Emmanuel Pahud and Berlin Baroque Soloists
Berlin Baroque Soloists
Rainer Kussmaul, violin and director
Emmanuel Pahud, flute
Wolfram Christ, viola
Raphael Alpermann, harpsichord
Tuesday 16 Oct 2007
All Vivaldi programme consisting of:
Concerto Grosso in D minor (Rv565)
Concerto for Viola d'amore in D (Rv 392)
Concerto for Four Violins in B flat (Rv 553)
Concerto for Strings in G minor (Rv 156)
Concerto for Two Violins in A minor (Rv 522)
Concerto for Flute in D "Il Cardellino" (Rv 428)
Concerto for Flute in G minor "La Notte" (Rv 439)
Concerto for Flute in F "La Tempesta di mare" (Rv 433)
Wednesday, 17 October 2007
Pisendel: Sonata in C minor
Telemann: Viola Concerto in G (TWV51.G9)
J.S Bach: Bradenburg Concerto No. 5 in D (BMV 1050)
Telemann: Concerto Ripieno in E flat (TWV43:Es1)
Handel: Suite from Alcina (HWV34)
Telemann: Concerto for Transverse Flute in D (TWV51:D2)
blogger with Emmanuel Pahud
The Berlin Philharmonic virtually came to the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas hall in form of Berlin Baroque Soloists. You can say it is the biggest event happening early in 07/08 season in light of absence of at least two big foreign orchestras that used to grace the hall every season without fail. Not even one, but hey we brought for ye a chamber group consisting of Berlin Philharmonic members! (present or former) Emmanuel Pahud is arguably the successor to Jean-Pierre Rampal as the prince of the flute instrument. He is still playing for the Berlin Philharmonic and used to play in superband Lucerne Festival Orchestra under Claudio Abbado. Joined him is a less-renowned but very experienced ex-Berlin Philharmonic member, violist Wolfram Christ who was a former principal violist selected by late Herbert von Karajan 19 years under BPO starting from 1978 until 1999. He is a founding member of Lucerne Festival Orchestra and no wonder I spotted a recognisable "Einstein"-like figure (minus the moustache) who starred in DVDs of LFO, latest being the stunning Mahler 7th.
The first night was a Vivaldi feast, the term itself might sound dreadful for those who thinks he is the most unoriginal, repetitive composer ever. Some critics argue his over 500 concertos sounded like one single material recycled the same number of times over. But miraculously the BBS made each piece sounded very different one after another. One of my favourite highlights is the Concerto for two violins (Rv 522) in which Rainer Kussmaul and another violinist (I assume probably was Rudiger Liebermann) grinded out sounds imitating nature. Vivaldi is one of the earliest composers who knows how to churn out special sound effects from the orchestra (notably the Four Seasons). Another is watching Wolfram Christ tackling the 13-stringed viola d'amore. In addition to six or seven strings on the fingerboard are another additional seven sympathetic strings below it o_O Despite being a very different instrument from the conventional viola, he produced a virtuosic playing for the concerto, which occasionally made my jaws drop. Holy moley!
Emmanuel Pahud played "Il Cardelino" concerto before the interval and the remaining two afterwards. Listening to him live, he proved to be a successor to Jean-Pierre Rampal's mantle. He produced instant warm, vibrant sound that very, very few professional flutists can boast and one colleague remarked he was born to play the flute, because the word "emboschure" doesn't exist in Pahud's vocabulary. Flutter-tonguings, staccatos, legatos and various articulations that many flutists struggle with he made it effortless. In masterclass I went next day, he often remarked that it is not the lips that produce the sound, it is the air itself.
