# Best Orchestra Concert that You’ve Ever Attended



## mahlernerd

Please include the performer(s)/group(s) names, the pieces on the program, and why you picked this particular concert. For me it is the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's performance of Carmina Burana, absolutely marvelous. I am hoping and praying to God that I can attend the Berliner Philharmoniker's possible tour this November, where they are performing Charles Ives' _Central Park in the Dark_, Andrew Norman's _Unstuck_, and Strauss's _Till Eulenspiegel_ and _Ein Heldenleben_. I chose the DSO concert because I remember being blown away by the size and power of the orchestra and choir performing, such a magical experience.


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## Ulfilas

https://www.medici.tv/en/concerts/k...treal-symphony-orchestra-jean-yves-thibaudet/

This concert.

Otherwise, here in New Zealand, Simone Young conducting Bruckner's 5th and 8th with the NZSO.


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## Manxfeeder

I've never been to a classical concert that I've been blown away by, and I feel bad about that. I guess I just don't know how to pick them. I've stopped attending them, which is a shame, I guess. 

Jazz and R&B/soul concerts, though, there's another story.

So far the "best" concert I've been to was Joshua Bell and the Academy playing two Mozart concerti. The ensemble playing was incredibly tight and balanced. Of course, it was a little distracting to have two young co-eds behind me who were there to swoon over Mr. Bell, but I guess that's part of the live experience. Anyway, I had to leave at intermission because I had to get up early, so I know the young ladies appreciated the clearer view.


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## Becca

Zubin Mehta and the Los Angeles Philharmonic doing the Mahler 2nd a _very_ long time ago ... That one just convinced me, if I didn't already need convincing, to avoid Zubin Mehta concerts in the future  Fortunately he left L.A. not long after and we got Carlo Maria Giulini instead.


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## Becca

On a more serious note, I can't say that any have 'blown me away' although there have been many memorable ones over the decades. Interestingly many of them were also Mahler concerts, including Barbirolli/9th, Abbado/3rd and Solti/5th. Others of note have been with Giulini, Rattle (when much younger) and Colin Davis.


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## Kjetil Heggelund

That's a seldom scene for me. In February a saw Mahler's 9th with the Oslo Phil./Vasily Petrenko and I and man in seat beside me were the first to stand up. I always love to see a big orchestra concert! I remember seeing SF Symphony playing Peter Maxwell Davies in mid 90's, which made him my favorite contemporary composer, but which piece was that? Since I'm a guitar guy, I love a concert I saw with Pepe Romero playing the Aranjuez and a really cool concerto by Lorenzo Palomo. Oh! And Norwegian violinist Henning Kraggerud playing Carl Nielsen concerto was really something.


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## MrMeatScience

I saw Michael Tilson Thomas in Mahler 9 when he was guest conducting here a year or so ago, that was definitely high up the list. I mostly go to operas -- I was at Placido Domingo's 4000th performance, which was in Simon Boccanegra, shortly before his fall from grace. That's definitely one of the better performances I've been to. I can't believe he's physically capable of doing what he does at his age.


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## Becca

Now if we add operas into the mix then there are a few...
Verdi - Falstaff - LAPO & Carlo Maria Giulini with Renato Bruson
Strauss - Salome - Royal Opera & Christoph von Dohnanyi with Maria Ewing
Britten - Peter Grimes - Royal Opera & Colin Davis with Jon Vickers (on tour in LA)
and even a complete Ring Cycle in Seattle. I don't remember the conductor (!) but it featured Alberto Remedios and Rita Hunter


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## Knorf

Too many to name, and some would be people or ensembles no one here knows. But here are a few:

Schönberg: Variations, Op. 31, Bruckner: Symphony No. 5. Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Riccardo Chailly. Do I need to explain why this was awesome? I was visiting Amsterdam, the performances were extraordinary... And I went to the concert with a woman I was in love with.

Stockhausen: _Mixtur_. Ensemble Modern, Peter Eötvös. It was in Darmstadt, oh and Stockhausen himself was there, running the electronics. Again, an extraordinary performance of extraordinary repertoire.

Ligeti: Piano Concerto. Florent Boffard, soloist; Ensemble InterContemporain, David Robertson. Again a superb performance of an incredible piece. Also on the program were pieces by Iannis Xenakis and Joël-François Durand, and Stravinsky's _L'Histoire du Soldat_, which was just ok. I think they didn't rehearse It! Everything else was amazing.

Sibelius: Symphony No. 7, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Esa-Pekka Salonen. Absolutely stunning! Also programmed: a very fine Ravel _Mother Goose_ suite, and a terrible Beethoven 7. Luckily the terrible Beethoven didn't ruin the fantastic Sibelius 7. Again, I think they didn't rehearse Beethoven, and it was poor.

