BBC SSO/Dausgaard from Glasgow (broadcast 25.09.17 - 7.30 p.m.)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Recorded on September 21st at City Halls, Glasgow.

Thomas Dausgaard conducts the BBC SSO in Beethoven's Ninth.

Palestrina: Sicut cervus (four-part motet)
Bach: Fugue in B flat minor, BWV 867 (arr. for string quintet by Beethoven) (Hess 38)
Handel: Coronation Anthem 'Zadok the Priest'
Gluck: Dance of the Scythians (Iphigénie en Tauride)
Mozart: Misericordias Domini, K222
Haydn: Symphony No. 70 in D major
Beethoven: Symphony No 9 in D minor, 'Choral'

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

Louise Alder, soprano
Jennifer Johnston, mezzo-soprano
Stuart Jackson, tenor
Neal Davis, bass
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Voices
Thomas Dausgaard, conductor

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Value for money?

[Alison]

Good start to the Beethoven. Really impressed by this conductor.

[DracoM]

Singing enthusiastic, but BBCS style and so yesterday.
Band terrific, and the maestro is superb.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Singing enthusiastic, but BBCS style and so yesterday.

[bluestateprommer]

Value for money?

Yup, very much so. I admit to complete surprise in hearing from Wolfie's Misericordias Domini the "Ode to Joy" theme in embryo. So points to Dausgaard for putting this sequence together for the 1st half. He does seem to have a flair for programming ideas like this, like his addition of the Russian Orthodox chant selections to the BBC SSO Rachmaninov Prom this past summer.

Regarding the symphony itself, though, I found TD's interpretation to be a mixed bag, par for what I've heard of him. He does have a knack for taking orchestral repertoire at a brisker pace than most, almost at times for its own sake, IMHO. He does incorporate HIPP practice in the swifter tempi and the trimmed vibrato. In fairness, he didn't take the scherzo at a rush at the start. But some passages in the slow movement did turn into a gabble at TD's quicker pace. I find a certain edgy nervousness and tension in the orchestra's playing because of this quick pacing at times, which leads to some momentary lapses that I don't think would occur at a somewhat more relaxed, or at least less obviously tense, pace. Interestingly, this same edginess and nervousness seems reflected in his recorded remarks before each performance.

TD seems like an affable chap and a nice enough fellow, but I guess that I'm still of a somewhat mixed mind about him in this BBC SSO post. I admit to being surprised when his name was announced, as I thought that Markus Stenz would have been a more likely choice, based on the quality of MS' concerts in recent years with the BBC SSO. But since the average tenure of BBC SSO chief conductors in recent years seems to be around 6, maybe things will change after 2022. TD just got named to the Seattle Symphony Orchestra as its next music director, where the orchestra and audiences think extremely highly of him there, based on press accounts and reviews. So maybe TD's style works better in Seattle.