Ironically the hall was expected to be packed, but only 80% of audience were in the hall at Tuesday night. The hall was full house on Wednesday, but the performance wasn't as enlightening as previous night. J.S Bach's Concerto for Flute, Violin, Harpsichord and Strings in A minor was omitted which was a crying shame from very generous eight offerings of Vivaldi last night. Still it was a joy to watch Raphael Alpermann playing the harpsichord cadenza in the Bradenburg Concerto no 5. My flute teacher remarked that they didn't give our Malaysian audiences enough respect they reserve. Regardless listening to the Berlin Baroque Soloists for those two nights were a very enlightening experience. At least the Berlin Philharmonic did come to Kuala Lumpur, though not in full! =P
blogger with violist Wolfram Christ
Rainer Kussmaul, violin and director
Emmanuel Pahud, flute
Wolfram Christ, viola
Raphael Alpermann, harpsichord
Tuesday 16 Oct 2007
All Vivaldi programme consisting of:
Concerto Grosso in D minor (Rv565)
Concerto for Viola d'amore in D (Rv 392)
Concerto for Four Violins in B flat (Rv 553)
Concerto for Strings in G minor (Rv 156)
Concerto for Two Violins in A minor (Rv 522)
Concerto for Flute in D "Il Cardellino" (Rv 428)
Concerto for Flute in G minor "La Notte" (Rv 439)
Concerto for Flute in F "La Tempesta di mare" (Rv 433)
Wednesday, 17 October 2007
Pisendel: Sonata in C minor
Telemann: Viola Concerto in G (TWV51.G9)
J.S Bach: Bradenburg Concerto No. 5 in D (BMV 1050)
Telemann: Concerto Ripieno in E flat (TWV43:Es1)
Handel: Suite from Alcina (HWV34)
Telemann: Concerto for Transverse Flute in D (TWV51:D2)
blogger with Emmanuel Pahud
The Berlin Philharmonic virtually came to the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas hall in form of Berlin Baroque Soloists. You can say it is the biggest event happening early in 07/08 season in light of absence of at least two big foreign orchestras that used to grace the hall every season without fail. Not even one, but hey we brought for ye a chamber group consisting of Berlin Philharmonic members! (present or former) Emmanuel Pahud is arguably the successor to Jean-Pierre Rampal as the prince of the flute instrument. He is still playing for the Berlin Philharmonic and used to play in superband Lucerne Festival Orchestra under Claudio Abbado. Joined him is a less-renowned but very experienced ex-Berlin Philharmonic member, violist Wolfram Christ who was a former principal violist selected by late Herbert von Karajan 19 years under BPO starting from 1978 until 1999. He is a founding member of Lucerne Festival Orchestra and no wonder I spotted a recognisable "Einstein"-like figure (minus the moustache) who starred in DVDs of LFO, latest being the stunning Mahler 7th.
The first night was a Vivaldi feast, the term itself might sound dreadful for those who thinks he is the most unoriginal, repetitive composer ever. Some critics argue his over 500 concertos sounded like one single material recycled the same number of times over. But miraculously the BBS made each piece sounded very different one after another. One of my favourite highlights is the Concerto for two violins (Rv 522) in which Rainer Kussmaul and another violinist (I assume probably was Rudiger Liebermann) grinded out sounds imitating nature. Vivaldi is one of the earliest composers who knows how to churn out special sound effects from the orchestra (notably the Four Seasons). Another is watching Wolfram Christ tackling the 13-stringed viola d'amore. In addition to six or seven strings on the fingerboard are another additional seven sympathetic strings below it o_O Despite being a very different instrument from the conventional viola, he produced a virtuosic playing for the concerto, which occasionally made my jaws drop. Holy moley!
Emmanuel Pahud played "Il Cardelino" concerto before the interval and the remaining two afterwards. Listening to him live, he proved to be a successor to Jean-Pierre Rampal's mantle. He produced instant warm, vibrant sound that very, very few professional flutists can boast and one colleague remarked he was born to play the flute, because the word "emboschure" doesn't exist in Pahud's vocabulary. Flutter-tonguings, staccatos, legatos and various articulations that many flutists struggle with he made it effortless. In masterclass I went next day, he often remarked that it is not the lips that produce the sound, it is the air itself.
Ironically the hall was expected to be packed, but only 80% of audience were in the hall at Tuesday night. The hall was full house on Wednesday, but the performance wasn't as enlightening as previous night. J.S Bach's Concerto for Flute, Violin, Harpsichord and Strings in A minor was omitted which was a crying shame from very generous eight offerings of Vivaldi last night. Still it was a joy to watch Raphael Alpermann playing the harpsichord cadenza in the Bradenburg Concerto no 5. My flute teacher remarked that they didn't give our Malaysian audiences enough respect they reserve. Regardless listening to the Berlin Baroque Soloists for those two nights were a very enlightening experience. At least the Berlin Philharmonic did come to Kuala Lumpur, though not in full! =P
blogger with violist Wolfram Christ
posted by Corgan Sow at 10:21 am
13 Comments:
Pak Lah has been derelict in his duty and appears to be incompetent.
Current events in Malaysia speak of a government that is out of control because of Pak Lah's lack of leadership. Each time something of major public concern occurs, he hides behind the scene and lets his ministers or some other person manage the problem.
A good leader will come out in the open and lead from the front not the back.
It is not proper for the government to tell the Bar Council, the country's best legal brains, what to do when its so-called law minister does not even understand the basic notion of natural justice.