Richard Strauss: _Also sprach Zarathustra_. San Francisco Symphony, Herbert Blomstedt, who is an underrated Strauss conductor. Again, a terrific performance, and the loudest acoustic musical sound I have heard anywhere, ever. Glorious! I don't remember the rest of the program.

Hindemith: Concert Music for brass and strings, Op. 50. Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Riccardo Muti. Superb in every way! Also on the program, a tremendous performance of the Mussorgsky/Ravel _Pictures at an Exhibition_.


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## Simplicissimus

Becca said:


> Zubin Mehta and the Los Angeles Philharmonic doing the Mahler 2nd a _very_ long time ago ... That one just convinced me, if I didn't already need convincing, to avoid Zubin Mehta concerts in the future  Fortunately he left L.A. not long after and we got Carlo Maria Giulini instead.


I could very well have been at that same concert! The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, oh yes. The thing is, when I attended concerts in LA during my late adolescence, which I did frequently, I was blown away every time. Of course I can't remember what was on the programs in much detail, and the program notes that I carefully scrapbooked, well, those went missing at some point years ago during one of my trans-continental or international moves. After the concerts, the other music students and I would go to some all-night dive and talk about the performance and a thousand other things through the night. So what I'm saying is that I don't think any concert I have experienced in my adulthood and old age could be as marvelous as those I experienced during my most formative years.


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## MarkW

I went to lots of BSO concerts in Symphony Hall during my formative years, so can't pinpoint a most memorable. Also CSO/Solti/Mahler 5 on tour, same/Enigma Variations, Cleveland/Boulez/Symphony Hall, Cleveland/Maazel in two separate tour venues, Minnesota/Marriner/tour, New Mexico/Takeda half a dozen times in Albuquerque (most memorable a Berlioz Requiem), Louisville/Slatkin in situ.
Also Britten's Death in Venice at the Met, where I sat a row behind and several seats over from Bill Bradley.


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## Manxfeeder

seitzpf said:


> After the concerts, the other music students and I would go to some all-night dive and talk about the performance and a thousand other things through the night. So what I'm saying is that I don't think any concert I have experienced in my adulthood and old age could be as marvelous as those I experienced during my most formative years.


You've put your finger on what I'm missing with classical concerts now. When I was in college surrounded by music majors, we were discovering everything for the first time, so everything we did was an event. Today, the times when I've gone to a classical concert, even with friends, we're talking beforehand about family or business, and afterward, we're just tired and go home.


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## Judith

Didn't have to think about this one.
Joshua Bell
ASMF

Performed in 2018 Bridgewater Hall, Manchester. 

Vivaldi. Four Seasons
Beethoven Symphony no 2

Wonderful performance. We were sitting at the front so felt part of everything. 

Met J Bell afterwards as he was signing autographs. Got two and a photo. Took me a while to come back to earth


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## Manxfeeder

Judith said:


> Didn't have to think about this one.
> Joshua Bell
> ASMF


Hey, we both picked the same performers!


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## Judith

Manxfeeder said:


> Hey, we both picked the same performers!


My favourite violinist and orchestra. Where did you see them?


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## Manxfeeder

Judith said:


> My favourite violinist and orchestra. Where did you see them?


When they visited Nashville. We have a great symphony hall, and they were well suited to the occasion.


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## Knorf

If I include best opera I've attended, that's tough as well, but a clear leader would be Wagner's _Tristan and Isolde_, with Jane Eaglen and Ben Heppner, Seattle Opera, Armin Jordan. This is was the first run of this famous production, and some say was the best. Everything about it was tremendous. I've never been so mesmerized by four hours of adagio and two people singing about how doomed they are and how much they love each other! It shouldn't work, but because of Wagner's genius music, it does.


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## Templeton

Semyon Bychkov and the Vienna Philharmonic, performing Franz Schmidt's wonderful Second Symphony, as well as Brahms's Third Symphony, at the London Proms. This was topped off with an encore of Elgar's 'Nimrod', resulting in a noticeable frisson throughout the audience, as the first notes emerged. The highlight for me though was the Schmidt symphony, one of my very favourite works and so rarely performed on these shores.


