An Evening with Mozart
Last saturday evening I had the chance to catch a performance by the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra at the Dewan Philharmonic Petronas.
The program was all works by Wolgang Amadeus Mozart:
Concertone in C, K. 190 (186e)
Masonic Funeral Music, K. 477 (479a)
Serenade No. 7 in D, K. 250 (248b) "Haffner"
I missed the Concertante in C, having arrived just seconds after the they closed the hall. Intead of being frustrated, I was rather amused that the stint some how reminds me of Mozart being late for his performance to the Archbishop of Salzburg as seen in Amadeus. Of course in that scene, Mozart was happily rolling on the floor "serenading" Constanze Webber. I, on the other hand was stuck in Saturday's evening KL jam.
Anyway the performance was super. The Masonic Funeral was dark and at the same time elevated. It made the dimmed hall seemed darker.
After the intermission, music director and conductor Kees Bakels took the baton with a miraculous performance of the Haffner Serenade. Almost 60 minutes of pure non stop soothing sound!
Kjell-Arne Jorgensen was supposed to be the concertmaster, however that night the concertmaster was Marcus Gundermann. Nevertheless, Marcus played exceptionally well, the cadenzas flow beautifully and flawlessly from his violin. That was one of the best moments i had in the concert hall, since the late Yehudi Menuhin took the stage in 1999.
Bravo!
Earlier in the afternoon, I was window shopping at Low Yat Plaza. Yes, there are so many things to buy but so little money to spend. There are a few DVD stores operating secretly. I just got myself printer ink, a lousy game and two DVDs. As I was strolling down the shops, i noticed this old caucasian man. His wrinkles tells that he is in his mid to late 60s, but he is still fit and healthy. I looked at him as he walked pass through the shops checking out 3com's wireless APs and adapters. I could have sworn he was Intel's Andy Grove!
After that, I strolled down to Sg Wang Plaza to the friendly neigborhood CD store and got myself Cafe IbiZa and a two CD-lounge album. Excellent!
In the morning, i had breakfast with a few prominent Malaysian bloggers from the kotaraya group. It was fun meeting the bunch. Will certainly meet up with them again... errr did i hear clubbing next weekend...? Or was it paintball? Anyway, checkout the pictures from the Blog meet here and here. Summarized accounts of the meet can be found here.
It is Markus Gundermann. You spelled it Marcus.
Posted by: Georgina | Wednesday, April 14, 2004 at 13:43
The Concertone in C was very boring. Miranda Playfair and Kjell-Arne Jorgensen (they're married) played it too neatly, and too primly, that there was no excitement. It is the same with another of their performances, the Bach concerto for two violins in D minor. This is a beautiful concerto by BACH...they treated the music classically, not in a baroque way. They added unnecessary trills and whatnot and spoilt the whole thing. I did axpect a higher degree of professionalism from them, as they are concertmaster and section principal, and Playfair has given excellent performances before; the Schubert Quintet in C should be noted here.
Posted by: Georgina | Wednesday, April 14, 2004 at 13:47
Miranda Playfair is THE BEST goddamn violinist in the Malaysian Philharmonic...although, yeah, the bach was a little..well...I'm glad that you mentioned the Schubert. That was definetely good.
Posted by: Ehen | Thursday, July 08, 2004 at 20:50
Miranda Playfair is THE BEST goddamn violinist in the Malaysian Philharmonic...although, yeah, the bach was a little..well...I'm glad that you mentioned the Schubert. That was definetely good.
Posted by: Ehen | Thursday, July 08, 2004 at 20:51