# Berlin Philharmonic Digital Concert Hall



## Open Book

Anyone subscribe to the Berlin Philharmonic's Digital Concert Hall? You get streaming of live concerts and past performances in their archive, some going back decades to even Karajan's tenure. You also get interviews with the guest musicians and orchestra members.

Our Saturday ritual is to watch the evening's concert at 1 PM our local time in the United States. Last Saturday's program was a bit unusual:

All Richard Strauss

Sonatina for 16 Winds No. 1 in F major, WoO 135 “From the Workshop of an Invalid“

3 Hymns, op. 71 - Anja Kampe soprano

Der Rosenkavalier, Suite, op. 59

Did anybody watch this or any other recent concerts?
(If you watched live in Berlin, even better!)


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## mbhaub

I've been a subscriber for a couple of years now. It's a great concept - maybe the salvation of orchestras if they'd all get on board. The Digital Concert Hall has a lot going for it: the sound is excellent and most concerts are first-rate. The video is annoying at times - the point of view they choose is sometimes odd. The archives are fantastic. It's not exactly cheap, but then far, far less expensive than traveling to Berlin. My annual subscription costs less than one night in the hotel I stayed at there. Now to get the great orchestras like Boston, Philadelphia, and Cleveland to do this!


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## Open Book

mbhaub said:


> I've been a subscriber for a couple of years now. It's a great concept - maybe the salvation of orchestras if they'd all get on board.
> 
> Now to get the great orchestras like Boston, Philadelphia, and Cleveland to do this!


It could be a salvation for orchestras except if they all charged the same as Berlin most people wouldn't be able to afford too many and would have to choose their orchestra(s). Berlin is what, about $135 per year? That is reasonable when you consider the price of concert tickets as well as the cost of a trip to Berlin.

I would love to be able to see/hear those other orchestras. I'm close enough to Boston but don't like driving in the city.


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## Open Book

mbhaub said:


> The Digital Concert Hall has a lot going for it: the sound is excellent and most concerts are first-rate. The video is annoying at times - the point of view they choose is sometimes odd. The archives are fantastic.


The video shots are a big improvement over the ones from the Karajan era. Look at some of those archived ones, they are ridiculously artsy; an extreme closeup of the shaft of a brass instrument for no good reason other than that it looks cool, or of Karajan's face because it is handsome.

I like to know how things are happening. Which instruments are producing all those neat sounds? How is the conductor communicating at this seemingly tricky point? I feel the current broadcasts do a pretty good job most of the time. Sometimes they show something obvious when I would rather see something else. But at least there is a teaching purpose to their camera work rather than mere visual beauty.

The oldest archived stuff might come and go, I think. I wish there was more of it, but I'm happy to have what there is.


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## Open Book

Today Daniel Harding conducted Beethoven's violin concerto with Frank Peter Zimmerman and songs from Mahler's Des Knaben Wunderhorn sung by Christian Gerhaher.


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## Becca

I watched it ... an interesting idea to insert the _Blumine_ as an interlude in the middle of the _Wunderhorn_ songs - also a good idea as one can only take so many of the baritone songs at one time! I will have to ask why they included _Urlicht_ because while it was in the original published set, the two which were used in the 2nd & 3rd symphonies were replaced.


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## Open Book

Becca said:


> I watched it ... an interesting idea to insert the _Blumine_ as an interlude in the middle of the _Wunderhorn_ songs - also a good idea as one can only take so many of the baritone songs at one time! I will have to ask why they included _Urlicht_ because while it was in the original published set, the two which were used in the 2nd & 3rd symphonies were replaced.


It wasn't supposed to be complete. "Forlorne Muh", which is best sung by a woman or at least alternating between a man and woman, was also missing. It would have been nice to hear two singers. Yes, the Blumine movement in the middle added some relief.

I like native German singers for this music. But I'm used to versions from certain great singers of the past next to whom Gerhaher suffers a bit. He has deep feelings for the music and he was good when the range didn't change that much. But when the music swoops he has trouble making adjustments and I find his voice thin at times. But who else today sings this music? The crowd loved him.

