Vasily Petrenko

Hello Vasily Good to have you back on Merseyside ...

2009-11-07T03:22:53.056Z

Hello Vasily

Good to have you back on Merseyside - hope you enjoyed your travels and music making.
I think, like Karen, that November 4th is National Unity day in Russia, are we right?

It is good to know that discussions about the new hall are continuing and being taken seriously. I realise that it is a hugh undertaking for all involved, especially the Accountants!!

Welcome back Vasily. Would the festival be Nation...

2009-11-05T14:16:28.026Z

Welcome back Vasily.

Would the festival be National Unity Day, the replacement of the 1917 Bolshevik revolution commemoration?.

Actually, I may have got the anniversary of the Oc...

2009-11-04T22:09:35.942Z

Actually, I may have got the anniversary of the October Revolution wrong - 7th rather than 4th November - so somebody else can have a go at getting the correct answer to Vasily's question!!

Hi Vasily Great to hear from you after your trave...

2009-11-04T20:52:05.365Z

Hi Vasily

Great to hear from you after your travels -well, just before the long journey to Sheffield! Hope the concert there goes well and I'm looking forward to Saturday when it would be fantastic if some more seats were sold!

I'm with you on the location of a new hall if we can get one. First three choices: (1) Central Liverpool on the Waterfront; (2) Central

In his review in today's Times of last Thursday's ...

2009-11-03T13:34:54.656Z

In his review in today's Times of last Thursday's concert, I think that Geoff Brown is a bit harsh about Baiba Skride's performance of Sibelius's Violin Concerto, though she certainly played better on Sunday than on Thursday. A pity he didn't like Magnetite to much either, but complimentary about the orchestra throughout - and what a rave about the performance of Prokofiev'

Hi all, re ice creams, at £2.50 a pop for the new ...

2009-11-02T16:45:41.647Z

Hi all, re ice creams, at £2.50 a pop for the new ones, they should be able to afford to give every child a free ice cream. I miss the choc-ices and that, combined with the 25% increase in price, means that I will be taking a few sweets of my own in future.

I am going away for the rest of the week, but when I return I shall have a look into Sefton and how they support the Phil (not!

Hello everyone, Yesterdays' concert was really en...

2009-11-02T12:46:42.711Z

Hello everyone,

Yesterdays' concert was really enjoyed, particularly Finlandia and the Violin Concerto - the latter I hadn't heard in full before.

Like Jill, I wondered if the rearranged string sections were something to do with the composers' orchestration requiremnets....

Our taxi driver on the way home mentioned that he had passengered Vasily,

Hi Nick Great that you also enjoyed the concert s...

2009-11-02T12:03:33.400Z

Hi Nick

Great that you also enjoyed the concert so much and - wonderful as it has been, it really does seem to time to move on from the Philharmonic Hall to a 21st-century facility. I am really sceptical about the possibility of redeveloping the present hall to the standard to which we should now aspire.

The Welsh Assembly is an idea no one has come up with before and I'

Fabulous concert on Sunday. And three cheers for t...

2009-11-02T12:01:29.117Z

Fabulous concert on Sunday. And three cheers for the ice cream sellers who had run out of ice cream by the time my son found the pound coin he had dropped, so ran down to wherever they store them and brought him back not one, but two ice creams, making him a very happy nine-year old.

Attended the Sibelius concert this afternoon. In c...

2009-11-01T22:44:41.161Z

Attended the Sibelius concert this afternoon. In contemporary parlance - awesome. Finlandia was suitably rousing and Baiba Skride played the Violin Concerto perfectly; but the Second Symphony was something altogether different. It was electrifying. passionate, masterful, I'm sure as Sibelius would wish to have it performed. I am certain I will never hear it performed to that standard ever

Talking of national reviews, Jill, there's one in ...

2009-11-01T22:30:51.401Z

Talking of national reviews, Jill, there's one in the Telegraph of last Thursday's concert. It only has 3 stars for some reason because it reads much better than that, and it's exceptionally enthusiastic about Vasily and the orchestra for the performance of Prokofiev's 7th.

Here's a link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalconcertreviews/6469404/

Hi Vasily and everyone. Brilliant concert this af...

2009-11-01T20:52:27.395Z

Hi Vasily and everyone. Brilliant concert this afternoon, I found the final piece most unusual, even more so than the Prokofiev on Thursday, it was more contemporary than I expected with some difficult to recognise time signatures, but at the same time I kept finding various tunes running through my mind that I was reminded of.

I wondered if the big strings were moved today because

Hi Vasily and All Today’s great concert was a won...

2009-11-01T17:22:14.033Z

Hi Vasily and All

Today’s great concert was a wonderful way to spend Sunday afternoon! The programme note said that Sibelius’s 2nd symphony was for a long time the most popular of his symphonies. For me, it always has been and it remains my favourite, so I was bowled over today by the most powerful performance I’ve ever heard and many thanks to V and the band. The performance of

Hi all I agree absolutely with Jill that last nig...

