn't need to work too hard to persuade me.

Perhaps the most memorable overall experience... after _Aida_... has to have been a performance several years ago of Bach's _St. Matthew Passion_. The work was performed by a small Baroque orchestra and chorus (with soloists) on Good Friday evening in a Gothic cathedral lit only by candlelight. I sat in the front row only a few feet away from the performers. The setting sun streamed through the stained glass while inside all glowed and glittered by the flickering candles creating something of an illusion of what it must have been like for those who first experienced Bach's choral masterworks.


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## muxamed

A concert with the Keller quartet in 1995 (I guess). They were performing the 5th string quartet by Bartok and Debussy string quartet. Magical.


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## joebuck3058

*bruckner's eigth*

there are too many to mention all at once but my most recent was the Bolton Symphony Orchestra's opener to their new season. They performed Prokofiev's 2nd violin concerto and Tchaikovsky's 6th. conducted by Robert Chasey. Although they are considered to be a band made up of part timers what a performance!the performance of the prokofiev was played with much energy and attack that it was a real ear opener.plus it was played with such vim and attack that it was a joy to be there.the tchaikovsky was very well executed.the overiding link between the two pieces was their rhymic pulse which was superbly captured by bob chasey. the bbc philharmonic's bruckner's 8th on07/02/2009 was equally memorable as it is one of my favourite symphonies and to get to see it played live was an absolute joy.the fact that i can still enthuse about it a year later demonstrates how great an orchestra they are in music making


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## Orgelbear

When I was an undergraduate in the early 1970s, the Aeolian Chamber Players–a group specializing in contemporary music–came to our college campus. The turnout was embarrassing. Worse than that, disgusting. Fewer than 10 people turned out to hear performers who had actually gotten a Grammy nomination for a recording of brand new, on-the-edge American music (George Crumb). 

The musicians took this awkward moment and made magic. Given an audience barely larger than their own numbers, they didn't cancel, which would have been understandable. They didn't just do a show on automatic pilot and leave. Instead, they asked us to come up on stage with them. 

We scrounged around for some chairs and ended up sitting side by side with the musicians. They played a program of Crumb and Wolpe. Between pieces , they talked with us about the music, the unusal instrumental techniques the scores called for, and the importance of the music. And as they played, we looked over their shoulders and followed along on the scores.

There was an electric communication among the musicians as they played, and those few of us sitting on the stage with them were in the crossfire.

In the years since, I have been to some pretty spectacular performances, and of music that is more in my comfort zone than what the Aeolian Chamber Players offered up that night. But the generosity those musicians showed to a group of young college students has never been eclipsed in my memory.


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## kingtim

Head_case said:


> Janacek ~ String Quartet (Kreutzer Sonata)
> 
> The venue - London's Wigmore Hall, spring 2007.
> 
> Why was it so great?
> 
> The electricity failed. Suddenly the lights went out. The Wihan string quartet members had just finished the Beethoven Quartet as the lighting failed, and finished the quartet in darkness, mind-reading the music.
> 
> The electricity wasn't coming back on as the platform was in darkness. A fuse or other had blown. Rather than cancel the rest of the evening, some bright spark trailed an extension cord to a traditional lampstand. It was hilarious watching the behind the scene guys bring an ancient floor standing lamp onto stage.
> 
> And then ~ behold! The most sublime music as the quartet worked their hearts out, illuminated solely by the floor standing lamps. They got a standing ovation for such an incredible performance. I'll never forget that evening. In the face of adversity, they created music of such intimate dimensions that Janacek would have wept.


That's pretty amazing... eerie really. I guess it was the quantum field or ghosts or something.

I like any music better when it's live... It's the only way to really live it.


