#Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

[peppers-ghost-posts]

Chloé van Soeterstède is a beautifully dynamic conductor. I was lucky to see her conduct Dvorak with the MSO, she was using her whole body to communicate, almost dancing, her precision and ardency a glorious visual performance.

[travellingallrite]

John Williams Sounds of Cinema

How much do I love John Williams’ music, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the Art of the Score team? Enough to move an international trip and book an interstate eleven hour seated overnight train ride? Yes! Was it worth it? Oh, Hell yes! This is actually my third Art of the Score John Williams concert. The first was in Melbourne, followed by a reprise in Sydney earlier this year. I had…

[jettheband]

Jet speaking up for the killing in Gaza and Musician Jayson Gillham ahead of the concert with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

[dialogue-queered]

17 August 2024

Extract: [Jayson] Gillham had premiered a piece of music and dedicated it to journalists slain in Gaza on Sunday, telling the crowd that Israel’s killing of journalists were “targeted assassinations” and that the “killing of journalists is a war crime in international law”.

In an email sent to patrons, the MSO said Gillham would no longer perform an event scheduled for Thursday – which would have seen him play Mozart and Brahms at the Melbourne town hall with the MSO – because of “a series of introductory remarks” made without MSO’s “approval” during the concert on Sunday.

MSO management later said in a statement on its event page that it had made “an error” in cancelling the performance, saying “we have been engaging constructively with Jayson and his management and are seeking to reschedule the concert”.

[bluevelvetcat]

MSO: The Planets @ Hamer Hall

A magical evening at the Arts Centre, where I finally got to experience one of my all-time favourite classical suites, Gustav Holst’s The Planets. Continue reading MSO: The Planets @ Hamer Hall

[myvinylplaylist]

KIϟϟ: KIϟϟ Symphony: Alive IV (2003)

KIϟϟ Records

Sanctuary Records

[mythigal1966]

Vivaldi: The Four Seasons, Violin Concerto No. 4 in F Minor, RV 297 "Win...

[bella-rose29]

deep analysis of a very obscure thing in lockwood and co (bc why not)

Omg ok (spoilers for episodes 2 and 3 of lockwood and co, and also the books)

So the song that plays when Lucy is holding the ring in episode 2, during the experiment, that she says is Annabel Ward and her lover’s song (“it’s their song”), is Peer Gynt Suite No. 2: Solveig’s Song. 

The version I listened to that made me go “oh okay this is the same song” (after playing it through my earphones in one ear and playing the episode in the other and desperately trying to get the timings to match up to see if there were differences in the singing) is by Edvard Grieg — Yvonne Kenny, The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra & Vladimir Kamirski. From what I could work out, the song starts in the episode from just before the singing starts. 

The story behind the song is as follows:

"The long-suffering Solveig is devoted to Peer and she sings the song just as he – once more – abandons her. As she sits at the spinning wheel, she sings that although the years may pass she knows that he will come back to her – and that he will find her waiting for him, just as she promised.”

Lyrics:

Perhaps both winter and spring will pass by And next summer and the whole year will expire But surely you will return to me, I am certain And I shall be waiting as I once promised. 

May god give you strength, wherever in the world you may go May god give you joy, if you before his footstool stand Here I shall wait until you come back And if you wait above, we’ll meet there again, my friend.

I did an initial analysis and stuff and then did further research, so I’ve rejigged the document I had before to make more sense here :D

Story of the whole play:

The title character, Peer Gynt, is based on a Norwegian folk hero who is a rogue and will be destroyed unless saved by the love of a woman. 

He is described as a lazy and arrogant peasant youth who leaves home to go in search of his fortune. He’s very confident that he’ll succeed, but he keeps having disasters on his journey. 

At one point, he goes to the wedding of a wealthy young woman (that he might have married), where he meets Solveig. She falls in love with him, so naturally his first thought is to abduct the bride from her own wedding and abandon Solveig. 

Then he has really cool and awesome adventures, going around the world and gaining wealth and fame from all his different exploits, but he is, at the middle of it all, deeply unhappy. Eventually, when he is old and disillusioned, he goes back to Norway, where Solveig awaits him, welcoming him home and redeeming him. 

Annabel and John Fairfax are sort of foils to Solveig and Peer respectively, in that they are what happens as a result of a different kind of abandonment (Annabel’s murder). 

Solveig is what Annabel would have been had she stayed alive and Fairfax had simply broken things off in a more traditional sense (i.e. if he hadn’t killed her), and while Peer is redeemed and saved by the love of a woman, Fairfax is destroyed by it, because he twisted the love into hate. 

Now for the parallels between Fairfax and Peer:

Peer is a peasant with little success in life -> in episode 3, as they get off the train, Lockwood notes how Fairfax “came from nothing”. 

Peer has a series of unfortunate disasters on his hunt for success -> Fairfax (in the books), before the Problem, spent his time drinking, gambling, and getting into show business, instead of going into the family business. In the show this does not seem to be the case, but it’s a nice parallel that includes the books!

Peer abandons Solveig to run off with the bride -> I interpreted this as Fairfax abandoning (murdering) Annabel for his own bride, which is his desire for success. In a way his bride is the Fairfax iron company, because he’s practically married to it. 