The Election Commission is another tool of the government when it is supposed to be fair and neutral. How can it claim to be an election commission when everyone knows that the electoral boundaries are so biased and skewed against democracy? Is it any wonder that the Barisan always wins the elections?
The other crucial factor is the bureaucracy, those public servants who are under the people's payroll.
In Japan, for example, you see this separation of the bureaucrats and the politicians clearly. So no matter who forms the Japanese government, the bureaucracy is able to function effectively and smoothly and in fact there is even a joke that you don't need the politicians to run the country in Japan.
The government is so used to deceit and doublespeak that it is unable to think straight and that is why it is full of contradictions. Take for example, the shameful keris waving matter. Now they are coming out and saying that it will be a permanent part of their political culture.
Western kings and princes have a ceremonial sword as part of their attire but we don't see their politicians waving swords at their political meetings do we?
But in Malaysia, reminiscent of Hitler's Nazi youth groups, can do it and we know the outcome of such behaviour years later.
The country spends untold sums of money on religion, building mosques at taxpayers expense, spending millions and millions on religious schools, yet corruption is so rampant and it affects every echelon of the economy. For years, every Malaysian knows that the traffic police are corrupt. Yet the government has not done anything to stop the corruption.
Let us face it. Call an ace an ace and a spade a spade. The Malaysia government has been in power for too long and lost its moral compass. It is lost in the jungle of greed. The only thing worse than a corrupt government official is the people who support him.
The non-malays know that Pak Lah and his cronies tell them one thing and another to their own people. They are masters of doublespeak and politicians are renowned for speaking with a forked-tongue.
More and more malays now know that only a handful of cronies take the lion's share of the nation's wealth which is meant to be distributed among them more evenly. Mahathir duped them with his plan to establish a few super rich malay tycoons.
The state of the nation is not healthy. Pak Lah's administration has failed the moral test. He himself has failed the test that he established himself. Judged by his own standards and words, he has failed. Tell me the truth, work with me, yak, yak, yak, but what do we get? The opposite! And now that the Bar Council has told him the truth - he scolds them. Shish.
Let us face the truth. Politicians are not royalty born to lead. They are given the chance to lead. Take away Pak Lah's role and what is he? Look at the high and mighty Mahathir. Where is he now?
The Malay Dilemma was a myth created by Mahathir to exploit the psyche of a victim's complex innate in the malays of yesteryears. But cunning Mahathir made it out that the British and the Chinese put the malays at a disadvantage. And after 50 years of Umno rule, what have changed?
Malaysians should not be stupid but angry that their country is being exploited by the people they elected to benefit them. It took a long time to get 5000 people to sign the petition to the King. It should have taken five minutes! Or five days.
But if I announce a free porn video, be sure I will have 500000 people sign up. The young in Malaysia had better wake up and start to do something about their country, about their future.
Don't be fooled by the politicians who say the Chinese are the enemy, the Indians are the enemy, the Malays are the enemy. There is only one enemy. The one who is corrupt. Everyone else is your friend.
Save Malaysia and take part in every activity that you can and vote out the corrupt politicians to make your country a better place.
Remember your future is in your hands and don't blame anyone if you suffer because you made the wrong choice. The last time many of us were fooled - but once bitten, twice shy.
This country has racist laws that discriminate against minority citizens. Over the last 3 decades the discrimination has gotten from bad to worse.
The policies of this government reminds us of South Africa's apartheid days which was condemned by all humanity.
I wonder how these racists can reconcile their actions with the tenets of their religion.
The non-malays have heard this one before - If you think that Malaysia not good, please go out this country.
Umno has been brought up to think they are the prince of the land.
Every time they get cornered, Umno will tell the other race to go out where they belong. I think Umno must change their thinking or they will pull down the country to the middle age.
So far there is no Umno leader that can lead them to be modern 21st century citizens.
Rather Umno is anti this or anti that. There is no forward looking and thinking to break free perspective.
Malaysia developed nation on year 2020?
The problem with Malaysia ministers is that they are mostly underachievers academically!
That is the reason why they simply speak without logic and reasons. This is also the very reason that I admire Lim Kit Siang, Karpal etc, who can debate intelligently with those monkeys who never bother to understand what is uttered.
Just compare the resume of Malaysia ministers with that from our southern neighbour! Then you will understand.
I know their prime minister has a first class honors in science from Cambridge if I am not mistaken. The rest of his cabinets are very highly qualified. Hence you don't hear nonsense from them.
For your information, some Malaysia ministers would not be at all qualified for even an assistant post!
Our country leaders, not necessary meaning the prime minister, but overall people in power, people of authority etc, have no self respect, no moral, no integrity, and most of no responsibility and accountability.