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## SixFootScowl

Last night was the greatest performance I have attended. A concert performance of Handel's Ariodante featuring Joyce Didonato as Ariodante. It was absolutely awesome! Every singer was so wonderful that I hate to point one out over and above the others. Having a small orchestra of 22 musicians was great because the orchestra was just the right volume level compared to the singers. But I don't recall ever hearing singers who could project their voices so loudly and clearly and I have been to half a dozen Messiah concerts. These singers are among the greatest, which of course is true for Joyce. I was very impressed with them all, the contralto, the bass, the tenor David Portillo and the sopranos, even Mary Bevan who was a late replacement for Joelle Harvey such that a separate printed sheet on her was included with the program. The only one I can't really comment on is Tyson Miller who played the King's servant as his parts are so small I really don't recall much about his singing.

http://ums.org/performance/handels-ariodante/

The English Concert
Harry Bicket, artistic director/harpsichord
Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano (Ariodante)
Christiane Karg, soprano (Ginevra)
Mary Bevan, soprano (Dalinda)
Sonia Prina, contralto (Polinesso)
David Portillo, tenor (Lucanio)
Matthew Brook, bass (King of Scotland)
Tyson Miller, tenor (Odoardo)


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## hpowders

Duplicate post. Sorry!


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## hpowders

A solo piano recital by Artur Rubinstein at Carnegie Hall. Enough said.

Nobody can top-eth that-eth.


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## Judith

As I keep saying but never got over this one!

Steven Isserlis and Connie Shih in Leeds!

Absolutely wonderful performance and was lucky enough to meet Steven afterwards for a second time as met him before at another recital. He remembered me!

Amazing Cellist and lovely guy!


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## Vaneyes

*LvB*: PC2*
*Poulenc*: Concerto for 2 Pianos and Orchestra 
*Bartok*: Concerto for 2 Pianos, Percussion and Orchestra

Argerich*/Freire/OSM/Dutoit


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## Pugg

Joseph Moog in the small hall of the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, stunning experience.


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## Marc

Very good and warm memories of:

Schubert String Quartets and Quintet, performed by Colorado Quartet & Shauna Rolston.
Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergini, performed by Cantus Cölln.
Rachmaninov's Vespers, performed by St Petersburg Chamber Choir & Nikolai Korniev.
Organ recital (Titelouze, Jehan Alain & Bach) by Pieter-Jelle de Boer (Schnitger et al organ, Martinikerk, Groningen, NL).
Tchaikovsky no 6 in B minor, conducted by Viktor Liberman.
Renaissance and baroque music from Spain, Portugal and Latin America, performed by L'Arpeggiata & the King's Singers, lead by Christina Pluhar.


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## SiegendesLicht

Richard Strauss, Eine Alpensinfonie, performed by the Hamburger Symphoniker, April 2nd of this year. It was a combination of one of my favorite musical works of all times and the fact that I was listening to it live for the first time in my new homeland. All my Germanophile dreams come true!

But I believe I will yet get to have musical experiences that will make that one pale in comparison.


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## Marc

SiegendesLicht said:


> [...]
> 
> But I believe I will yet get to have musical experiences that will make that one pale in comparison.


Well, I listed a few good experiences... but after reading this I realized that my best 'concert' experience was probably one in which I performed myself. Singing in a amateur choir (not very good, but we did the best we could) the tenor part of the 'Agnus Dei' of William Byrd's _Mass for 4 voices_, I suddenly felt part of something quite unique and elusive, and whilst hearing all the other voices around me it felt like a huge air bubble was growing in my head and I almost dazed away. It really felt like a knock out experience!


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## perempe

Tamsin Waley-Cohen played Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D major a year ago in Miskolc.


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## njk345

Das Rheingold in concert last week at the New York Philharmonic!


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## Pugg

njk345 said:


> Das Rheingold in concert last week at the New York Philharmonic!


Do you remember the singers/ conductor by any chance?


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## njk345

Pugg said:


> Do you remember the singers/ conductor by any chance?


