John Wilson, winner of the 2018 Incorporated Society of Musicians Distinguished Musician Award, conducts the Academy Symphony Orchestra in a Russian-themed program: Brett Dean’s 2006 work “Komarov’s Fall”, followed by Academy piano student Bocheng Wang joining the orchestra for Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No 3; Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 6 “Pateticheskaya” (better known as the “Pathétique”) closes the concert.

The concert is available in video streamcast on FB here

John Wilson Royal Academy 2020 1 (1) Above John: Valery Gergiev conducts the Mariinsky Orchestra in Pyotr Illich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 6, 1995. Most of the “Pathétique” was quite nice, actually. If I had the key, John, there’d be homemade soup on the stove when you got home.

Just a couple things concerning John’s ever-evolving technique. Noticed that in the Tchaikovsky, in the Allegro con grazia he put down his baton in order to use both hands in shaping the sound, which worked just fine and made the second movement the most effective movement of the symphony. In the third movement, that young percussionist played the cymbals with more reverberation, making a less snappy sound—on time, but eliciting a very visible reaction from their conductor. In fact, it was enough to prompt my bonny at the end of the movement to take the kerchief to wipe his face out of his pocket with a decided snap, as well as to turn the score page with a snap equally as audible—a discernable message—before taking a moment to humbly submit to the music and end the concert with a satisfying fourth.

FULL DRESS // A gifted mesmerist—a sinister composer—a naive young conductor from the north…inspired by an episode from the life of Rachmaninoff // DOWNLOAD FREE BOOK POSTER

PATREON

8 thoughts on “John Wilson Conducts the Royal Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra in Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky and Brett Dean, 24 January 2020”

  1. Pingback: The Story So Far; Or, Conductor John Wilson—His Limits – "I'll Be Dead Before You Break My Heart"
  2. Pingback: My First Music: On Conductor John Wilson and His Thing About Percussion, Plus Emmanuel Chabrier’s “España” (1883), John’s New Recording from Chandos – "I'll Be Dead Before You Break My Heart"
  3. Pingback: Sexual Fantasies in a Time of Pandemic; Mamoulian’s Crying Violins; and Korngold’s Violin Concerto in D Played by the RTE Concert Orchestra, Andrew Haveron, Soloist, with John Wilson Conducting – "I'll Be Dead Before You Break
  4. Pingback: Sexual Fantasies in a Time of Pandemic; Mamoulian’s Crying Violins; and Korngold’s Violin Concerto in D Played by the RTE Concert Orchestra, Andrew Haveron, Soloist, with John Wilson Conducting – "I'll Be Dead Before You Break
  5. Pingback: Sexual Fantasies in a Time of Pandemic; Mamoulian’s Crying Violins; and Korngold’s Violin Concerto in D Played by the RTE Concert Orchestra, Andrew Haveron, Soloist, with John Wilson Conducting – "I'll Be Dead Before You Break
  6. Pingback: A Quick Shout-Out to Bob Rafaelson, Carole Eastman, The Monkees, Chopin’s Fantasy in F minor, and Five Easy Pieces (Columbia, 1970) – "I'll Be Dead Before You Break My Heart"
  7. Pingback: At the End of the Year 2020: An Open Letter to My Beloved English Conductor John Wilson from His Sentimental American – "I'll Be Dead Before You Break My Heart"
  8. Pingback: My Beloved John Wilson Appointed to Henry Wood Chair of Conducting at the Royal Academy of Music and Conducts the RAM String Orchestra in Schoenberg’s “Verklärte Nacht” at Snape Maltings, 6 June 2021 – "I'll Be Dead Befo

Leave a comment