The violin concerto was lovely. It was nice not to see a violinist completely shred his bow for once. Watching the orchestra play a familiar piece surprises me, there's always something I didn't realize about it.


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## mbhaub

The violin concerto was terrific! Never have I heard the rhythmic vitality in the work so emphasized and well played. Add to it the scrupulous attention to details of dynamics and relatively brisk tempos and that was a knockout. The 2nd movement flowed at a quicker pulse than I've ever heard it done. Wonderful.

I liked the Mahler selections. The orchestral playing was as expected great. Using Blumine in the middle was a nice touch. And boy did the song about the drummer boy going to his death seem especially poignant. The only thing that was less than stellar was Urlicht. Great song, and I don't care what voice sings it or in what context. But his intonation in it was sometimes a bit off. I'm going to wait a week and listen to it again, but especially at the beginning I think he was swimming in a pool of uncertain intonation. I love Digital Concert Hall. And in the Spring we have Mahler 6, 3 and 2 to look forward to!


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## Open Book

mbhaub said:


> The violin concerto was terrific! Never have I heard the rhythmic vitality in the work so emphasized and well played. Add to it the scrupulous attention to details of dynamics and relatively brisk tempos and that was a knockout. The 2nd movement flowed at a quicker pulse than I've ever heard it done. Wonderful.


There was a section where the soloist seemed to be playing along with the violins in the orchestra, playing the exact same music and blending in, or am I remembering that incorrectly? I think it was at the start of the slow movement. He also improvised a tiny bit in one spot (not referring to the cadenzas where it's expected).



mbhaub said:


> I liked the Mahler selections. The orchestral playing was as expected great. Using Blumine in the middle was a nice touch. And boy did the song about the drummer boy going to his death seem especially poignant. The only thing that was less than stellar was Urlicht. Great song, and I don't care what voice sings it or in what context. But his intonation in it was sometimes a bit off. I'm going to wait a week and listen to it again, but especially at the beginning I think he was swimming in a pool of uncertain intonation. I love Digital Concert Hall. And in the Spring we have Mahler 6, 3 and 2 to look forward to!


The drummer boy song is devastating and "Won Die Schonen Trompeten Blasen" always brings a tear to my eye.

Check out the archive, Bernard Haitink conducted excellent Mahler 2nd and 3rd symphonies in the early 1990's. A very few members of the current orchestra go back that far and it's fun to see what they looked like then. Haitink pays attention to shaping individual phrases so that they achieve great poignancy, yet without losing sight of overall structure of these symphonies.


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## euphonium

I am a subscriber to DCH for around 2 years now. One of my favourite performance in the archive is Andris Nelson's Mahler 2nd, recorded around 1 year ago. This was my first time listening to Mahler 2nd from first bar to last. I thought it was pretty darn good. Let me know how you feel about this performance if you have heard it.

Other noteworthy performance would be Bruckner 8 by Herbert Blomstedt. More than an hour worth of gold.


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## euphonium

*Nelson Mahler 2nd, Blomstedt's Bruckner 8th*

*deleted* double post.


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## mbhaub

Open Book said:


> There was a section where the soloist seemed to be playing along with the violins in the orchestra, playing the exact same music and blending in, or am I remembering that incorrectly? I think it was at the start of the slow movement. He also improvised a tiny bit in one spot (not referring to the cadenzas where it's expected).


He did indeed play along with the tutti strings from time to time - nothing wrong with that. And added a couple of improvisatory moments; just like performers of old would have done. I really Daniel Harding as a conductor; too bad he's taking a sabbatical to become an airline pilot.


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## Becca

mbhaub said:


> I really Daniel Harding as a conductor; too bad he's taking a sabbatical to become an airline pilot.