After the abduction, Peer has really successful and fantastical adventures, very different to the disasters that he had previously experienced before the kidnapping -> after Annabel, Lockwood again (Lucy says he has a hard-on for Fairfax which I think is hilarious) in episode 3 (just before talking about how Fairfax came form nothing) notes that Fairfax “succeeded in everything he’s tried. Publishing, show business - he didn’t even start smelting until he was in his thirties. Now look at him”. Fairfax by his own admission also worked in casinos, adding another job (or adventure) to his list. 

Peer gains wealth and fame -> Fairfax gains wealth and fame (just dropping in “miss Kingston got her hair done special” because I love it and it's vaguely related)

And this is where the similarities split off from one another:

Peer is deeply unhappy -> Fairfax seems to be perfectly fine with his situation. 

Peer comes back home old and disillusioned -> Fairfax in a way comes home, as he ends up back in Combe Carey Hall (although this is not where Annabel was killed, it is still one of his properties), and he is old, but he is not disillusioned. He says in episode 3 that he doesn’t regret buying the ring, he regrets “leaving it behind when I bricked her into that chimney” and that he “knew it was monstrous. But I couldn’t throw my whole life away for one mistake. Not then, not now.” He still isn’t willing to give up his life, because he is perfectly content where he is. 

The final parallel I want to note is between Annabel and Solveig. While one was murdered and the other neglected but still devoted and in love, both women wait for their old lover. In completely different ways, sure, because one is sitting at her spinning wheel hoping that he’ll come back and see that she’s the right one for him (cue “you belong with me”) and the other is bricked into a chimney as an angry Type Two ghost that kills people, but both are waiting. 

“She’s been wanting to see you for a very… long time, Mr Fairfax” Lucy says.

Annabel is devoted to Fairfax, and as she dances and sings along to the song, he abandons her (kills her). while waiting in that cavity in the wall, and her spirit is bound to the ring/necklace, she is waiting for him. 

We see in episode 3 that when Lucy lets Annabel out of the ring, throwing it in the air to set her ghost free, Annabel doesn't attack the agents, or even Ellie who is stood nearby. 

She goes straight for Fairfax, because she's been waiting for him. Her devotion to him may have changed into devotion for revenge over the years, but she was waiting for him nonetheless. In a way he did come back to her, even if it was unintentionally, and he ended up being greeted by her one last time. 

He is not saved by coming home and finding his version of Solveig, he is instead destroyed, because his version of Solveig was killed along with any love she might have had for him. 

[taspastondiams]

Christian Li, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Vivaldi, The Four Seasons

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Simone Dinnerstein

Classical pianist Simone Dinnerstein was born in New York City in 1972. Dinnerstein first garnered attention for her 2007 self-produced recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations, which reached number 1 on the US Billboard Classical Chart. She has recorded thirteen albums, and performed with orchestras from around the world including the New York Philharmonic, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, the Tokyo Symphony, the Orquestra Sinfonica Brasileira, and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. In 2009, Dinnerstein founded Neighborhood Classics, a concert series that raises money for music education programs in New York City schools.

[jettheband]

Jet will be playing with an orchestra in November 2024! This will be interesting to hear!

[versary]

i'm seeing megan washington perform with the melbourne symphony orchestra tonight. i'm literally SO excited omfg

[bluevelvetcat]

MSO: The Music of Hans Zimmer @ Hamer Hall

There’s no such thing as too much Hans Zimmer! I’ve already seen film music maestro’s own show twice, and this week I went to Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s tribute to some of the most iconic and influential film scores of all time. Continue reading Untitled

[audio-luddite]

More listening.

Stevie Nicks, Crystal Visions double LP.

The double LP is pressed from clear vinyl which is kinda weird. While it spins it looked like some of the grooves are spinning backwards. The big room light is fluorescent so there is a 60hz pulse to it. I never noticed this on black (or colored) discs. It may even be a beat frequency thing from the grooves on the opposite side. I had to look away as it was disconcerting. Of course it could have been Ms Nicks witchcraft.

For those too young to recall, SN was one of the two girls in Fleetwood Mac and arguably the one who made the band a hit factory. For male people my age SN was a fantasy made flesh. She was not supermodel gorgeous, but infinitely cute and pretty. Oh and she wrote good songs. She has a pretty and delicate voice.

Crystal Visions is a mixture of tracks from several sources including live solo performances. The live tracks sound really good, The rest are hit and miss. One, Silver Springs, is historically notable as being cut from the famous "Rumours" album. Background for all the songs are described in an insert in the album which SN wrote about where and when and why she composed them.

I noted that the track with the full Fleetwood Mac group had the poorest sound to my ears. The rest were with her band and or the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for two tracks. She did duets with Tom Petty and Don Henley which may be the biggest hits that she had without Fleetwood Mac.

One song was too far from her lane, Led Zeppelin's Rock and Roll. My wife scrunched up her face saying it was just wrong. The previous day we had played a "Heart" album with Ann Wilson who is famous for doing Led Zeppelin's, Stairway to Heaven for the surviving LZ members being honored. That woman can belt and do the quiet thing too. SN just doesn't have the horsepower for Hard Rock.

Overall a good experience.

[myvinylplaylist]

KIϟϟ: KIϟϟ Symphony The DVD (2002)

Recorded on February 28th, 2003, in Melbourne, Australia, with The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

DVD set is housed in a DVD sized fold-out Digipak with a slipcase

5.1, DTS and Dolby Digital 2.0.

Total Running Time is 3 hrs 29 min.

Sanctuary Records Group Limited

Made in the USA