Edinburgh International Festival

[Pulcinella]

Don’t think I’ve ever heard such rich woodwind in ROS

Or loud!

Thoroughly enjoyed, but I couldn't help wondering, if that was the sort of sound and balance that Stravinsky would have expected/received at the first performances, why he didn't emulate them in his own recordings.

[HighlandDougie]

A wonderful concert. The Lili Boulanger was something of a revelation (not least with Véronique Gens towering magisterially every time she got up to sing - and singing rather well, too). The Rite is a Les Siècles party piece but played by the orchestra as if their collective lives depended on it. No encore - as F-X R said - I paraphrase - “We don’t do an encore after the Rite but thank you, Edinburgh”.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Or loud!

Thoroughly enjoyed, but I couldn't help wondering, if that was the sort of sound and balance that Stravinsky would have expected/received at the first performances, why he didn't emulate them in his own recordings.

I don’t think that sort of ultra precise balance is obtainable anywhere - it’s a product of mics and a mixer but thrilling nevertheless…

[Barbirollians]

Well, a very sad end to our Edinburgh Festival. We had tickets to the closing concert. Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius with Sir Andrew Davis conducting the RSNO and the Festival Chorus.

Unfortunately, on the way to the Usher Hall I attended to a cyclist who had fallen off his bike and broken his leg. (Possibly due to the greasy roads which have resulted after the refuse collectors). Blood everywhere. As a result, we arrived late to the Usher Hall and were told that the conductor had expressly forbidden any latecomers! Not even at the end of the first part. Now bearing in mind that we had tickets for the end of the row we could easily have slipped in to our seats but absolutely not!

The person I spoke to got the house manager to speak to us and I don’t think that in my adult life I have ever been spoken to so rudely or in such a dismissive way. When my wife attempted to remonstrate he said ‘I’m too busy to argue’ and turned and walked away.

Pretty poor since I must have attended over a thousand concerts both as audience and player since June 1977.

Down with the Usher Hall management.

What an absolute disgrace both from Andrew Davis and the management . I would write to the Chief Exec or whoever is in charge and make a very big stink about it

[Barbirollians]

I’m so sorry for you. The House Manager’s response was unforgivable. I hope you pursue the matter.

He evidently behaved disgracefully but so did Andrew Davis - what a jumped up conductor he is.

[Nick Armstrong]

Víkingur Ólafsson has a slightly disconcerting manner at the piano but was very much in tune with the Schumann PC (a work I hadn't heard/listened to for quite a long time so it was good to make its reacquaintance).

I agree. I’ve only just caught up with the concerto performance, and it’s one of the best I’ve heard - great fluency, some passages which can sound choppy in lesser hands made perfect sense within the shape of the whole. Great playing by all concerned. (Loved Ólafsson’s performance of Pour Le Piano in the interval too, which I hadn’t heard before)

[smittims]

I'm afraid I didn't find the Lili Boulanger as revelatory as HighlandDougie did. I've always felt this composer to be over-hyped, not least by her surviving sister, understandable perhaps. The most I'd say is that she could compose.

I wonder if her music would be played on Radio3 if it had been written by a man. But then , I think that of the music of Judith Weir, Judith Bingham, Cecilia MacDowell, etc.

[Pulcinella]

I'm afraid I didn't find the Lili Boulanger as revelatory as HighlandDougie did. I've always felt this composer to be over-hyped, not least by her surviving sister, understandable perhaps. The most I'd say is that she could compose.

I wonder if her music would be played on Radio3 if it had been written by a man. But then , I think that of the music of Judith Weir, Judith Bingham, Cecilia MacDowell, etc.

I thought that the Lili Boulanger piece was jolly impressive for a 19-year old, though not my cup of tea.
Remember too that Ravel failed to win the prize three times (though possibly not necessarily just on musical grounds: I think his attitude offended the jury!).

[Ein Heldenleben]

I'm afraid I didn't find the Lili Boulanger as revelatory as HighlandDougie did. I've always felt this composer to be over-hyped, not least by her surviving sister, understandable perhaps. The most I'd say is that she could compose.