Not quite, i.e. he is not taking a complete sabbatical, just reducing his schedule significantly and focusing on his orchestra in Stockholm plus the others where regularly conducts - London, Amsterdam, Berlin & Vienna. He has said that the flying is not a one-off thing but he is in it for the long term and hopes to have a 50/50 split of conducting & flying which can work as typically a pilot is not allowed to fly more than about 80 hours/month.


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## Guest

Becca said:


> Not quite, i.e. he is not taking a complete sabbatical, just reducing his schedule significantly and focusing on his orchestra in Stockholm plus the others where regularly conducts - London, Amsterdam, Berlin & Vienna. He has said that the flying is not a one-off thing but he is in it for the *long term *and hopes to have a 50/50 split of conducting & flying which can work as typically a pilot is not allowed to fly more than about 80 hours/month.


Surely that should be 'long haul'? :lol:


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## Open Book

euphonium said:


> I am a subscriber to DCH for around 2 years now. One of my favourite performance in the archive is Andris Nelson's Mahler 2nd, recorded around 1 year ago. This was my first time listening to Mahler 2nd from first bar to last. I thought it was pretty darn good. Let me know how you feel about this performance if you have heard it.
> 
> Other noteworthy performance would be Bruckner 8 by Herbert Blomstedt. More than an hour worth of gold.


As I was searching the archives for the Nelsons performance I got sidetracked. I stumbled upon another Des Knaben Wunderhorn, complete this time. Baritone Matthias Goerne and Andris Nelsons conducting. I thought of Goerne after I mused who else today would sing this music. Very worthwhile. Seems I always take issue with the order of the songs, though. The most moving, substantial songs are sung first and I feel that the musicians should work up to them.


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## Becca

For one of the best Mahler 4ths, look for the Simon Rattle / Christine Shafer performance from Feb. 2011


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## Helgi

I've just cancelled Netflix and YouTube Premium and subscribed to this instead. Good idea, no?

Seems like a great service, the quality is excellent and there's a lot of material available. Watched Beethoven's piano concerto no. 3 this morning, Kirill Petrenko and Daniel Barenboim. Looking forward to more 

Will check out the concerts you've all mentioned in this thread.


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## Paulby

Helgi said:


> I've just cancelled Netflix and YouTube Premium and subscribed to this instead. Good idea, no?
> 
> Is there any classical music on Netflix?


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## mbhaub

Lots and lots - whenever there's a psycho killing, maiming, butchering, and generally doing mayhem, directors like to use classical music in the background, since you know, classical music listeners are all nuts. (See Killing of the Lambs)


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## Triplets

mbhaub said:


> I've been a subscriber for a couple of years now. It's a great concept - maybe the salvation of orchestras if they'd all get on board. The Digital Concert Hall has a lot going for it: the sound is excellent and most concerts are first-rate. The video is annoying at times - the point of view they choose is sometimes odd. The archives are fantastic. It's not exactly cheap, but then far, far less expensive than traveling to Berlin. My annual subscription costs less than one night in the hotel I stayed at there. Now to get the great orchestras like Boston, Philadelphia, and Cleveland to do this!


My understanding is that the sound is limited to mp3 quality. When they first offered it a few years ago it was higher resolution but it since has been lowered. Is that correct?


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## Becca

Triplets said:


> My understanding is that the sound is limited to mp3 quality. When they first offered it a few years ago it was higher resolution *but it since has been lowered. Is that correct?*


Not that I am aware of, and I do watch/listen frequently.


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## Helgi

Both audio and video quality adapt to your internet connection, to avoid pauses I imagine, but the video degrades much more than the audio does.

Here's the spec sheet: https://help.berliner-philharmonike...o-formats-are-used-to-broadcast-the-concerts-


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## Guest

mbhaub said:


> I've been a subscriber for a couple of years now. It's a great concept - maybe the salvation of orchestras if they'd all get on board. The Digital Concert Hall has a lot going for it: the sound is excellent and most concerts are first-rate. The video is annoying at times - the point of view they choose is sometimes odd. The archives are fantastic. It's not exactly cheap, but then far, far less expensive than traveling to Berlin. My annual subscription costs less than one night in the hotel I stayed at there. Now to get the great orchestras like Boston, Philadelphia, and Cleveland to do this!