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## Heck148

Live concerts are the best!! there's nothing like it, and even the best recording cannot duplicate the audio-visual thrill of live performance...
I've heard so many wonderful concerts - the greatest live concert I've ever heard was the *Solti/CSO performing Mahler 5 in Carnegis Hall - 3/70...*this concert has attained a rather "legendary" status [well-deserved]...It was really incredible, the conducting, the amazing virtuosity of the orchestra, great playing throughout...I had heard most of the world's greatest orchestras by then, and this was simply on a different level....the end of the symphony was unbelievable - loudest acoustical sound I've ever heard, and Trumpet I [A. Herseth] was the single loudest human being I've ever heard [He also totally aced all the tricky soft stuff]!! orchestra was going totally nuts volume-wise, with the trumpet just soaring, blazing over the top - no strained, forced sound, just clean, full tone, incredibly loud and pure....just soared over the orchestra...
The audience went crazy - instant SO - wild applause, whistles, yells, hoots, hollering, like at a football game or a rock concert...it went on non-stop for 35 minutes at least...finally Solti came out for the XXXteenth time, and dragged the concertmaster off - <<We've got a plane to catch!!>>

Many years later, maybe c. '89 - same forces, *Solti/CSO *- performed Shostakovich #8 in Boston Symphony Hall...that was really amazing, too...shattering experience - even better than their great live recording for London/Decca.

I heard *Solti/CSO* several times in early 70s @ Carnegie Hall - all unforgettable - great concerts - Ein Heldenleben, Bruckner Sym #7, Brahms #1, Tchaik Sym #5...

So many more great, honorable mentions, these sort of ottomh:
*Ormandy/Phila* - at Eastman Theater, Rochester - Schuman NE Triptych, Brahms Sym #2...wow!! what a show...wonderful Schuman - thrilling Brahms...
*Salonen/CSO*, Rite of Spring, Petrushka, Mahler Sym #9 - just a couple of years ago
*Stokowski/American Sym* - c 1964 - Lincoln Center [I think] - Also Sprach Zarathustra, Ives Sym #4, a Rorem piece...this was right around the time Stoki recorded the Ives. I was still in High School - was totally blown away!!
*Ormandy/Phila *- at Saratoga Perf Arts Ctr - Beethoven Sym #7, Sibelius #2
*Levine/BSO* - Rite of Spring, Schoenberg 5 Pieces for Orch
*Nelsons/BSO* - Shostakovich Syms 4,7, Mahler 6....very excellent performances.....
I probably missed a few....


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## Open Book

MarkW said:


> I went to lots of BSO concerts in Symphony Hall during my formative years, so can't pinpoint a most memorable.


Tennstedt, BSO doing Bruckner's 8th symphony probably around 1978 stands out for me. Also Qzawa and Strauss's Ein Heldenleben.


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## Open Book

Too many good ones to name. There's nothing like a live concert. I hope I will one day feel comfortable attending one again.

I was blown away by a concert performance of Wagner's Das Rheingold on Boston Symphony's outdoor summer stage led by Andris Nelsons. No costumes or staging, just the singers standing in front of orchestra with minimal physical interaction. Part of the fun was that it was a lovely summer evening and I was seated front row center - just lucked out with the tickets.


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## Brahmsian Colors

As a high school student back in the 1950s, with violinst Nathan Milstein and conductor Fabien Sevitzky performing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto.

In the 1970s, with Leonard Bernstein and the NY Phiharmonic performing the Schubert Fifth Symphony, Dvorak Seventh Symphony and Ravel Concerto For the Left Hand

Again, the 70s with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra playing the Rachmaninoff Second Symphony.

In 1996, the most memorable of all, with Yuri Temirkanov and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic giving the most inspiring performance I've ever heard of the Dvorak Eighth Symphony. Prodigious sounding horns, glowing cellos, wonderfully sensitive violins, absolutely gorgeous woodwinds. All there in spades.


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## mbhaub

Templeton said:


> Semyon Bychkov and the Vienna Philharmonic, performing Franz Schmidt's wonderful Second Symphony, as well as Brahms's Third Symphony, at the London Proms. This was topped off with an encore of Elgar's 'Nimrod', resulting in a noticeable frisson throughout the audience, as the first notes emerged. The highlight for me though was the Schmidt symphony, one of my very favourite works and so rarely performed on these shores.


Hey I was at that concert. The whole reason I went to London that summer. Hard to believe any orchestra could play that extraordinarily difficult Schmidt score so flawlessly. The audience roared its approval - a good sign.

Picking one concert as the best is really hard...so maybe it's one that if I could go back and hear again it would be the Mahler 6th done by the Tucson Symphony with George Hanson conducting - maybe 15 years ago? So it was the great orchestra of Cleveland, Chicago, Berlin, or London...but they played like they were possessed - it was thrilling, spooky, heart-wrenching. And they added the original 3rd hammerblow - and the original orchestration along with it. The very ending was breathtaking - those stark, angry chords tapering off to nothing. The conductor held his hands high and steady daring the audience to start clapping. He held it silent for at least 30 seconds and then you could finally breathe. I'll never forget it.


