Live in Concert 31.03.14 - BBC CO/Lockhart

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

7.30 p.m.
Live from the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.
Music looking back to a time before the First World War, played by the BBC Concert Orchestra, conductor Keith Lockhart

Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin
Debussy: Berceuse héroïque
Barber: Knoxville Summer of 1915
Janacek: The Village Fiddler's Child
Butterworth: A Shropshire Lad
Bartok: Dance Suite

Live from the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Louise Fryer presents this concert of nostalgic music, looking back to a time before WW1, from the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. The BBC Concert Orchestra and conductor Keith Lockhart are also joined by American soprano Nicole Cabell in Barber's song cycle Knoxville Summer of 1915, remembering an idyllic evening in the Tennessee town.

[edashtav]

I listened to most of this Concert and was disappointed. Why?

There was a lack of the lightness and deftness of touch that I deem necessary for success in the Ravel. Too much "in yer face" playing and unsubtle gear changes.

The Debussy suffered in a similar manner.

I warmed more to Barber's rich and tuneful Knoxville, a work that I really love despite feeling that it's backwards looking and that I ought to reject it as "redundant" if I stayed true to my highest ideals. I loved Niciole Cabell's interpretation of it.

A time there was when I was young (and foolish?) when I'd play my LP of the Shropshire Lad incessantly. My doom-filled self felt that my life would be snuffed out prematurely. 50 years on, I see the piece differently. I hadn't realised how full it is of Richard Straussisms ( I felt the ending derived much from Tod und Verklarung. Bits of Keith Lockhart's performance "worked" for me. Much was unidiomatic and, again, I felt that he "crunched" his gear changes. Does the work need a warmer acoustic that that afforded by the QEH?

Bartok's Dance Suite, which had appeared the "odd man out" in the programme, was played and conducted rather better , I felt. Times have move on from my youth. Once, Butterworth was orchestral "bread and butter". Now it's "Another Country" whilst the Arab and Eastern European tunes at the heart of the Bartok seem to course through the bloodstreams of the BBC CO.

[LeMartinPecheur]

I confess I wasn't listening with undivided attention but I enjoyed this broadcast very much. The Butterworth and Bartok jumped out of my speakers, just possibly because both are favourite works of mine but I don't think that was the sole explanation.