PO3 The Ulster Orchestra 5th April

[Guest]

I am told that the Ulster Hall has been refurbished.
Listen tonight to decide whether the Ulster Orchestra has received similar treatment

VH

The Title date, 5th April, is correct

[PatrickOD]

Let hir who is without need of refurbishment ......

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0100lyc

[salymap]

I don't know the Shostakovich Cello concerto the orchestra are playing so can't comment but the orchestral strings sound rather thin to me. Are they up to full orchestral size does anyone know? They will need them for the Great C Major.

[Ventilhorn]

It's difficult to make any sensible comment on this concert, because the balance is so bad that much of the cello concerto, especially in the slow movement was completely inaudible, even with my volume control turned fully up. The soloist, I thought was pretty good (what I could hear) The Principal horn, in spite of the praise lavished on him at the end, made an absolute pig's ear of those important solos, but in general, I thought the orchestral accompaniment pretty good. The great C major was turned into "The Great Trombone Fest" and, with a symphony this long and exhausting string parts, why on earth did the conductor repeat the exposition in the 1st movement?

This symphony took 56 minutes to perform. Haitinck's recording with the Concertgebouw takes 47 minutes. I would say that's about the normal duration..

As for the audio team, I can only say "not fit for purpose" BBC Northern Ireland should hang their heads in shame for turning out a recording as ill-balanced as this.

I was hoping to be able to hear a much improved Ulster Orchestra. Instead of that, we suffered long periods of silence followed by a trombone concerto, courtesy of BBC Northern Ireland's incompetent Sound Engineers.

VH

[RobertLeDiable]

....the balance is so bad that much of the cello concerto, especially in the slow movement was completely inaudible, even with my volume control turned fully up.

Listening to the concert I would agree that the radio balance was too brass-heavy, but there's no need to exaggerate. The Shostakovich slow movement was well done and the soloist was perfectly audible. Ridiculous to say the Schubert repeats should be omitted too. Good performance, even if the orchestra isn't one of Britain's finest.

[Ventilhorn]

. Ridiculous to say the Schubert repeats should be omitted too.

But that is not what I said.
I only queried the conductor's decision to repeat the exposition in the first movement. There are many more repeated sections throughout the work which most performances include.

[RobertLeDiable]

Some conductors do that repeat. Some don't. It would be boring if everyone did the same thing. It's a great symphony and open to almost infinite variations in interpretation.