Let us not compare with other countries, as no countries have perfect leaders, but what they have is integrity.
When they do something wrong and they know it is wrong, nobody need to tell them to resign, they won't say our Malaysia usual line "Nobody can resign me except the prime minister" - we should call this the ball-less line.
If you have integrity and honest enough, you should just resign.
This is why Malaysia is moving backward. With this kind of ministers who are not willing to tackle the root of the issue, but instead blaming others for exposing bad news and sweeping things under the carpet - what hope can you foresee for Malaysia in the future!
Perhaps we should have "Look Africa" policy, rather than "Look East" policy - since a lot of things are similar between Malaysia and African countries except oil.
Singapore has shown us that if the government plan properly and harness all the human talents and resources, a small country without much natural resources can be better than a big country with lots of natural resources.
We all started equal, RM1 = S$1, but see what happen now.
MSA = MAS and SIA. See the difference?
If we continue to ignore human talents and resources, by year 2020, the two countries will be even further apart!
It is about time Pak Lah should stop all the international scenes and stay home to solve the national problems.
No good governance at home, and he is now preaching for good international governance? Why do we vote for people who are so adept at wasting time?
Isn't he pathetic? Promising so many things to the citizens and yet, nothing to be deliver, now he want to "preach" at international level. Pak Lah simply amazing.
Has he changed anything? Has anything changed?
Anyways, what happens at home will too reflect on the outside. So, I hope Pak Lah might realise this and make an effort to clean house.
This kind of word play shows a complete contempt for the intelligence of the Malaysian public.
Public perception in Malaysia is a crude measure of any institution's performance because the information provided to the public is generally packaged and filtered by Umno-controlled television station and media.
Universities are themselves fiefdoms, controlled not by qualified and capable academic administrators, but rather by Umno political appointees, many of whom have absolutely no background in education management.
Clearly it is because the results of the THES and virtually every other public or private ranking system show Malaysia institutions to be mediocre at best and most rankings do not even mention Malaysia at all.
Our neighbors like Singapore, Korea, Japan, China and Australia have a number of institutions that regularly appears in the top 100.
It makes no sense. The reality is that our universities are simply mediocre extensions of a flawed high school system. Our best students have no choice but to travel abroad to earn a decent education and must do so at great costs.
Our government has shown by example, that nepotism, deceit, corruption and bribery are the key ingredients for success in this nation.
I think most people have missed the real issue in the Mahathir vs. Abdullah dispute.
Although there is some truth to Mahathir's assertion that Abdullah is weak and indecisive, ultimately it all boils down to one issue - a dispute over whose relatives and cronies benefit from the government treasury.
Mahathir is upset because his cronies have been largely left out in the current dispensation. At the end of the day, that is all there is to it.
Abdullah had a wonderful opportunity, when he took office, to set things right after 22 years of Mahathir indifference to business ethics.
Sadly, he has not only perpetuated most of the harmful policies of his predecessor, but there is a case to be made that he has even surpassed the wily and corrupt doctor.
Each time I read such comments, it always makes me feel how lucky I am to out of Malaysia.
Emigration is not for everybody but those who have done so, ultimately feel highly rewarded in terms of the future for themselves and their kids. Imagine them growing in an environment devoid of racial, ethnic and religious discrimination.
More importantly, they are now exposed to a wider community that embraces multiculturism, meritocracy, fair go and personal freedom. Guess which group will be better equipped to face the future challenges in this world?
The special position of the malays as prescribed under Article 153 of the Constitution is limited in scope to only the reservation of reasonable quotas in these 3 sectors: public services, educational places and business licenses.
Hence, the present rampant racial discriminations practiced on almost every facet of our national life are mostly violations of the Constitution. Examples of these violations are:
(a) Racial discrimination in the appointment and promotion of employees in publicly funded bodies, resulting in these becoming almost mono-raced bodies. These bodies include: the police, civil service, army and various semi and quasi government agencies.
(b) Imposition of compulsory share quota for malays in non-malay companies.
(c) Imposition of compulsory price discounts and quotas in favour of malays in housing projects.
(d) Completely lop-sided allocation of scholarships and seats of learning in clearly unreasonable proportions that reflect racial discriminations.
(e) Blanket barring of non-malays to publicly funded academic institutions (that should include the Mara).
(f) Barring of non-malays from tenders and contracts controlled directly or indirectly by the government.
Our Constitution provides for only one class of citizenship and all citizens are equal before the law.
The presence of Article 153 does not alter this fact, as it is meant only to protect the malays from being "squeezed" by other races by allowing the reservation of reasonable quotas on certain sectors of national life.