Here's a link to the program, conducted by Alan Gilbert himself:

https://nyphil.org/concerts-tickets/1617/gilbert-conducts-wagners-das-rheingold


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## SiegendesLicht

njk345 said:


> Here's a link to the program, conducted by *Alan Gilbert* himself:
> 
> https://nyphil.org/concerts-tickets/1617/gilbert-conducts-wagners-das-rheingold


This guy is going to conduct Mahler's 3rd symphony over here in Hamburg next May - I am sure it will be an unforgettable experience.


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## perempe

Sunday's free concert in the Old Academy of Music (Budapest) was very good.



Mozart: Symphony No. 33 in B major, K. 319
Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major, K. 216
intermission
Brahms: Serenade No. 2 in A major, Op. 16

Miranda Liu (violin)
Chamber orchestra of the student's friends
Conductor: Johannes Marsovszky


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## Becca

I couldn't pick a single event as there are a few which stand out in memory...

- Sir John Barbirolli conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Mahler's 9th
- A 30 year old Simon Rattle conducting Stravinsky's _Petrouchka_ with the City of Birmingham Symphony
- I am not a great Solti fan but he and the Chicago Symphony did a fantastic Mahler 5th on tour somewhere around late '72 or early '73
- Maria Ewing singing _Salome_ at the Royal Opera with Christoph von Dohnanyi conducting.
- Gelsey Kirkland and Mikhail Baryshnikov dancing Balanchine's _Theme and Variations_ with ABT (Tchaikovsky Suite #3) 
- Carlo Maria Giulini and the Los Angeles Philharmonic doing a fully staged Verdi _Falstaff_ with Renato Bruson, Leo Nucci et.al.
- Jon Vickers singing _Peter Grimes_ with the Royal Opera/Colin Davis when they were in Los Angeles in '84


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## Becca

SiegendesLicht said:


> This guy is going to conduct Mahler's 3rd symphony over here in Hamburg next May - I am sure it will be an unforgettable experience.


There is a rumour circulating that Alan Gilbert will be replacing Thomas Hengelbrock at the NDR Elbphilharmonie. The orchestra has scheduled a press conference this friday.


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## Joe B

Sorry, but there are two that are burned into my mind:

I believe it was 1967. My 7th grade music teacher took less than a dozen students to the Metropolitan Opera House to see "Carmine." This was my first visit to the Met and my first opera. I was enthralled by the performance as well as the Met itself.

In 1975 I saw a group (I wish I could remember their name--from Europe) perform Bach's "Brandenburg Concertos" on two different nights (3 one night, 3 the next) at Jorgenson Auditorium at the University of Conn. There was no sheet music on the stage....everyone knew their parts. I was thoroughly familiar with the repertoire and loved their performance. It was glorious!


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## Roger Knox

At Indiana University Auditorium, a 1975 concert by Luciano Pavarotti. Faculty and many vocal students including opera singers at IU School of Music were in attendance. I don't even remember the repertoire (was a piano major then). He was in fine form, his high C rang out perfectly, but what really impressed me was his rapport with an audience of admirers who I knew were also very tough critics. Yet at the end we all rose as one, in my case it seemed an invisible force was hauling me out of the seat, clapping and yelling!


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## Judith

The best classical events that I have attended were both the Steven Isserlis recitals in Harrogate and Leeds last year. He was performing with pianist Connie Shih. Also met him both times too and he was really nice!

Now can't wait to see Joshua Bell in New Year with ASMF in Manchester.


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## SiegendesLicht

SiegendesLicht said:


> Richard Strauss, Eine Alpensinfonie, performed by the Hamburger Symphoniker, April 2nd of this year. It was a combination of one of my favorite musical works of all times and the fact that I was listening to it live for the first time in my new homeland. All my Germanophile dreams come true!
> 
> But I believe I will yet get to have musical experiences that will make that one pale in comparison.


The same day I wrote this post back in April I went to hear the 8th Symphony of Mahler. My first night at the newly opened Elbphilharmonie with 350 musicians performing this gigantic orchestral work - it was an experience that totally blew the Alpensinfonie out of the water.