I can actually relate to this; I find the concerts 'over-produced' for visual consumption. It's like somebody is in the control room with the score marked heavily and calling each section of the orchestra on cue when it's their turn to shine. I worked in television years ago and, to me, this has all the hallmarks of camera rehearsal and over-production. It's the same with the Vienna Philharmonic New Year's Concert. Annoying. Back in the days of Kleiber, the camera was mostly on him during the performance - which I always found amusing, but enjoyable.

I scrapped my DCH subscription because the performance often dropped out because of inadequate internet speeds. There were other reasons for me to dump it, which I won't go into here, and which had zero to do with cost.


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## Open Book

Christabel said:


> I can actually relate to this; I find the concerts 'over-produced' for visual consumption. It's like somebody is in the control room with the score marked heavily and calling each section of the orchestra on cue when it's their turn to shine. I worked in television years ago and, to me, this has all the hallmarks of camera rehearsal and over-production. It's the same with the Vienna Philharmonic New Year's Concert. Annoying. Back in the days of Kleiber, the camera was mostly on him during the performance - which I always found amusing, but enjoyable.
> 
> I scrapped my DCH subscription because the performance often dropped out because of inadequate internet speeds. There were other reasons for me to dump it, which I won't go into here, and which had zero to do with cost.


Do you really enjoy looking at just the conductor? That would be monotonous to me.

I get dropouts, too. It isn't DCH, is it? It's our local internet providers not being able to keep up with the data rate. Probably happens to me when the kids next door are all three playing their online games.


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## Guest

No, Open Book, that's not what I meant. I merely described the differences between different broadcast styles of the past.

It remains enigmatic to me about whether the drop-outs are from the DCH. Some people have suggested to me that it is while others have claimed it's probably our own internet provider. I cannot believe the Germans would have a system in place which was incapable of handling world-wide distribution. When I used MediciTV I had the same connectivity issues and abandoned it altogether. (Be warned; Medici ignored my request to cease subscription after the first year and American Express went into bat for me on the 'disputed charge' and I didn't have to pay it. Helps that I have a Gold Card, no doubt, but I was grateful that they fixed the matter without any fuss. Obviously MediciTV has some 'issues' going forward.)


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## Triplets

Helgi said:


> Both audio and video quality adapt to your internet connection, to avoid pauses I imagine, but the video degrades much more than the audio does.
> 
> Here's the spec sheet: https://help.berliner-philharmonike...o-formats-are-used-to-broadcast-the-concerts-


According to the link supplied, it tops out at 320bps. That is mp3 quality


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## Helgi

320 Kbps AAC, to be fair.

I've seen hi-res audio mentioned in connection with their 4K setup, but don't know the specifics.


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## Becca

I was just watching the January 11th concert with Kirill Petrenko conducting Josef Suk's Asrael Symphony, a work that I first heard about 27 years when Simon Rattle did it with the L.A. Philharmonic. It is a definitely something that has to be experienced in person to get the full impact but this performance was exceptionally good and I can see why Suk is a Petrenko specialty. I hope that he will program more especially the other 3 major pieces - _A Summer's Tale, Ripening_ and _Epilog_.


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## Helgi

Haven't seen this mentioned anywhere on here yet. Heads up:









Free access to Digital Concert Hall!

The website doesn't seem to be handling the traffic spike very well... let's hope it doesn't affect the streaming.


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## Joachim Raff

Just got my freebie . Many thx


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## fergusmcphail

Thanks for the info Helgi. Good job I've got 4 days off work.


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## Kjetil Heggelund

The free ticket last until April 12th. I'm diving in! The concert at 8 pm was difficult to stream, but I changed my browser from Safari to Chrome, and then it worked.


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## Ulfilas

Here's a question, what composers/works would people love to hear the BPO perform? Works they've never played.


