# Best classical concert or opera you attended or saw



## Templeton (Dec 20, 2014)

I would be interested to hear from other posters about the best concerts that they have attended or seen on TV, for example, as I appreciate that not everybody has the means or ability to attend concert halls. A couple of posters have previously mentioned attending concerts, conducted by the greats such as Furtwängler and Toscanini, which would be great to hear about. Did anybody on here ever attend performances by the likes of Oistrakh or Heifetz, which would also be wonderful to hear about?

The best concert that I have attended was the Vienna Philharmonic, conducted by Semyon Bychkov, at the London Proms, in 2015. They performed Brahms's Third Symphony and Franz Schmidt's Second Symphony. 

Whilst the Brahms was very good, I thought that the VPO were holding back a little, in preparation for the highlight of the evening, the Schmidt symphony, which was simply stunning.

Schmidt's second symphony is a huge, complicated piece, with a very prominent horn section, which, if not managed properly, can distort and overwhelm the rest of orchestra. It is also a very convoluted piece, which means that the timing and co-ordination of the various orchestra sections is paramount. When this doesn't work, the gorgeous melodies throughout the piece are lost or, at least minimised. Bychkov did a wonderful job of keeping everybody together and one could see, at the end, how much the performance meant to him and the wonderful musicians of the VPO, who must have been exhausted. I cannot begin to imagine how difficult it must be to maintain the levels of concentration and precision that are required to perform this piece and all I can say is that I am in awe of anybody that does.

A wonderful conclusion to the evening was a performance of 'Nimrod' from Elgar's 'The Enigma Variations', the most quintessential of British classical pieces. 

Looking forward to hearing from others, hopefully.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

I got to see Itzhak Perlman back in 1974, third row. A lot of people were unaware of him. He did a Charles Ives Sonata for violin & piano, and then did the Bach unaccompanied sonatas for solo violin. I was blown away by his force and stamina.


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## znapschatz (Feb 28, 2016)

Sometime in the early 60s I attended a concert with Oistrakh on the fiddle with Lev Oberon (sp?) accompanying on piano. They did a wonderful performance of Prokofiev's First Violin Sonata, followed by Beethoven's Spring Sonata. Both were my first hearing of these pieces. First thing next day I ran out and bought the 33 rpm recording, which subsequently I wore out on my phonograph. 

(I have more to report, but have just been called away by my wife. Will return later.)


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## Oldhoosierdude (May 29, 2016)

We are so fortunate to have the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Every performance is worth attending. 
Last year I was blessed enough to attend Beethoven's Ninth. 
Fricsay good? I'm sure not. But the live experience made up for any shortcomings. And it really was a good performance.


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

Pogorelich playing the Chopin Sonata #3 back in the early 1990s at the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, Ca. He had recorded it already playing the 3rd movt Largo slower than anyone previously which inspired me to do the same. Now I got to see him do the same thing live from the 2nd row.

Edit: Yup, Becca's post below reminded me that it's the Ambassador Auditorium, not Hall.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Vladimir Horowitz at the Ambassador Auditorium in Los Angeles
Sir John Barbirolli doing the Mahler 9th with the Los Angeles Philharmonic shortly before his death.
Jacqueline Du Pre doing the Elgar Cello Concerto with the LA Phil and Zubin Mehta
Carlo Maria Giulini conducting Verdi's Falstaff with the Renato Bruson and the LA Phil. 
Strauss' Salome with Maria Ewing, conducted by Christoph von Dohnányi at Covent Garden
Britten's Peter Grimes with Jon Vickers, conducted by Sir Colin Davis when the Royal Opera was in Los Angeles in 1984


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## Chronochromie (May 17, 2014)

Pierre-Laurent Aimard playing Ligeti's 3 books of Études and Musica Ricercata.


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

One that sticks in my memory is some time about 1974 or 5, in London, hearing Andre Tchaikovsky play Liszt' s B Minor piano Sonata. The hall was plunged into total darkness apart from one diffuse spotlight picking out the pianist. Not the most note-perfect performance I have ever heard, but definitely the most spine-chillingly dramatic.


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## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

Becca said:


> Jacqueline Du Pre doing the Elgar Cello Concerto with the LA Phil and Zubin Mehta


I forgot about my seeing a Glenn Gould concert at age 11 or so, but I think seeing Jacqueline Du Pre play the Elgar trumps that (if I dare use the word 'trump'. )


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

As this thread topic was done before (and I said back then an all-Prokofiev concert and a Glazunov ballet as tied for me), I will speak of my flute-playing history...

Going back in my memories......

I've done some pretty amazing things in the last 8 years, but some especially memorable performances I've ever played in were: Stravinsky_ Rite of Spring_, Sibelius Symphony No. 6, my own Junior and Senior recitals (not to be uppity!). Those were performances where I played my absolute best, and went into this kind of "zone." I made basically no errors, it was 100% focus and calm. Those are very special moments for a musician. _Rite of Spring_ might have been pushing it, but that was very memorable anyhow.

