Danjulo Ishizaka plays Prokofiev

The young cellist Danjulo Ishizaka was the soloist in Prokofiev's symphony-concerto for cello and orchestra op 125. The work began with poise and confidence. Jurowski led the London Philharmonic Orchestra with much rhythmic precision. Ishizaka's virtuosity was in much evidence as his fingers danced on the strings delivering those seemingly impossible double / treble stops. Yet in the more mellow and slower passages, there was a lot of sincerity and lyricism. The cello-orchestra interplay came across well too.
No doubt he exerted great pressure on his cello. Towards the beginning of the final movement, Ishizaka looked at Jurowski, then the whole orchestra stopped playing: the A string snapped! Ishizaka left the concert platform briefly, came back with a shiny new A string. There was a bit of a chuckle in the audience when the soloist and conductor were working out where to pick up the work. Everyone got back into the work quite quickly and the final section allegro marcato was firm and unhurried. Ishizaka played the final chords with much decisively and brought the work to a close.

Comments

Hearing the Berlin Philharmonic at the Philharmonie

Those of us London-centric folks easily forget there are great concert halls in other parts of the world. I remember as a young kid buying DG LPs with von Karajan on the front cover conducting the Berlin Philharmonic. So as my first visit to the city, a visit to the Philharmonie to listen to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra was a must. Ivan Fisher started the evening's concert with Haydn Symphony 88. A light and delightful work. As I'd expected, the acoustic of the hall was amazing - probably a good 2.5 second of reverberation - and much more generous than the Royal Festival Hall in London. The strings sounded sweet and the timpani came through clearly with definition. The audience was then treated to Béla Bartók's Seven Pieces for Choir and Chamber Orchestra: the Berlin Phil reduced in size occupying only half of the stage while the Netherlands Youth Choir took the other half. These young performers (all female) sang in Hungarian from memory - not easy at all - and rea...

Will the swish looking Princi become the hottest thing on Wardour St?

This site on Wardour Street in Soho had seen many bars and restaurants come and go. The latest occupant is Princi, an up market Italian bakery brought to London by Alan Yau (of Hakkasan, Yauatcha fame). Natural stones, polished brass and water reflections dominate. The long communal tables ( de rigeur for any Soho eatery), leather upholstered chairs and perfect lighting make this a stylish choice for a slice of cake (made from organic "00" flour) and a caffé machiato from the Italian barista (yes he is, I talked to him in Italian). They seem to have an alcohol licence - so perfect for an early evening spritz , or a late evening caffé correto . The downside is that this is a self-service joint. While everything is stylishly done, all eating implements are disposable. So never mind the side plate.

Faust at the Royal Opera

This is a revival of Charles Edwards (design) / David McVicar (director) production of Gounod Faust. Visually, it is still exciting to watch with the ever changing stage sets of this fantasy. In this production, Erwin Schrott was Méphistophélès - who had style and poise as this devilish character. Michael Fabiano did a good job at portraying Faust - especially in the first act when he had to start off as an old man before turning into an energetic youngster. Irina Lungu had the right French voice type for Marguerite - somewhat vulnerable with sufficient warmth for the romantic scenes. Dan Ettinger in the pit kept the pace going, and the chorus did magnificently in those big numbers.

Diary of a Culture Hedonist

Search This Blog