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## Helgi

Four days off work or two weeks' quarantine, plenty to explore 

They were having some technical difficulties in general last night that have hopefully cleared up. I couldn't even log into the app on my phone.


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## Rogerx

See also: FREE: BPO performances in the digital concert hall: FREE


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## Scott in PA

Ulfilas said:


> Here's a question, what composers/works would people love to hear the BPO perform? Works they've never played.


I was a bit surprised that there were no Vaughn Williams symphonies in the archive, given that they've had a British conductor for several years. I guess Rattle is no fan?


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## Becca

Scott in PA said:


> I was a bit surprised that there were no Vaughn Williams symphonies in the archive, given that they've had a British conductor for several years. I guess Rattle is no fan?


He probably did some RVW in Birmingham but the only piece that I know of in Berlin is the Tallis Fantasia. Rattle has been much more focused on modern composers.

As an interesting aside, one of Petrenko's first concerts with the BPO was the Elgar 2nd! I was happy to see him do Suk's Asrael this season and hope that he will do more Suk.

On the realistic scale, perhaps they can do more Nielsen, Martinu (only a 4th by Gilbert), and some Tubin.


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## Ulfilas

I'd love to hear them in VW 6. Or (wishful thinking) maybe William Schuman's 3rd?


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## Kollwitz

Thanks for the recommendation, have started with Mahler 6 and am looking forward to watching the Suk 2 over the next few days.


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## Joachim Raff

BERLINER PHILHARMONIKER
HERBERT BLOMSTEDT

Franz Berwald
Symphony No. 3 in C major "Sinfonie singulière" (32 min.)

https://www.digitalconcerthall.com/en/concert/22401#

One of my favourites


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## Joachim Raff

BERLINER PHILHARMONIKER
NEEME JÄRVI

Sergei Taneyev
Symphony No. 4 in C minor, op. 12 (45 min.)

https://www.digitalconcerthall.com/en/concert/1659#watch:1659-3

Another one of my favourites


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## Open Book

Did anyone watch today's Easter Festival program? I ask because there were technical difficulties and I think it was them this time and not my internet. No audio during the Mozart chamber duo, complete loss of concert earlier.


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## Open Book

Rogerx said:


> See also: FREE: BPO performances in the digital concert hall: FREE


This is a great opportunity for people who aren't subscribers to play things in the archive, for free. There are even Karajan recordings.

In place of full-orchestra live concerts with an audience they have been playing old orchestral clips and live chamber pieces to a nearly empty hall. A bit sad, but a good adaptation to a pandemic. The two or three musicians stand far apart on stage and the sole audience member is Sarah Willis, French horn player in the orchestra and host -- she's great. She cheers me up.

Yesterday's live concert featured the two younger concertmasters in a Prokofiev duo, or was it a duel, a Mozart violin and viola duo, and a Bruckner piece for three trombones. The clips were Pictures at an Exhibition at the summer Waldbuhne and a movement of Bruckner's 4th symphony, both thrillingly conducted by Sokhiev.


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## Open Book

The April 18 concert featured French music. A 2009 performance of Debussy's "La Mer" under Abbado was revisited. Preceded by live chamber music for flute, viola. and harp by Rameau, Ibert, Debussy, and Ravel. Played to an empty hall. It was nice to see this combination of instruments, harpists and violists don't get enough credit. Flautist Emmanuel Pahud was the host and reminisced with harpist Marie-Pierre Langlamet at intermission. I

It's terrible that there are no audiences present at these concerts but the silver lining is the chamber music we are getting. It would violate the limit on the size of gatherings to have the whole orchestra together, but a few musicians standing far apart onstage playing chamber music to an empty hall works.


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## Open Book

Today the Berlin Philharmonic took things a step further. Conductor Kirill Petrenko was back. Still not the full orchestra, that would violate social distancing rules, which in my opinion the orchestra is playing a bit loosely anyway. 

Petrenko conducted a chamber-sized string orchestra in music of Pärt and Ligeti, then Barber's famous adagio. This size string subset was even more wonderful than the fully massed Berlin ensemble.