However, this Constitution has now been hijacked through decades of hegemony of political power by the ruling party to result in the virtual monopoly of the public sector by a single race.
The ensuing racism, corruption and corrosion of integrity of our democratic institutions have brought serious retrogression to our nation-building process in terms of national unity, morality, discipline and competitiveness of our people.
Do you think that our politicians actually care whether the universities are good? They want to produce followers, not leaders. They sent their own children overseas so that they come back to lead the followers.
Our followers think that the politicians are doing a great job by allowing more and more citizens into universities; voting them in office time after time.
There will come the time when the country is full of unemployed graduates. That is when the followers will hopefully wake up to the reality.
As for the VCs, head of departments, deans etc, they just follow the instructions and examples of their political masters. Just see all the wastage, injustice, inefficiency, discrimination, cronyism etc, and you will realise that they also have their political agendas just like their masters.
Bad intentions, bad universities.
Human beings migrate because they seek a better habitat, a better life or better opportunities. Is there anything wrong with this?
In modern times, people often migrate for education, security and work opportunities etc.
Migrants of course have to sacrifice much, to the extent of even being separated from their friends and family, but the human spirit for achievement and self-actualisation is very strong and will overcome great odds to achieve its dreams and potentials.
An example is pointing to other countries where racism is practiced - reports this occurrence even in developed countries such as the Australia, New Zealand, UK and US.
This point of comparison weakens because is confusing attitudinal, covert racism - and marginal too at that - with institutionalised discrimination in Malaysia in the form of the abused outcomes of the NEP.
The prospect of a larger community in Malaysia that cannot come to terms with meritocracy is even more confusing and daunting.
In the countries mentions, racists are the minority. In this Malaysia country, while the NEP is purportedly not racist, it confuses and confounds to the point of being seemingly intractable from the dimensions of race and legitimate opportunity.
Here, race is a major independent variable that is legalised to manipulate business, educational and political outcomes.
At least the white masters have drawn up laws and regulations to protect the minorities who stay in their countries. Equal employment means equal employment. That they actually make laws to make life more equitable for immigrants is quite admirable.
On our end, we to bow to the brown masters. If having to pay more for your house when your malay neighbour pays less is not having to bow to the brown masters, then what is?
If expressing your feelings about the inequities in the country is constantly labeled as malay-bashing, when instead you feel that you are the one being bashed, and then being told to shut up and put up with it is not having to bow to the brown masters, then what is?
Well maybe you feel that those who have left are no loss to the country. Generally speaking, those who have left were the ones who qualified to go to another country.
But such a paradigm is usually a reflection of one's own inabilities to come to grips with the fact that there is something systemically wrong and this has been causing people to leave the country.
In fact, if you look at all the topics in this board, every topic, every scandal, every issue, every educational ills, can be traced to the break down of the key values. The whole of opposition's work in parliament revolve around these 4 key values.
I don't blame Pak Lah for the break down of these values. I blame Mahathir for the systematic destruction of those values in his 22 years reign.
What are these values that I am talking about?
M eritocracy
A ccountability
T ransparency
I ntegrity
During TAR, Abdul Razak and Hussein Onn days, these values were still very much alive. But now they are all dead. If these values are not revived soon enough, it will be the death of Malaysia.
I hope I will not have to see this obituary - the death of Malaysia was due to the death of MATI.
Umno, which effectively runs the government, is riddled with croynism and corruption.
Members crave for the award of lucrative government contracts given out under the pretext of the NEP. But the party is filled with bureaucrats with no management skills and no productive economic skills.
In a freely competitive market, they would be in the lower rungs of the public sector or would have lost their jobs altogether. To maintain their way of life, they have to ensure that the NEP is continued at all costs.
A large segment of the malays are still poor after 37 years of the NEP and on top of this the income disparity between the rich and the poor has widened. Clearly, the NEP as a method of equalising economic disparity has failed.
The benefits of the NEP to the poor malays is a pittance compared to the benefits to the rich and well connected malays. It is in reality a tool and facade for the rich and elite malays - who are in the minority - to continue their extravagant way of life at the expense of the rest of the country.
The cost of the NEP so far include unemployable graduates who are mostly malays, increased racial polarisation, declining education standards, brain drain, bailouts of well connected companies, an inefficient and incompetent public service, a government which makes decisions first and studies the impact later - just about everything that is wrong in this country!
Hi...
How come u can take pic with Emmanuel? I never have chance to take picture with all those musicians. I really want to take pic with my fav timpanist (Paul) & Sebastian (violin). It used to be one laday with headscarf last time. Where is she now? Do you know?
Post a Comment
<< Home