2009-10-30T13:29:47.585Z

Hi all

I agree absolutely with Jill that last night's concert was magnificent. Emily Howard had built brilliantly on her earlier Magnetite piece to create a symphony that is quite spell-binding, conducted with precision and played with flair yesterday. Baiba Skride gave one of the best performances of Sibelius' Violin Concerto I've ever heard, with great orchestral playing,

Hello everyone, wasn't that a fabulous concert thi...

2009-10-29T23:34:48.412Z

Hello everyone, wasn't that a fabulous concert this evening. I was initially disappointed to find a piece repeated on Sunday, but I will definitely enjoy hearing the violin a second time. I thought the final piece was so unusual, not really like anything else, I enjoyed it all so much.

Robin - hot off the press from the Maestro himself - the next Shostakovich CD will be no: 8.

A few little things: I meant to say this when I l...

2009-10-28T17:06:28.703Z

A few little things:

I meant to say this when I last wrote, but forgot. Why aren't more people buying tickets for the NYO concert in January? It'll certainly be a concert to remember, so let's all encourage people to go to it!

Browsing around in HMV, I came across a Phil disc I didn't know of music by Ferdinand Ries, whose music I didn't know - his piano

Hello Again Everybody And a repeated welcome to V...

2009-10-27T12:45:45.347Z

Hello Again Everybody

And a repeated welcome to Violin Player – please stay with us and I hope Jill’s plea for more readers of the blog to write something brings more comments. It would be great, Violin Player, if you can get to Liverpool for some of those concerts conducted by Vasily and another way of following his dates in Liverpool and around the world is at www.bachtrack.com. As

Thanks Jill, I hoping to try to come to Liverpool...

2009-10-27T09:32:59.249Z

Thanks Jill,

I hoping to try to come to Liverpool - Mahler and Shostakovich cycles in particular intice me.

I was in this years Prom concert - it was on of the most increadible experiences of my life.

Hello Violin Player and welcome. Check the Phil we...

2009-10-26T22:23:10.355Z

Hello Violin Player and welcome.
Check the Phil website and you will find details of concerts outside Liverpool in the Orchestra section. They regularly appear all around the north of England and North Wales. VP is conducting the Philharmonia orchestra in London and Basingstoke in November.

The second and latest CD was released on 28 September and is available from the Phil

Dear All, Bryn Trefel's recital was very entertai...

2009-10-26T21:59:17.376Z

Dear All,

Bryn Trefel's recital was very entertaining Robin, sorry you missed it. The hall was so full that they had to release the choir seats. At one point during the concert, Bryn Trefel sung to the 'choir' audience! During the first half of the concert, someone's mobile went off and at the end of the song Bryn Trefel made it into a joke!

Going back to the

Hello All, We also attended the Polish concert an...

2009-10-26T20:43:55.274Z

Hello All,

We also attended the Polish concert and we enjoyed it very much,the piece by Kilar was especially thrilling, would love to hear it again.

We were sorry to have missed the concert last Saturday but we 'defected' to the Empire to see Madame Butterfly. Opera isn't on very often and we are particulary fond of Puccini.

Looking forward to being

HI Vasily and fellow blogers, Jill - You have per...

2009-10-26T16:30:30.967Z

HI Vasily and fellow blogers,

Jill - You have persuaded me to join the blog. I have been reading it for a while.

I am a huge van of Vasily and the Phil. I was in the NYO for two years and he is the most increadible conductor. His CD's with the phill are exemplry.

I am really hoping to see Vasily and the Phil live sometime this year, but I don't live

Hello everyone. I did not attend the two recent c...

2009-10-26T16:00:15.764Z

Hello everyone. I did not attend the two recent concerts, not because I don't like contemporary or unusual music, but because of other commitments. I will be there Thursday and Sunday. Was the Lutoslawski piece the same as the NYO played at their Prom concert? I would have liked to hear it again.

Liverpool audiences are strangely frightened by contemporary music, shame on them!

Hi Robin and all, I went to the Polska! concert o...

2009-10-26T13:28:01.859Z

Hi Robin and all,

I went to the Polska! concert on the Thursday and thought Krzysztof Urbanski did a great job, as did Peter Jablonski (I liked the Chopin encore he played, but don't know what it was). The Kilar was an enjoyable surprise. I was no fan of the Lutoslawski, though!. There were slightly more people there than I thought likely after looking at the online seating

Hello All There have been more good concerts sinc...

2009-10-26T12:20:47.072Z

Hello All

There have been more good concerts since I last wrote anything here with the orchestra maintaining its great form during Vasily’s absence in the USA and Russia. I had visitors,though, and had to give away our Bryn Terfel tickets. but everyone I’ve seen says that was a great recital.

Very much enjoyed the concert conducted by Krzysztof Urbański, who looked like a