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## Open Book

mbhaub said:


> Hey I was at that concert. The whole reason I went to London that summer. Hard to believe any orchestra could play that extraordinarily difficult Schmidt score so flawlessly. The audience roared its approval - a good sign.


I love that you went to London just for a concert. And probably just for that work? I believe in pilgrimages like that.


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## Knorf

Brahmsian Colors said:


> In 1996, the most memorable of all, with Yuri Temirkanov and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic giving the most inspiring performance I've ever heard of the Dvorak Eighth Symphony. Prodigious sounding horns, glowing cellos, wonderfully sensitive violins, absolutely gorgeous woodwinds. All there in spades.


I heard Temirkanov with St. Petersburg live on tour doing Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony. It was a staggering performance! People were left in tears in, what year was this, maybe 2002 or 2003? Anyway, almost even better was their encore: "The Death of Tybalt" from Prokofiev's _Romeo and Juliet_. I've never heard a more perfect fortissimo orchestral tutti staccato in my life, and I doubt I ever will.


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## Brahmsianhorn

1983 - Israeli Philharmonic performing Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade under the night sky in front of the lit Old City walls of Jerusalem. I was 9 years old and never forgot it.

1992 - Joshua Bell performing the Brahms concerto with the Austin Symphony - I sat in the front row middle, and this started my love affair with this work

1996 - Brahms Symphony No. 1, Abbado/BPO, Carnegie Hall, I'll never forget those Berlin Phil string players' faces turning red as they gave it their all

2008 - Renee Fleming in Capriccio at the Vienna Staatsoper

2008 - Bruckner Symphony No. 8, Thielemann BPO, Berlin Philharmonie - It was so thrilling seeing my favorite symphony performed by my favorite orchestra in their home auditorium

2012 - listening to Joshua Bell outside his dressing room play through the entire Mendelssohn concerto in Portland. I was the only one there in the hallway. I was performing with the choir in the second half, and everyone else was yapping away in the dressing room. Funny enough, when he calmly strode towards the stage, Strad in hand, and the conductor Helmuth Rilling following, there was no one there to open the large door for them, so I volunteered!

2018 - Now this takes the cake, three consecutive days in August I'll never forget the rest of my life. Monday: Tristan und Isolde at Bayreuth conducted by Thielemann, I sat center middle; Tuesday: Mahler 9th with Rattle/LSO at the Salzburg Festival; Wednesday: Bruckner 9th with Barenboim/W-E Divan at the Lucerne Festival. Three of my favorite works conducted by arguably their greatest living exponents in settings to die for. Unforgettable.

If I had to choose one it would probably be the Rattle Mahler 9th.


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## Eric Zamir

mahlernerd said:


> Please include the performer(s)/group(s) names, the pieces on the program, and why you picked this particular concert. For me it is the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's performance of Carmina Burana, absolutely marvelous. I am hoping and praying to God that I can attend the Berliner Philharmoniker's possible tour this November, where they are performing Charles Ives' _Central Park in the Dark_, Andrew Norman's _Unstuck_, and Strauss's _Till Eulenspiegel_ and _Ein Heldenleben_. I chose the DSO concert because I remember being blown away by the size and power of the orchestra and choir performing, such a magical experience.


Wow, that's a tough one! There are two that come to mind, because of the setting and the substance: Summer, 1973, Tel-Aviv, I was visiting Israel on a summer youth trip (I was 16) and took a chance on going to the Huberman Concert Hall to see if anyone was selling. I managed to buy a ticket from someone who couldn't make it. Zubin Mehta, Israel Philharmonic, Lynn Harrell, Dvorak Cello Concerto, Holst, The Planets. I grew up on those pieces, and it was the first time I had heard them live. And all on the off-chance there was a ticket.
Fast forward 44 years, took my wife to Prague and Vienna for a weekend of music and fun. I had already tried online to book tickets to the Czech Philharmonic, but it had been sold out for ages. Arrived at hotel, ran to the concert hall (a few meters away), and managed to snag the two most amazing seats to a concert the same night. Behlolavek had just passed away, so it was a concert in his honor, with Semyon Bychkov, and an all-Tchaikovsky program, including the piano concerto. Another amazing, emotional evening, and at short notice. What an orchestra! What a hall! What great sound, and what a wonderful audience. Both times!


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## Kollwitz

Mahler 9, Haitink and the LSO at the Barbican in May 2017. A fantastic performance, direct, beautiful, challenging and utterly compelling. It stood comparison with the great recorded 9s I'd heard and was all the more incredible for being live.

