Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (Part I)

After watching L'empereur du Chant, I went straight ahead to VPO's concert. The Mozart Overture was just to make the 1st half value for money. But it was really not necessary, because the Shostakovich No.9 was so good that it is already worth the price in its own right. I am impressed by VPO's woodwinds and brass section. Their sound was full and bright. Perhaps the location of seat made it difficult for me to appreciate the strings (the solo violin in the 1st movement of Shostakovich did slip a little), but they were very together. I'll have to wait for tonight's performance to tell how the strings really sound.

Gergiev was really a conductor full of energy - at least he appeared to be so. He moved a lot. He did not use a baton (although I seemed to see he used a very small one when conducting parts of the Shostakovich) but his fingers moved in a special way. I personally think it doesn't make any difference to the players in the orchestra, but some people (probably they have not played in the orchestra before) thought that it was really impressive. Gergiev's interpretation was full of sparks. After all, he is a Russian and Shostakovich should be one of his strongest areas. I also got his CD on the same piece with Kirov Orchestra. The live performance last night proved that he has a consistent approach to this piece, which is full of sarcasm in the context of Stalin's expectation of a glorious piece after the war (details please refer to Bernstein explanation to this piece in his Young Person's Concert).

The Brahms No.4 was a piece that demonstrated the high quality of VPO's strong brass and woodwinds sections. Gergiev was putting a lot to it and the opening's rubato was so good that I think it was comparable to Carlos Kleiber's version, which I listened to prior to the concert.

The encores were a Hungarian Dance and one of those Strauss's Waltzes. The orchestra seemed to be enjoying their music making as they smiled to each other when playing the Walze.

I look forward to attending the second night of the concert, because I shall be sitting in a better location tonight.