This was followed by a transcription of Mahler's 4th Symphony by Erwin Stein for 14(?) musicians. No timpani, no harp, no bassoon, no brass at all. Keyboards and some percussion. Christiane Karg, soprano. I had low expectations for scaling this work down, but I was surprised.

The clarity of the playing in this size ensemble revealed something of the members' individual styles, particularly the string players who are seldom allowed to stand out. Concertmaster Daishin Kashimoto did excellent solo work. There were only 5 string players, one each of clarinet (of course), oboe, flute. I guess they couldn't have windy brass players spreading germs and viruses around.

I didn't much miss anything. Somehow there were substitutes for every sound that wasn't there. A keyboard doubled for a harp. The oboe sounded like an English horn when it had to, the flute like a piccolo. I didn't even miss the brass, which I didn't expect. The only disappointment was that big crescendo near the end of the third movement -- it hasn't got the same impact without timpani. But I wasn't dry-eyed at the end, so it was effective. And under the circumstances, it was heroic.


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## Skilmarilion

I tried out the free pass and really enjoyed the experience of having so many great concert performances available on demand. It is probably worth paying for even if you don't manage to spend lots of time on these. 

Just a few of the concerts I viewed on there recently:

Mahler 3 - Elīna Garanča, Lorenzo Viotti
Mahler 2 - Gerhild Romberger, Andris Nelsons, et al.
Messiaen Turangalila - Rattle, Aimard, Murail
Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1 - Nelsons, Baiba Skride
Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 2 - Yefim Bronfman, Tugan Sokhiev


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## Open Book

If there is a silver lining to this pandemic, it is that members of the Berlin Philharmonic have been performing chamber music live, keeping a distance from each other onstage. It's a replacement for their full-orchestra schedule.

I'm loving it. You get to really appreciate their individual talents. I wish they would keep up the chamber music even after things go back to normal. I would pay extra for it. I don't know of any live stream available for chamber music.

Yesterday they presented "An Evening in Vienna" featuring their two Austrian clarinettists.

"This concert of the Berlin Phil Series takes us to Vienna. The star guest of the programme is the clarinet as the protagonist in two works created in Vienna: Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, and Beethoven’s “Gassenhauer Trio”. While Beethoven presents an otherwise rarely-seen good humour in his trio, Mozart’s quintet radiates above all delicate noblesse. Our two Austrian principal clarinetists Wenzel Fuchs and Andreas Ottensamer present the two works with colleagues from the strings section of the orchestra."

"Wenzel Fuchs clarinet, Andreas Ottensamer clarinet, Cornelia Gartemann violin, Daishin Kashimoto violin, Ludwig Quandt cello, Naoko Shimizu viola, Romano Tommasini violin, Julien Quentin piano, Knut Weber violoncello"


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## gartho

*DCH Audio glitches?*

I've just joined 'talkclassical' and have enjoyed catching up with this thread. As many of you commented, the Gerharer / Harding _Wunderhorn_ performance was super. I've been a DCH subscriber for just over a year. Recently, I've noticed occasional audio glitches ("burps") of about a half-second in duration, maybe once every 3-4 minutes. I see no problems at all with video quality. Did not encounter this until a couple months ago, and I don't have this issue on youtube. Wondering if others encounter this? This forum is the only contact I'm likely to have with anyone else using DCH, so I'd appreciate comments.


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## Becca

I used to encounter those fractional second glitches some years ago but not recently to my knowledge, and not that frequently. It likely has more to do with your connection and/or the local server that they use, than DCH itself.


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## Open Book

I've never experienced audio-only glitches. Instead I get the whole thing freezing up, a terrible thing. It hasn't happened lately. It's probably my service provider.


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## Open Book

The Berliners have been playing music for chamber orchestra or smaller for weeks. Last Saturday they played baroque music which I never expected. Music of Bach, Vivaldi, and Handel. It was great, I never expected them to be so persuasive in this music. Well, except for a few issues. The harp player romanticized the Handel harp concerto with elastic tempi and the bassoon player wasn't quite idiomatic, either. Still enjoyable.