A more leftfield choice would be a concert from March this year at Symphony Hall in Birmingham. Omer Meir Wellber replaced Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla at the last minute (well, the day before I think due to illness). Bartok's 3rd Piano Concerto, with Piotr Anderszewski, was a wonderful start to the concert. I hadn't heard it before and wanted to experience it 'fresh' in concert. It was fabulous. The second piece was Bruckner 6. Since getting into Bruckner, I'd long felt that 6 was the weakest of the mature symphonies, but over the last few months I'd completely fallen for it and it now might even be my favourite of all so I was really looking forward to hearing it live. Wellber's interpretation was fairly swift, flowing and dramatic. The CBSO were really committed and the outer movements had some utterly exhilarating moments (helped by the acoustic which is so much better than the Barbican or Festival Hall). The adagio flowed beautifully and the scherzo was gripping. In terms of sheer enjoyment, this might be top of my list, even if other performances I've seen might be seen as objectively better by many.


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## mbhaub

Open Book said:


> I love that you went to London just for a concert. And probably just for that work? I believe in pilgrimages like that.


I do it all the time. An expensive hobby, no doubt. I've traveled the US just to hear Schmidt's music. Caught the 4th in Detroit, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis, San Francisco, Dallas, Minneapolis. And Das Buch in Cleveland. But I've also traveled to hear Mahler symphonies - just hope the Mahler festival in Leipzig in 2021 isn't cancelled!


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## perdido34

Mahler 10 with Rattle/Cleveland, the only time they played together.


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## perempe

2014-04-07
Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra (=Hungarian State Opera Orchestra)
Lionel Bringuier
Hungarian State Opera House

Debussy: Prélude à l'Après-midi d'un faune
Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 1 (with Miklós Perényi)
Ravel: Daphnis et Chloé

this was perhaps my 1st real concert after some opera performances, a memorable one.
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2015-01-19
Hungarian State Opera Orchestra
Hungarian State Opera House
Tamás Vásáry (conductor)

Kodály Zoltán Peacock variations
Liszt: Hungarian Fantasy (with Mihály Berecz)
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7

This one is special for the long encore: they played Die Fledermaus overture and Brahms' Hungarian dance no. 5 twice (with different conducting styles). To be honest, the concert was 8 days later than the last performance of Die Fledermaus. yesterday I found the concert on YouTube.

---
2017-12-04
Budapest Festival Orchestra, Iván Fischer
Müpa

Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major
Bartók: Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta
Brahms: Symphony No. 3

I upgraded from my stalls left box 6 in the intermission. I attended a performance of the same symphony by the Miskolc SO a couple months earlier, did not expect night & day difference. I was wrong.
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2018-12-16
Eötvös Loránd University Orchestra & Choir, László Kovács
Rutter: Magnificat

I inquired in a letter, didn't have to purchase a ticket. Rutter's Magnificat was in the 2nd part of the concert. I didn't expect such quality from an university orchestra, the choir was excellent. there were 2 performances that day, should have stayed for the evening as well.
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2019-05-12
Danish Chamber Orchestra, Ádám Fischer
Liszt Academy

Beethoven: Symphony No. 4 / Figaro overture (encore)

Went to a free university chamber concert, calculated the intermission in the main hall, took a seat. Apart from the 1st part - an overture from Haydn and Mozart's Symphony No. 38, I missed my grandmother's 92nd birthday with relatives coming from the US. (Would do it again, Figaro overture has never sounded so good from The Budapest Philharmonic.)


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## Merl

Being a Mancunian I grew up with the Halle but was too young to see them with Barbirolli. However I did see all of the Barbirolli's predecessors at some time. Favourites? Remember a glorious Loughran Planets and Beethoven 7th and a superb Bruckner 4th with Stan. Such a shame that the orchestra was so badly run-down and underfunded in the 80s.The Free Trade Hall didn't have a great acoustic and the bar was pathetic but I miss the place.


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## caracalla

I spent my teenage years in New Zealand, where top-class international acts never came. Well, hardly ever. Menuhin turned up with his orchestra in 1970, which was beyond exciting for a 15yo. Counting down the days like a kid with an advent calendar. Did the Bach double violin concerto among other things, and I just couldn't believe how charismatic he was. Four years later we got Bernstein and the NYPO, who played Mahler's 5th to an almost hysterical audience. I couldn't wait to get back to London, where this sort of thing is always on tap, but of course it was never the same. Audiences so blasé, taking it all for granted. I have never attended a concert which gave me half the hit those did, and never will. Hunger is always the best relish.