And then came August and Bayreuth, and the "Höchsten Heiles Wunder" of Parsifal, Amfortas singing with streams of blood flowing from him and Wagner's Transformation music resounding across the universe - and THAT was an event that is in a league of its own, the kind of experience one never forgets as long as one lives. I don't think the last one will be topped any time soon.


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## Kjetil Heggelund

I think I've mentioned this in another thread...
My favorite concerts I attended are Håkon Austbø playing "Vingt Regards..." by Messiaen and Ricardo Gallén playing all Bach lute-suites. A few years ago I finally heard a string quartet too, the Vertavo quartet playing Beethoven and Ruders and a Mozart Piano concerto arrangement featuring Paul Lewis (he's married to the cellist). Another memorable evening was the Aranjuez with Oslo Phil. with Pepe Romero who rules that concerto! They also played "Andalucian Nocturnes" by Lorenzo Palomo.
...there are more too


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## Harrowby Hall

Not easy. Stokowski doing the Symphonie Fantastique with the Philharmonia in about 1967 in the RFH, Barbirolli's last London appearance (Elgar 1) a few months before his death would both be on the short list.

However, 1 September 1965, Proms - Royal Albert Hall. A special concert to celebrate Sir Malcolm Sargent's 70th birthday (actually in April).

Walton: Coronation Te Deum
Elgar: Cello Concerto - with Jaqueline du Pre
Holst: The Hymn of Jesus
Elgar: Symphony No 2

Over 50 years ago - but it seared into my memory.


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## lehnert

I have attended a Rachmaninoff recital by Mikhail Pletnev in Warsaw, Poland several weeks ago and it was absolutely terrific. The dynamics and articulation were fantastic.

The repertoire (all by Rachmaninoff):
Prelude op. 3 no. 2
Elegie op. 3 no. 1
Polichinelle op. 3 no. 4
Barcarolle op. 10 no. 3
Humoresque, op. 10 no. 5
Prelude op. 23 no. 2
Prelude op. 23 no. 4
Prelude op. 23 no. 7
Prelude op. 23 no. 6
Prelude op. 23 no. 5
Prelude op. 32 no. 8
Prelude op. 32 no. 12
Etude-tableau op. 39 no. 7
Piano Sonata no. 1, op. 28

And then two encores:
Rachmaninoff - Oriental Sketch
Chopin - Nocturne in C sharp minor no. 20

Here's a recording with the same repertoire (but from a different city):


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## Don Fatale

Daphnis et Chloé with Charles Dutoit and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra at the Palau de la Musica in Barcelona. Talk about ticking some boxes! Glorious.

It was definitely 1992 as I was there doing a recce for the upcoming Olympics and couldn't believe my luck to find it on and that I was able to obtain a ticket.


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## Brahmsian Colors

These seem to stand out:

From the 1950s, Nathan Milstein perf. Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with Fabien Sevitzky and Univ. of Miami Symphony Orchestra

From the 1960s, Leonard Bernstein/New York Philharmonic perf. Schubert Symphony 5, Dvorak Symphony 7 and Ravel Concerto For the Left Hand

From the 1960s, Eugene Ormandy/Philadelphia Orchestra perf. Rachmaninoff Symphony 2

From the 1960s, William Steinberg/Pittsburgh Symphony perf. Bruckner Symphony 7

From the 1970s, Martha Agerich perf. Prokofiev 3rd Piano Concerto with Gennady Rozhdestvensky/Scottish National Orchestra in Edinburgh, Scotland

From the 1990s, Yuri Temirkanov/St. Petersburg Symphony perf. Dvorak Symphony 8

From the 1990s, Viktoria Mullova perf. Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with Florida Phiharmonic


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## starthrower

Bernstein Candide
Barber Piano Concerto John Browning pianist


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## Ras

*The Hungarian conductor Adam Fischer beating the crap out of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Danish Chamber Orchestra* - The concert took place on November 2014.

On youtube, but not yet released officially:


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