I recently went to the most amazing concert I've ever been to. And it wasn't a piano recital =) But anyway.

What has been your most memorable concert and why? I'll share mine later.

(Sorry if this has been covered.. but people always see new things, right?)

Back in the late 60's my piano teacher at that time (and my true mentor at the piano) took me one evening to a solo recital featuring Lorin Hollander playing the famous Schubert sonata in Bb major, D. 960. I think that may have been the first real concert I attended, and Hollander's performance was sheer magic.

There are so many concerts/recitals I loved...
But I remember one in particular because I saw the eyes of the performer ( Emma Matthews ) while she sang Schubert, and it was almost a transcendental experience.

And of course my very first Chopin recital when I was 7 or 8...

Mei-Ann Chen conducting the Lexington Philharmonic... She made them sound better than the New York Philharmonic! (And yes, I have seen the New York Philharmonic live too.)

They played Beethoven's Leonore Overture No. 3 in C Major, Mozart's Concerto 21 in C Major with André Laplante (astounding pianist!), and Brahms 4th Symphony.

The New York Philharmonic played Berlioz' Carnival Adventure, Schumann's 4th Symphony, and Mussorsky/Ravel Pictures at an Exhibition. (The last one was very powerful, to say the least!)

For sure the first time I heard a pipe organ live--I was totally hooked. It was an amazing concert and well attended, and not one of these stuffy concerts that turns everyone off. It really intrigued me as a younger person, and gave me unrealistic dreams of being an organist.

There are quite a few concerts that have been absolutely remarkable, where I have felt the world had changed when I walked out afterwards, and which have lived with me ever since. So I will give a short list:

Mahler Symphony No 2 conducted by Barbirolli in the early 1960s (the first live Mahler I had ever heard)

Messiaen Turangalila Symphony performed by Rattle, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in Wells Cathedral in 1986 with Olivier Messiaen present. (The concert where Messiaen 'clicked' for me.)

(This was given as part of a Bath Festival which focuseed on Messiaen and within the two weeks I also heard Vingt Regards played by Loriod, the Quartet (Nash Ensemble), Visions de l'Amen (Peter Hill and George Benjamin), 'La Nativite du Seigneur' (Jennifer Bates). What a remarkable two weeks it was.)

Brendel playing the Liszt Sonata about 30 years ago.

Shostakovich Symphony No 4 performed by Gergiev/Kirov Orchestra at the 2002 BBC Proms. A performance of a lifetime - there was silence at the end for a full 30 seconds before the applause started. (Very apprehensively, I took a friend who had zero knowledge of classical music. It says something that she was totally enthralled and electrified by the performance.)

Shostakovich Symphony No 8 performed by Rostropovich/LSO

Messiaen 'Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jésus' played by Steven Osborne (truly, truly remarkable)

etc, etc

Douglas Moore's opera "The Ballade of Baby Doe" with Beverly Sills. "Forever young"

Zoltan Szekely playing Bartok's Violin Concerto with the San Francisco State Symphony Orchestra.
Horowitz.
Bobby Enriquez and Flip Nuñez.
Dorothy Donegan and Charles Brown.

There have been numerous others with special memories, like dinner with the artists, but those stand out as superb performances.

Two stand out in my experience :

April, 1994 : Murray Perahia at Carnegie Hall. This was his first return to the concert stage after an almost three-year absence resulting from a hand injury. It was, in every aspect, a triumphant return. Among the Beethoven and Brahms was some stunning Chopin, including a meltingly lyrical "Berceuse."

June 10, 1972, Rigoletto at the Met with a "to-die-for" cast :

Rigoletto : Sherill Milnes
Gilda : Joan Sutherland
The Duke : Luciano Pavarotti
Conductor : Richard Bonynge

Regards,

A few stand out for me:

Rudolf Serkin playing the Beethoven 4th many years ago in the Academy of Music with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Ormandy conducting.

Eschenbach with the Phildelphia Orchestra performing the Turangalila about 7 years ago.

Christopher O'Riley performing the Diabelli Variations about 16 years ago at a summer music festival.

I heard the Serkin/Ormandy duo play the Beethoven "Emperor" Concerto with the Philadelphia Orchestra; one of the prominent memories from that performance is Serkin's stomping of the damper pedal which could be heard all the way from the Family Circle in the Academy of Music.

Regards,

Ah Sherill Milnes, a voice Too Sexy for My Heart....
I Love baritones, specifically Milnes, Fischer Diskau and Tito Gobbi. Bryn Terfel on some days..
I chose my piano based on his "baritone" voice .

See this thread from last month. It was a disappointment at first, but it turned out to be a magical experience.

Horowitz at Carnegie Hall, May 1965

Raymond Lewenthal playing an all Alkan concert at Carnegie, Spring 1965 (April, I think it was)

Rubinstein playing all 5 Beethoven Concertos and the 2 Brahms Concertos in one week

Robert Shaw conducting Ein Deutches Requiem at Carnegie a couple of years before he passed on

Zinka Milanov's farewell concert (an incredible Pace Pace mio Dio)

Renata Tebaldi and Franco Corelli in Tosca at the Met

Montserrat Caballé and Sherill Milnes singing an unforgettable La Traviata

Birget Nilsson as Brünhilde and Gundula Janowitz as Sieglinde in Die Walküre

Nilsson as Isolde, Salome, Electra, Turandot

An incredible production of Die Zauberfloete with sets and costumes designed by Marc Chagall, with Christina Deutekum as the Queen of the Night and Janowitz as Pamina.