I hasten to add that Kiwis are now far better served in this respect, so there's no need to feel sorry for them.


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## Becca

Merl said:


> Being a Mancunian I grew up with the Halle but was too young to see them with Barbirolli. However I did see all of the Barbirolli's predecessors at some time. Favourites? Remember a glorious Loughran Planets and Beethoven 7th and a superb Bruckner 4th with Stan. Such a shame that the orchestra was so badly run-down and underfunded in the 80s.The Free Trade Hall didn't have a great acoustic and the bar was pathetic but I miss the place.


I also grew up in the Manchester area when Barbirolli was in residence and even went to the Free Trade Hall a couple of times ... unfortunately not for concerts and not by any wish of mine ... school speech night. I had to wait over 8 years after moving to California to see Barbirolli conduct, and then just once, not long before he died

P.S. Merl ... I presume that you mean 'successors' :lol:


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## mahlernerd

caracalla said:


> I spent my teenage years in New Zealand, where top-class international acts never came. Well, hardly ever. Menuhin turned up with his orchestra in 1970, which was beyond exciting for a 15yo. Counting down the days like a kid with an advent calendar. Did the Bach double violin concerto among other things, and I just couldn't believe how charismatic he was. Four years later we got Bernstein and the NYPO, who played Mahler's 5th to an almost hysterical audience. I couldn't wait to get back to London, where this sort of thing is always on tap, but of course it was never the same. Audiences so blasé, taking it all for granted. I have never attended a concert which gave me half the hit those did, and never will. Hunger is always the best relish.
> 
> I hasten to add that Kiwis are now far better served in this respect, so there's no need to feel sorry for them.


I live near Ann Arbor, MI, and there is an organization called the University Musical Society (UMS) of the University of Michigan that brings in three to four world-class orchestras every year. I stumbled upon the UMS when I found that Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonia Orchestra was coming 45 minutes from where I live. Since I found that out, we have had the Montreal Metropolitan Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Budapest Festival Orchestra. Next season, that I hope they will have, they are bringing in the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Berliner Philharmoniker, Mariinsky Orchestra, and the National Symphonh Orchestra of Mexico.


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## flamencosketches

Merl said:


> Being a Mancunian I grew up with the Halle but was too young to see them with Barbirolli. However I did see all of the Barbirolli's predecessors at some time. Favourites? Remember a glorious Loughran Planets and Beethoven 7th and a superb Bruckner 4th with Stan. Such a shame that the orchestra was so badly run-down and underfunded in the 80s.The Free Trade Hall didn't have a great acoustic and the bar was pathetic but I miss the place.





Becca said:


> I also grew up in the Manchester area when Barbirolli was in residence and even went to the Free Trade Hall a couple of times ... unfortunately not for concerts and not by any wish of mine ... school speech night. I had to wait over 8 years after moving to California to see Barbirolli conduct, and then just once, not long before he died
> 
> P.S. Merl ... I presume that you mean 'successors' :lol:


I had no idea the two of you were English.

I've been to very few orchestral concerts in my life, as I just got into classical music last year. Probably the best of the bunch was Ravel's Piano Concerto, Prokofiev's 4th, & the Stravinsky Firebird Suite w/ Lionel Bringuier conducting the Atlanta SO, the soloist was Lise de la Salle, she was damn good.


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## Knorf

flamencosketches said:


> I've been to very few orchestral concerts in my life, as I just got into classical music last year.


Wow, you've really thrown yourself into it! That's awesome. I'm excited for you!

Of course I'm excited for all of us. It's an amazing, unending road through stupendous scenery. I got hooked on Classical music in my pre-teen years, and the delight in learning and exploring hasn't let up even for an instant.


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## Merl

flamencosketches said:


> I had no idea the two of you were English.
> 
> I've been to very few orchestral concerts in my life, as I just got into classical music last year. Probably the best of the bunch was Ravel's Piano Concerto, Prokofiev's 4th, & the Stravinsky Firebird Suite w/ Lionel Bringuier conducting the Atlanta SO, the soloist was Lise de la Salle, she was damn good.


