Saw the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra last night at the Middlesbrough Theatre - quite a small space (less than 500 seats) but with a big stage able to accommodate orchestra and piano. The programme was Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.1 and the Eroica Symphony - which I thought was ambitious for a provincial orchestra (with presumably so many Brendels, Ashkenazys, Klemperers and Karajans pretty fresh in everyone's memory).
Marios Papadopoulos conducted (from the keyboard in the piano concerto - seemingly conducting with his incredibly mobile and almost expressive hair while playing). The strings seemed especially accomplished with a luxurious, glowing sound - but that made the brass seem a little underpowered. Probably with Solti's Vienna Philharmonic recording of the Eroica in my mind's ear (Decca, 1958) I wanted the brass to cut through a little more - to be a little more pungent. Nonetheless a fabulous evening - very enjoyable. I would go and see them again.
Technics SL1210 MkII / SME 309 / Timestep PSU / Achromat / Denon DL-304
Phono stage PS Audio NuWave Phono Converter
Lossless / MP3 / Tidal > Roon > Bryston BDP-1USB > Marantz NA-11S1
Marantz UD7007 SACD/Blu-ray/DVD-V/DVD-A
Toshiba BDX1200 Blu-ray player (Zone A & Region 1)
Audiolab 8200AP pre-amp/processor
Power amp: Arcam P7
B&W 804S stereo (bi-amped), HTM4S centre, CDMSNT surrounds (5.0)
Sennheiser HD 700 headphones
Panasonic PT-AT6000 projector