Tebaldi and Corelli in La Gioconda

Tebaldi and Corelli in Andrea Chenier

These are the ones that come to mind right off the bat.


Mel

Please don't make me jealous.

I got into that little concert without a ticket and watched from the second tier boxes. But I did have to stand for the entire concert. And I had to climb up a few flights of stairs to get to the second tier boxes!

And, on top of everything, H had the nerve to play some "false notes" in the first few measures of the opening Bach-Busoni!!

I would have asked for a refund but under the circumstances I couldn't.

I also heard Richter at Grace Rainey Rogers Auditoreum when someone on line offered me a free ticket(it was sold out).

And then there was Kissin's Carnegie Halll recital debut.

(All of the above is true, except for ... the refund idea.)

Hehe, how'd you manage to give the event staff the slip?

I'm bad at picking just one. Particular selections/pieces that stand out in my head as remarkable are:

2005 - Valentina Lisitsa & Alexei Kuznetsov in West Palm Beach, FL
Best performance of Schubert's F minor Fantasia I've ever heard. Ravel's La Valse was also just about as good as it gets.

2006 - Olga Kern in Miami, FL
Her performance of the Wagner-Liszt Liebestod was magical. At the very end, I think everyone in the audience was holding their breath, as they were afraid to break the spell and come back to reality.

2006 - Doctoral recital @ the University of Miami (I can't remember the performer's name, when I get home I'll have to dig up the program)
Her performance included a remarkably original yet appropriate reading of Bach's C minor Partita, and Carl Vine's 1st piano sonata (my first time hearing it.)

2010 - Lydia Artimiw @ the University of Minnesota
Inspired performance of three selections from Messiaen's Vingt Regards. Her performance was preceded by a brief lecture on the selections, and really brought to light the significance of the different themes and their development. That was definitely one of the most commanding performances I've ever experienced. After that, had she said "2+2=5", I would have nodded in agreement.

Daniel

Horowitz at Powell Hall, St. Louis, November 1976. Why? It was the incomparable Horowitz and he was playing a piece I was studying at the time.

I'm not even sure where to begin! I've heard SO many great performances over the years and met so many amazing artists.
A few of the more memorable would have to be:

de Larrocha...solo recital at Orchestra Hall in the mid 80s.

Arrau...Beethoven's 4th with the DSO.

Ashkenazy...the first time I heard him in Ann Arbor (solo recital) and then two years ago seeing him conduct and finally having the chance to meet him afterward, which was an amazing experience that I'll remember for the rest of my life.

Perahia...in Ann Arbor in the mid 80's. All four Chopin ballades on the second half of the programme. I'd just played for him in a masterclass the previous night.

Tureck...a solo recital she gave in Dearborn after a morning masterclass in which I played (it was probably the most nervous I've ever been playing for someone).

Hewitt...Goldberg Variations in her debut at Symphony Hall in Chicago last year and hearing her with both books of the WTC at Oberlin.

Rostropovich...at Interlochen.

Fleisher...every time I've heard him.

If you have the program, you should try to contact Christian Johansson, because his site is missing the complete program for that recital.

You mentioned that the last time this topic came up and I looked but didn't find it....yet. I do know the Liszt Bm Sonata was played because it was a major part of the decision to go.

Hmmm...did I?

Was the Liszt Sonata as crazy as the 1978 studio recording?

I think, if I'd heard Horowitz, the programme and ticket stub would have been framed lol.

Same.

I think, at the time, I was a little too excited to care. I remember being a tad disappointed with the studio recording but not with the concert.

@ Stores and Horowitzian.
Let me know when you have a 34 year old program and ticket stub laying around (or framed).

Saw Vladimir Feltsman play in Harrisburg, PA shortly after his 'escape' from Russia - I was in my teens and it was unforgettable! He had been banned from playing in Russia for years and years, and finally made it to the USA somehow around 1987.

Well I've heard from numerous people that H. was better live. I, of course, am too young to have had the pleasure of hearing him live, so I'll just take their word for it.

It'll be a while.

I'm sure I have several. I've kept every ticket stub to every concert I've ever attended.

Wow you guys have been to so many good concerts.. Out of the piano legends I've only seen Fleisher live. I wish I was alive for Horowitz..

A few days ago I saw Gergiev with the Kirov (Mariinsky) live. That was the most incredible concert ever! I mean I've always preferred orchestral (or chamber) concerts to piano, but now my preference was deeply confirmed.

The first night they played Berlioz, "Royal hunt and storm" from the Trojans, then again Berlioz selections from Romeo and Juliet, and second half was Tchaik 5.

The second night was Liadov, "the enchanted lake", then Rach 3 with some pianist, and Shost 15.

They are one of the best orchestras!! Well, for me the best. And Gergiev is my IDOL!! I loved how everything, EVERYTHING was shaped, and every section played like one person, they listen to each other extremely well - they have to because they have limited rehearsal time, everything had expression.. everything had a heart, which is the most important thing for me. It spoke to them so it spoke to us. Everything was alive, inspiring.. you could tell every single person in that orchestra cares so much about what they do. And Gergiev - he's just amazing.

Tchaik 5 and the Shostakovich were my favourite. Especially the ending of the Shost - incredibly well thought out.

And if anyone tells me again that I can't rubato somewhere because it's not possible to conduct it - nonono. He did so many expressive things because it IS possible with a good orchestra!

Both nights people applauded so much that after their encore, Gergiev led them out - the concerts were almost three hours!

And I love how they always come on stage together, so they're not hovering on stage before the concert actually starts.

Anyway that's my story. It was incredibly inspiring.