I hope Becca doesn't mind me saying this but after a convo we had we discovered that we both lived in the same area of Manchester and possibly at the same time, with probably less than a quarter of a mile between our houses. However I would have been about 10 back then and Becca would have been about 80. :lol:


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## Becca

Merl said:


> I hope Becca doesn't mind me saying this but after a convo we had we discovered that we both lived in the same area of Manchester and possibly at the same time, with probably less than a quarter of a mile between our houses. However I would have been about 10 back then *and Becca would have been about 80*. :lol:


...and getting younger every day :lol: Actually I was probably long gone when Merl was born (thankfully  )


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## Merl

Becca said:


> ...and getting younger every day :lol: Actually I was probably long gone when Merl was born (thankfully  )





Becca said:


> ...and getting younger every day :lol: Actually I was probably long gone when Merl was born (thankfully  )


Hahaha. Yes you were long gone, Becca. Ive just recalled the conversation (my memory aint what it used to be). Strangely enough, i was talking to someone in one of those Google groups, years back, and we were chatting about the Free Trade Hall and we worked out we'd seen a few of the same classical gigs (and rock gigs) there. To make it even weirder I discovered that he had lived on the road opposite my old school, quarter of a mile away, and was the son of my scondary school music teacher. Small world.


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## ethan417

Before marriage and parenting, I had a season subscription to the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO).
Two concerts stand out.
I saw Ozawa conduct the Eroica.
The second fav was Rudolph Serkin and the BSO (Ozawa) performing Beethoven's 5th Concerto.


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## Animal the Drummer

Many moons ago during my High School years here in the UK a couple of our teachers got tickets for a few of us to go with them to hear Barenboim conduct the Berlin Phil in Schumann 4 and Brahms 2 in the ruins of the old Coventry Cathedral. Things would be different now, especially where the Brahms is concerned, but at that age this wasn't repertoire I was particularly bothered about hearing. The orchestra was jaw-droppingly good, however, and the surroundings were an integral part of the whole experience. Literally unforgettable.


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## DavidUK

I've been privileged to witness several outstanding performances but the one which really stands out as being astonishing was the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Douglas Boyd, performing the Symphonie Fantastique at Saffron Hall in Essex.


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## dko22

purely for musical reasons there are two which particularly stand out in my memory. Kurt Sanderling's Shosty 15th in Leipzig (in the days of the GDR) and Weller's Suk _Asrael _here in Stuttgart just months before he died.


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## Becca

A few others of note...

- Colin Davis and the LSO doing the premiere of Michael Tippett's 3rd symphony at the Royal Festival Hall
- Claudio Abbado and the LSO doing Mahler's 3rd at Usher Hall in Edinburgh during the annual festival
- Pierre Boulez and the LAPO doing Mahler's 5th under the stars at the Ojai Fesitval in the hills north of LA


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## wkasimer

About 20 or so years ago. Ben Zander conducting the Boston Philharmonic in Shostakovich's 13th, with Sergei Leiferkus, in Jordan Hall. Yevtushenko read his poetry for the performance.


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## Waehnen

At the turn of the century Esa-Pekka Salonen conducted his own LA Variations in Helsinki. It is the only time I have yelled BRAVO -- and so did many composers I recognized with a variety of stylistic backgrounds. I have never heard as good a recording of the piece as that performance was. That is the only time I have truly felt being in the musical presence of a living genius: Esa-Pekka Salonen.


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## Chibi Ubu

I can think of two:

Utah Symphony - The Firebird (Full Ballet)/Stravinsky
Houston Symphony - Symphony No.9 "From The New World"/Dvorak

There were others...


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## tbazar

Esa-Pekka Salonen and the SFO played Rite of Spring a few weeks ago in SF. 
It was the best live performance I've experienced to date and I've been to many a concert and opera.
Second was a last second run into the symphony hall to hear Beethoven 7 conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch in Philly.
The playing was urgent and edge of your seat exciting.
The last movement literally blew my hair back.


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## John Zito

*Date*: 8:00 PM on Saturday, May 31, 2014
*Venue*: Severance Hall, Cleveland OH
*Artists*: Simone Lamsma (filling in for Janine Jansen), Vladimir Jurowski, Cleveland Orchestra

*Program*:

 Stravinsky - Scherzo Fantastique, Op. 3 (1908)
 Britten - Violin Concerto, Op. 15 (1940)
 Prokofiev - Selections from Cinderella, Op. 87 (1945)
*Reviews*:

 https://bachtrack.com/review-jurowski-lamsma-cleveland-may-2014
 https://www.cleveland.com/musicdance/2014/05/cleveland_orchestra_sees_two_b.html
 https://clevelandclassical.com/revi...h-vladimir-jurowski-and-simone-lamsma-may-29/

I picked this one because I went into the concert completely unfamiliar with any of the works, and the performances nevertheless kept me in rapt attention. I don't consider myself a very sophisticated listener, so if I attend a performance of music I've never heard before, as often as not I get lost and my mind wanders. But during this concert something clicked and the exact opposite happened.