They did without their Facebook experiment this time. They had been appearing live on Facebook after the concerts for the past few weeks. A few musicians would be interviewed in the hall or in their separate locations by Sarah Willis, the orchestra's extroverted French horn player. Not all of them were good interview subjects. Oboist Albrecht Mayer is funny, but his potty mouth is a hazard of a live broadcast. The number of viewers was under 1000 and they stopped displaying the number. But it was kind of fun to watch.


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## gartho

Yes, occasionally I get freeze-ups too. It seems to be a bad day thing -- either I see several freeze-ups in one viewing session, or the whole session plays perfectly. Fortunately, those bad days are rare.

I want to close the loop on my comment of 12-may-2020 about little audio-only glitches, which would occur every 2-5 minutes. The problem seems to have been related to my Samsung Blu-Ray player, which I was using for streaming. Now, streaming directly thru the app on the Sony TV, that problem is gone.


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## Open Book

The Berlin Philharmonic is back to playing before audiences during this pandemic, with the hall at about 20% of capacity. Shorter concerts, no intermission. No masks, either, among most audience members, which is puzzling.

They went from chamber pieces in the summer to small-orchestra pieces this fall. 6-foot seating was adhere to. I thought they would stay small but today they were back to a full orchestra. Brass and woodwinds were set more apart but strings were back to their usual crowded seating.

I wonder if the orchestra is playing in a COVID bubble like some sports leagues. I doubt it. We'll see how it goes, I hope they stay safe. 

Today's concert conducted by Daniel Barenboim was wonderful, a performance of Smetana's " Má Vlast", which you don't hear very often in its entirety. Beautiful playing from every section.


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## Open Book

Today's concert started with two pieces for string orchestra, Andrew Norman's "Sabina" and Richard Strauss's "Metamorphosen". It finished with Shostakovich's 9th symphony.

For an encore they dared to play John Cage's 4'33" and didn't have the nerve to wait around for applause. It was probably meant as a protest of Angela Merckel's new pandemic lockdown measures in Germany which will start next week and which will impact their concerts.


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## Dan Ante

I had it 2-3 years ago and found it most enjoyable but did not renew as chamber music is my preference.


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## Open Book

Dan Ante said:


> I had it 2-3 years ago and found it most enjoyable but did not renew as chamber music is my preference.


Do you know of any chamber music subscription sources online?


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## Dan Ante

Open Book said:


> Do you know of any chamber music subscription sources online?


Sorry I don't know of any.


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## Open Book

Dan Ante said:


> I had it 2-3 years ago and found it most enjoyable but did not renew as chamber music is my preference.


Members of the Berlin Philharmonic are this week doing chamber music in honor of Beethoven's 250th birthday.

They did Beethoven's works for horns and woodwinds yesterday, most enjoyable. For the next three days (Tue-Thu) they will play the complete string quartets organized into early, middle, late. The programs start at 2:00 PM Eastern time (U.S.), so today's program is in a few minutes.

The programs are streams but they will go into the archive for re-watching.

Sorry I didn't post about this sooner.


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## Kiki

https://news.digitalconcerthall.com/hires

"Hi-Res Audio is now available in the Digital Concert Hall mobile apps and for Apple TV."

"Hi-Res Audio will soon be available for more TVs and the website. At a later date, you will also receive the live broadcasts from the Philharmonie Berlin in studio quality."

Paying for lossy audio is a no-go for me, so it's good to see that DCH is moving in the right direction; but until DCH makes lossless audio available to the desktop (website), I'm still sitting on the fence, occasionally using one of those free 7-day tickets that came with their box sets when something really arouses my interest.


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## mbhaub

I listen to DCH using the Roku channel and the sound is utterly terrific, to put it mildly. The Roku HDMI output goes through a hi-end Sony multichannel receiver and there if there's any kind of loss, I sure as heck don't hear it. The sound is at least as good as any CD or Blu Ray disk. Will their Hi-Res really make a difference? 