Performing Britten's _Albert Herring_ (4 times as school operas are often done) a couple years ago was also gnarly. Not because I was perfect (I never had a perfect night with that opera >_<), but because_ it was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life_ but I somehow did it. Yes, it was harder than competitions, or grad school auditions. Major life accomplishment. Made me _really _want to play opera for the rest of my life, if I could get a job like that...


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## dieter (Feb 26, 2016)

Klaus Tennstedt, Mahler in Melbourne, 1985 or so.
Svetlanov Rachmaninoff 1 in Melbourne, late 80's. He held the score aloft during the applause.
Worst, Cleveland Bruckner 4, Melbourne Town Hall, conducted by Leinsdorf. The Brass were slouched in boredom in between having their 'blows'.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Renée Fleming singing Desdemona besides Doming in Otello at the Metropolitan opera as young boy..
Later her Alcina in Paris and a few other recitals by this gorgeous voice .


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## Templeton (Dec 20, 2014)

znapschatz said:


> Sometime *in the early 60s I attended a concert with Oistrakh* on the fiddle with Lev Oberon (sp?) accompanying on piano. They did a wonderful performance of Prokofiev's First Violin Sonata, followed by Beethoven's Spring Sonata. Both were my first hearing of these pieces. First thing next day I ran out and bought the 33 rpm recording, which subsequently I wore out on my phonograph.
> 
> (I have more to report, but have just been called away by my wife. Will return later.)


Wow, just wow, what an utterly incredible performance that must have been. I am so jealous.

Thanks to everybody else, who has posted, with their memories, which are every bit as interesting. Some wonderful memories here and in some cases, a sad reminder of those who left us far too young.

Hopefully, others will keep posting with more memories and If I can find the previous post that apparently asked the same question, then I will post the link.


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## Templeton (Dec 20, 2014)

I think that this may be it but it dates from 2010 and I didn't see it, when I did a quick search. I would have expected more responses and maybe there will be, now that we have so many more members of the forum.

http://www.talkclassical.com/8244-best-classical-music-event.html


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## agoukass (Dec 1, 2008)

Andras Schiff performing and conducting Haydn as well as Schumann with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Sir Neville Marriner conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic in an all Mozart program. 
Alicia de Larrocha performing the Schumann Piano Concerto.
Jane Eaglen as Brunnhilde in "Die Walkure" at the Seattle Opera.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

dieter said:


> Klaus Tennstedt, Mahler in Melbourne, 1985 or so.


Which symphony?


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## kanishknishar (Aug 10, 2015)

*Ah! I am jealous of you geezers!*

Lucky people y'all. Very lucky.

I have only been attending concerts for the past three years (or two?) and have only seen a couple of classical music concerts.
My most memorable one was Charles Dutoit conducting Symphony Orchestra of India. The second best performance of the work I have ever heard (the first is Celibidache's). But it was live so it's different.


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## kanishknishar (Aug 10, 2015)

agoukass said:


> Andras Schiff performing and conducting Haydn as well as Schumann with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
> Sir Neville Marriner conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic in _an all Mozart program_.
> *Alicia de Larrocha performing* the Schumann Piano Concerto.
> Jane Eaglen as Brunnhilde in "Die Walkure" at the Seattle Opera.


Which works were played?
_Which works of Mozart were played?
_*Who was the conductor? Which orchestra played?*


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## Reichstag aus LICHT (Oct 25, 2010)

Britten's _War Requiem_ at the Royal Festival Hall in 1986. Conducted by Andrew Davis, with superb soloists: Julia Varady, Robert Tear and Fischer-Dieskau. I was sitting in the first row, almost directly in front of the latter, who was - and remains - an inspirational singer for me. To hear an artist of his calibre sing a part written for him by one of my favourite composers was thrilling enough, but to observe this fine artist working at such close range made it even more special. I can still hear him enunciate, with great pain and pathos, the words "the pity of war" in _Strange Meeting_, and the memory still shivers my spine.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

I forgot the Last Night of The proms with Renée Fleming, dresses as Britannia a few year back, my granddad has friends in high places.


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## jaypee65 (Aug 24, 2015)

There are so many... off the top of my head, I'd say, in no particular order
-Rosenkavalier with Lott/von Otter/Bonney/Moll and Carlos Kleiber at the Vienna Staatsoper in 1994
-Monteverdi's Poppea at the Theater an der Wien with Marc Minkowski conducting (late 90s)
-Monteverdi's Poppea in a concert version with John Eliot Gardiner (Vienna Konzerthaus) (1993 or 1994)
-Pierre-Laurent Aimard with all of Ligeti's Études (late 90s)
-Die Walküre with Waltraud Meier/Placido Domingo/Daniel Baremboim at the Vienna Staatsoper (1996)
-So many concerts with Nikolaus Harnoncourt... just a few: the four Brahms symphonies in Graz, a couple of St.Matthew Passions, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis last summer in Graz (which was just released on Sony), Haydn's Armida with Bartoli
-Glass' Einstein on the Beach in Berlin two years ago
-Alban Berg Quartet and Sabine Meyer playing Brahms clarinet quintet in 1998
-Mahler's 7th with Abbado/BPO at Vienna's Musikverein (the very last concert of Abbado as music director of the BPO)

I'm probably forgetting a few...


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