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## dko22

Although I've mentioned two individual concerts, the more memorable public musical experiences tended to have been either in opera or in a particular cycle of works. Combine the two as in five of the nine Janacek operas --including one which has never even been performed outside the Czech lands-- in the composers home town of Brno (for the pedant he was actually born in Hukvaldy where I have also visited his museum) as I experienced in 2018 and one cam hardly miss. At least two of the performances were outstanding as well which is far from invariably the case. 

Another was a complete cycle of Arnold symphonies (though I didn't have time to stay for the 9th), again in the composer's home town of Northampton. As usual, most were performed by amateur orchestras - Arnold's serious orchestral music is hardly ever performed by professionals though fortunately there is a good choice on CD. 

Curiously in my home country of Scotland, I can't remember that many truly outstanding concerts although I've been to the Usher Hall often enough.


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## Merl

Hard to remember many and most are memories of the Halle Orchestra and the Free Trade Hall in Manchester. Saw Jimmy Loughran conduct an excellent Planets, Bruckner 6 and Brahms 3 back in the early 80s but probably my favourite memory is of Stan the Man doing a tremendous Bruckner 4 and 5 (different concerts) with the Halle at the end of the 80s. He never got the credit he deserved in Manchester partly because he was wasn't a showman, was too good for the orchestra (who still blew hot and cold so some performances were not that good - and on such occasions Stan would look bored). Plus, he was so understated and shunned publicity but the Halle were a lot tighter outfit by the time he left than they were with Loughran (for whom they could blow hot and cold in equal measure).


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## John O

Ligeti Concerto Concert (May 2019) Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
2 world renowned Ligeti interpreters and the dedicatee in the Horn Concerto

Patricia Kopachinskaya in the violin concerto
Pierre-Laurent Aimard in the piano concerto
Marie Luise Neunbecker in the Hamburg Horn Concerto
plus the Chamber Concerto
Aurora Orchestra.

This was the first concert I had been too in a while and came in the middle of a family crisis. It was a fantastic concert , there was also brilliant artwork and animation about Ligeti in the foyer. Never before have I been to a concert where every piece was exhilarating. Also Harrison Birtwistle was sitting just behind me.

The other concert I must mention was in Oxford in 2020 . Bartok's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste and Tippett's Corelli Fantasia. Two of my favourite pieces neither of which I heard live for 20 years or so. Very good but I was a slightly nervous listener as my daughter was one of the soloists.


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## Pat Fairlea

I cannot remember all of the details now, but some years ago Mrs Pat and I went to hear a college orchestra from Texas A&M University who were touring the UK. OK, they weren't the Berlin Phil or whatever, but that concert was the most purely enjoyable I have ever attended. Bernstein played with a real swing and Dvorak's New World played with charm and intensity. Finally, a glorious encore for which the orchestra simply became a big mariachi band and enjoyed themselves. Talented young people giving it their all, and an evening that they probably remember as warmly as do the audience. 

Come to think of it, a good runner-up was a recital given by an ensemble who were introduced as "The finest youth string orchestra in Kazakhstan", in a local school gymnasium. Once again, the energy and commitment of the young performers was wonderful.


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## Becca

^^ It's an interesting commentary that two of my favourite Mahler symphony performances are by youth orchestras (5th & 8th).


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## superhorn

Possibly the most memorable orchestra concert I've ever attended was back in 1976 when the late, great Claudio Abbado and the Vienna Philharmonic did concert in Carnegie Hall of Mozart's symphony no 30 and. the Bruckner 7th . The sheer sound of the Vienna Philharmonic in the Bruckner was absolutely breathtaking . They sounded like the kind of super orchestra you might hear in heaven, if heaven actually existed , not an earthly one . I wasn't aware of any "interpretation " on the part of Abbado . He and the orchestra just let the music pour out effortlessly and exuberantly .
At the end of the concert, the audience applause and cheering were so loud I had to cover my ears !


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## Wigmar

mahlernerd said:


> Please include the performer(s)/group(s) names, the pieces on the program, and why you picked this particular concert. For me it is the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's performance of Carmina Burana, absolutely marvelous. I am hoping and praying to God that I can attend the Berliner Philharmoniker's possible tour this November, where they are performing Charles Ives' _Central Park in the Dark_, Andrew Norman's _Unstuck_, and Strauss's _Till Eulenspiegel_ and _Ein Heldenleben_. I chose the DSO concert because I remember being blown away by the size and power of the orchestra and choir performing, such a magical experience.


Sviatoslav Richter in Oslo, c 1995, performing Grieg e. a. 🙏


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## Floeddie

We saw the Houston Symphony do Symphonie Fantastique by Berlioz a decade or so ago. My son really liked it a lot. A rousing offering of the Dias Irae was enjoyed by all!


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