February 2011

Sun 19 Feb 2011 - LSO Discovery Family Concert: In The Woods

Janet Stone
To the organisers of to-day's 'In The Woods'. Thank you for a superb experience. My grandchildren and I thoroughly enjoyed every part of the day as did the rest of the family who were all at the concert. My grand-daughter, Bethany, sat in the orchestra with her clarinet by very kind invitation of Philip Cobb, and 'tickled us pink' when she stood up with the orchestra for the applause! Thank you again.

Ursula Coles
What a brilliant afternoon of music & fun we had today at the LSO family concert.  To see so many youngsters with their families participating and learning about the role of an orchestra and of the differing tones & sounds from each section was pure joy.  Thank you all so very much. As silver- haired grandparents we can't wait until the next event in May.

Justine Mullick
The concert was wonderful. I took my 3 year old and 7 year old and both loved it. We've been to other concerts in this series and Rachel Leach is definitely the best presenter. She has an excellent understanding of how to keep the audience's attention. Thanks for a great afternoon's music.

Duncan Clubb
Just wanted to say it was a great concert. My 7 year old daughter really enjoyed it and even managed to play along on her trumpet. Keep these going, they are super concerts and I intend to keep coming (we've probably been to at least half a dozen or more so far). Many thanks.

Jon Turnbull
You were asking for feedback on the Family Concert on Saturday.
 
The presenter, Rachel Leach, was very good indeed. It was a fun event.
 
I thought the Hungry Wolf piece worked best, as it got the audience joining in.
 
The Wild Dove was also very good, as Rachel explained how the music reflected the story.
 
We didn't have time to go to the pre-concert events, but will aim to do so in the future, if possible.
 
My only criticisms would be:
 
1. More, please! The music was so nice that it would have nice to have more of it/other pieces.
 
2. Children. There were quite a few children who were much younger than 7. Although it is good to introduce children of any age to music, I don't think it is fair on the rest of the audience to have 2 - 4 year olds wandering around, crying etc. I really think that it should be made clearer that the event is for 7 year olds and upwards, or for those children who are able to pay attention and enjoy it fully. Some 5 and 6 year olds are able to listen and participate, while others are not. There was a girl of around 3 near us who was bored quite quickly, crying, having to be taken in and out etc, and it wasn't very fair on my children, who were trying to listen.
 
I hope that's helpful.

Rachel Hicks
Really enjoyable - just sorry we didn't get to hear all of Peter & the Wolf. Appreciate that it doesn't require full orchestral forces but the children know it so well that they were very disappointed.
 
Who were the children on stage with the orchestra? They were neither mentioned in the programme nor by the presenter - my children wanted to know whether they might be able to join them one day...
 
First visit to one of these concerts, though, and although we travelled down from York, it won't be the last.

Andrea Corbett
I attended the Family Perforanc on Sat 19th Feb at the Barbican with my 7 year old son and just wanted to tell you how much we both enjoyed it. My son doesn't yet play an instrument but I hoped that this opportunity would introduce him to live music and inspire him - and it did that and more.It was exciting and entertaining and educational and just the right length for children. Thank you so much. We will be telling everyone about our experience and of cousre making a return visit.

Mrs Yvonne Fung
As a family, we had a wonderful and very memorable time at the "In the woods" concert.

My husband came along with me and my daughter and unexpectly he thoroughly immersed himself in the workshops and pre-concert activities and ENJOYED himself !!! He couldn't believe that time can go so quickly.
 
Two factors which made this concert so enjoyable were:
(1) The narration which described the story portrayed by the music. This brought a new dimension to music.
(2) Children participation. It was wonderful for my daughter to be able to join in with the orchestra. It certainly lift spirits when you see so many enthusiastic future musicians hard at work.
 
A minor suggestion to perfect the day would be that for audience participation in the singing, the lyrics could either be in the style of karaoké or simply project all the lyrics onto the screen as the words appearing in short phrases cannot keep in time with the music.
 
Fully recommended to all!

Linda E. Duffy
There wasn't a bored child in the house! My 7 year old loved singing the Hungry Wolf and enjoyed hearing how the sounds made up the story. Letting the little girl conduct the orchestra was genius! Thank you for a great afternoon.

Thu 17 Feb 2011 - Harding/Jansen

David Beal
Daniel Harding is a wonderful conductor, and he and the LSO gave a marvelous performance. However,the highlight of the evening, for me, was the breathtaking interpretation of Brahms Violin Concerto by Janine Jansen. Truly superb.

Alan Thorpe
I would, on the whole, agree with the general comments of the reviewers regarding the playing quality. I would also wholeheartedly agree with Janine Jansen's gesture of giving the bouquet to the oboist - the playing was excellent. The choice of Brahms, Wagner and Strauss for a programme was a good one and was justified by its performance.

I was, however, not so favourably inclined towards the "Fred and Ginger" item. I am not, despite no longer being in the first flush of youth, automatically dismissive of anything composed in the current century. My background as a musician involved in all fields of musical endeavour has conditioned me to look for and recognise "good music" in a wide range of genres and guises. Indeed, having had a solid grounding in orchestral, jazz and dance band work, I was rather looking forward to a piece that promised to cover all those bases. The reality, unfortunately, fell well short of its target - the title could just as easily have been "Bread and Ninja" for all the relevance the music conveyed to me. Writing an orchestral score is undoubtedly a time-consuming and demanding task but attempting to describe this composition's fragmented outcome in a word leaves me pondering a choice of "disparate" or "desperate". Fred and Ginger undoubtedly had their 'creative differences' (hence a reason to project a taste
of arhythmic and discordant elements) but to sum up their life's work in such a fashion was undeserved.

Thu 10 Feb 2011 - Harding/Grimaud

Erika Frei
My concert loving friend and I thought it was a wonderful occasion from the LSO's electrifying performance of the two Strauss tone poems and their accompaniment to Helen Grimaud's playing of the Ravel piano concerto all under the excellent direction of Daniel Harding. Another memorable event at the Barbican for both of us!

Julian Leggett
I enjoyed the concert very much. I essentially came to hear the brass, but it was the principal oboe in Don Juan that blew me away. She was awesome!

Martin Woolley
Grimaud must be one of the most mesmerising pianists to listen to and to watch!
Harding & the band made some fein Straussmusik.

Neil Wallington
First of all, I need to say what a great pleasure it was to hear Helene Grimaud perform - for me, it was a case of third time lucky, as I had booked tickets to hear her on two previous occasions, and on each occasion she had unfortunately had to cancel for health reasons. It was definitely worth the wait - she is a very thoughtful pianist, and in the first movement of Ravel's Piano Concerto she managed to capture the melancholy undertones, as well as bring out some echoes of Satie which I had not noticed before. Throughout, the orchestra were in total sympathy with her reading of the concerto.

It was then that the change in programme began to make perfect sense. I must confess (or maybe I shouldn't) that I had not been the greatest admirer of Richard Strauss' music - on record, it had always seemed to me excessively ponderous and lugubrious. However, Daniel Harding and the LSO have given me cause to rethink. They approached the Strauss pieces with the same joyousness, but at the same time attention to detail, that Ms Grimaud had brought to the Ravel. The music was loud when it needed to be, but never strident, but was characterised by a deftness of touch that left me with the sense of being uplifted, which is surely as Strauss intended.

I will now return to the music of Strauss with renewed interest, and I am already looking forward to hearing the orchestra's next Strauss concert later this week!