But going back to some older comments: I have been vexed with freezes on their streams as of late. Maybe it's the internet provider or I need a better router, but whatever the reason is, it's really annoying.


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## progmatist

gartho said:


> Yes, occasionally I get freeze-ups too. It seems to be a bad day thing -- either I see several freeze-ups in one viewing session, or the whole session plays perfectly. Fortunately, those bad days are rare.
> 
> I want to close the loop on my comment of 12-may-2020 about little audio-only glitches, which would occur every 2-5 minutes. The problem seems to have been related to my Samsung Blu-Ray player, which I was using for streaming. Now, streaming directly thru the app on the Sony TV, that problem is gone.


It also depends on how many of your neighbors are using the internet at the time you're watching. At least here in the States, where cable remains the only viable option for anything approaching true broadband.



Kiki said:


> https://news.digitalconcerthall.com/hires
> 
> "Hi-Res Audio is now available in the Digital Concert Hall mobile apps and for Apple TV."
> 
> "Hi-Res Audio will soon be available for more TVs and the website. At a later date, you will also receive the live broadcasts from the Philharmonie Berlin in studio quality."
> 
> Paying for lossy audio is a no-go for me, so it's good to see that DCH is moving in the right direction; but until DCH makes lossless audio available to the desktop (website), I'm still sitting on the fence, occasionally using one of those free 7-day tickets that came with their box sets when something really arouses my interest.


The AppleTV is incapable of playing Hi-Res audio, as are most mobile devices. They're all limited to 16/48, and will downsample anything above that. Paying extra for Hi-Res audio is kind of pointless. Not DCH which doesn't charge extra for Hi-Res audio, but for most other services, most definitely.


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## Helgi

I usually watch on an iPad with an external DAC (iFi Hip-dac) and headphones, a nice hi-res portable setup.


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## Open Book

Anyone see the last two concerts? June 19th, Philippe Jaroussky, countertenor, singing Vivaldi and Rossini. Haydn "Bear" and Mozart "Jupiter" symphonies, Jean-Christoff Spinosi conducting.

Last weekend a medley of American music, Bernstein and Williams, with hyperactive percussionist Martin Grubinger and friends, Wayne Marshall conducting.

Both concerts out of the ordinary. I had never heard of Spinosi and am a bit wary of countertenors. But the concert was outstanding. the classical era music sounding fresh, the vocalist and choice of repertoire excellent.

Wayne Marshall conducted impressively and played piano in Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. He had previously played it with Berlin in the mid 1990's. It's a crime he had to wait so long for a return visit.


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## mbhaub

I saw the 19th concert - although the music and period aren't my favorite, I really enjoyed the concert. The counter tenor voice is so weird, but damn, that guy could sing! I had never heard of Spinosi - what a fine, lively, animated conductor who exudes his love of the music and his understanding of it. There were a few mannerisms in the Jupiter that seemed odd, but all things considered it was a joyous concert. I was surprised at how few people the Philharmonie let in. This weekend might be a good time to catch up on the American stuff, although the selections aren't my thing; really don't like Rhapsody.


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## Open Book

mbhaub said:


> I saw the 19th concert - although the music and period aren't my favorite, I really enjoyed the concert. The counter tenor voice is so weird, but damn, that guy could sing! I had never heard of Spinosi - what a fine, lively, animated conductor who exudes his love of the music and his understanding of it. There were a few mannerisms in the Jupiter that seemed odd, but all things considered it was a joyous concert. I was surprised at how few people the Philharmonie let in. This weekend might be a good time to catch up on the American stuff, although the selections aren't my thing; really don't like Rhapsody.


Spinosi has recorded a lot of Vivaldi opera excerpts and I presume normally performs baroque music with smaller ensembles. He brought great nimbleness and even dance-like qualities to parts of the Jupiter, which worked for me.

Some of the American music was a showcase for the percussionists involved. This may not appeal to everyone, I didn't need the electric guitar, but I was wowed by most of it.


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