It was a great night Friday at the SCO concert in the City Halls, Glasgow. There were 3 pieces with the highlight being the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto played by this visiting artiste:
Renaud Capuçon*
He is French and is definitely crème de la crème! It was the last concert of the season and, as usual, Glasgow audiences were 'up for it'.
He absolutely raced through the piece. I think that created a problem: the orchestra wasn't 'together' part of the time. To me it sounded a bit ragged. Maybe under-rehearsed? However, the applause at the end of thunderous so his talent was certainly appreciated.
So was the problem the conductor? This is a seriously good orchestra so I am at a bit of a loss here. There are no reviews (so far) that I can find.
That's the bad news; the good news is... it was one of the best concerts I have ever attended; I greatly enjoyed the whole evening! But as usual I have got things back to front, i.e. I produce a good account but for all the wrong reasons!
The conductor Gustavo Gimeno**
I simply could not take my eyes off the conductor! His name is Gustavo Gimeno. He is Spanish. Sitting in the centre Stalls 6 rows back from the front of the stagel I faced directly on to the conductor's podium.
This photo above, taken from a video clip on YouTube, illustrates what I was looking at ... which was, of course, his back. But why was I so captivated throughout the entire concert? Was it the music? Was it being so close to the whole orchestra who were playing their socks off, so to speak?
No... the reason is sartorial! The conductor was wearing the most beautiful garment I have ever seen!
I don't know who his tailor is but he is very well served! The cloth was fine and draped well; the fit was perfect. It was cut as above and never looked scrunched or disheveled despite 2 hours of continuous movement. It was such a joy to see such beautiful craftsmanship!
So it was a memorable evening to close the season. As always it is enjoyable to be part of a Glasgow audience (where I always meet and greet folk I know) but I do have to confess that I was quite blown away by the young conductor in his cutaway coat!
__________________________________________________________
* Photo of Renaud Capuçon by Simon Fowler; tree photo by J Albiston** Photo by Marco Borggreve
No comments:
Post a Comment