I wonder if her music would be played on Radio3 if it had been written by a man. But then , I think that of the music of Judith Weir, Judith Bingham, Cecilia MacDowell, etc.

Blimey you don’t take any prisoners. Does this “ etc “ extend to the entire corpus of music written by female composers?

[HighlandDougie]

I thought that the Lili Boulanger piece was jolly impressive for a 19-year old, though not my cup of tea.
Remember too that Ravel failed to win the prize three times (though possibly not necessarily just on musical grounds: I think his attitude offended the jury!).

My previous exposure to Lili Boulanger in a concert (Psalm 24) plus the fact that she wrote it when she was 19 (and ill) had led me to expect something less striking in the way that she handled the orchestration and the text - so that was the revelation for me. Not a coup de foudre by any means but I'm glad to have heard it in what, without knowing the work, seemed to me to be an exemplary performance. The remark about Radio 3 and women composers does not merit a response, in my view, so I'll keep schtum on that.

[smittims]

I was delighted to read your post, Dougie.

[smittims]

Hi, Heldenleben. No, I admire the music of Grace Williams, Doreen Carwithen, Priaulx Rainier and Elisabeth Lutyens, for instance (there are others) and it's a mystery to me why the music of the latter two is so ignored by Radio 3 who have made such an effort in promoting female composers.

There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of neglected composers, and many are in my opinion much better than the female composers so frequently aired on Radio 3: Malcolm Singer, Arnold Cooke, and Bernard van Dieren, to mention only three. So it seems to me that quality of music isn't the criterion of selection. All too often I've striven to give a fair hearing to one of the many pieces by Weir or Bingham broadcast, and always I feel I was wasting my time. They're clearly very knowledgeable about music, skilful and well-educated, they know how to compose, but their music seems to say nothing to me, other than that it's bland and correct.

[Nick Armstrong]

Radio 3 and women composers

I’m very grateful for the exposure R3 has given in recent years to women composers. I’ve become a fan of the music of Louise Farrenc, Ruth Gipps and Doreen Carwithen (to name the first three who jump to mind). I doubt I’d have had an opportunity to listen to any of it without the station’s attention to their work.

I’ve never (yet) fallen for the music of the Boulanger sisters, for some reason. And I’m afraid the composer to whom altogether too much obeisance has lately been paid is Florence Price - for me, her music is far from the set of masterpieces some seem to suggest.

PS Ooh Hélène de Montgeroult’s music was another revelation

[Pulcinella]

My previous exposure to Lili Boulanger in a concert (Psalm 24) plus the fact that she wrote it when she was 19 (and ill) had led me to expect something less striking in the way that she handled the orchestration and the text - so that was the revelation for me. Not a coup de foudre by any means but I'm glad to have heard it in what, without knowing the work, seemed to me to be an exemplary performance. The remark about Radio 3 and women composers does not merit a response, in my view, so I'll keep schtum on that.

I have this EMI France compilation (much from Everest), which includes Psalm 24, but I can't say that any of it has made any impression.

https://sep.yimg.com/ay/yhst-56676699049927/igor-markevitch-du-fond-de-l-abime-boulanger-emi-64281-3.jpg

[Ein Heldenleben]

Hi, Heldenleben. No, I admire the music of Grace Williams, Doreen Carwithen, Priaulx Rainier and Elisabeth Lutyens, for instance (there are others) and it's a mystery to me why the music of the latter two is so ignored by Radio 3 who have made such an effort in promoting female composers.

There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of neglected composers, and many are in my opinion much better than the female composers so frequently aired on Radio 3: Malcolm Singer, Arnold Cooke, and Bernard van Dieren, to mention only three. So it seems to me that quality of music isn't the criterion of selection. All too often I've striven to give a fair hearing to one of the many pieces by Weir or Bingham broadcast, and always I feel I was wasting my time. They're clearly very knowledgeable about music, skilful and well-educated, they know how to compose, but their music seems to say nothing to me, other than that it's bland and correct.

It seems we have very similar tastes though I’m not that familiar with Rainier . The re- emergence (on Radio 3 at least ) of Carwithen and Williams has really been an ear-opener for me. The relative neglect of Lutyens is inexplicable. To be fair R3 are addressing the Arnold historic neglect issue.