DSCH 11th - Vedernikov/BBCSSO in concert 30/11

[Bax-of-Delights]

I only caught the last movement of the DSCH 11th performed under Vedernikov with the BBCSSO on Thursday night and I was astonished NOT to hear the hammering bells in the final passage. What should have been an aural assault just, well, fizzled out. The whole performance seemed underpowered anyway but I couldn’t believe my ears at the absence of the bell. Perhaps the engineers had placed the mikes away from the percussion because the xylophone was distinctly mute at points when it should be riding above the sound of the rest of the orchestra.

I’d be interested to see if anyone else had the same impression.

[Simon B]

The whole thing sounded a bit low-voltage to me too...

Some of it is the venue. The refurbished City Halls is a really nice venue with a very transmissive acoustic which is excellent for smaller scale orchestral music but gets a bit muddled and cavernous for big stuff. The recording reflects this and has issues of its own with the percussion in particular rather recessed.

However, the issue with the bells is... the bells. Once you've heard this done with church bells (e.g. Bychkov/BBCSO, Sondergard/BBCNOW and Jurowski/LPO all at the Proms in recent years) going back to tubular bells, even the large "bass bells" that sound to have been used here, just seems feeble and totally lacking impact. Here they seem largely submerged in the texture. The impression that they need to be sounded a lot more forcefully and with a harder beater may be a false one created by the recording.

IIRC, DSCH11 needs 4 bells, G, Bb, B, C and the problem is hiring and transporting church bells for that lot is expensive, possibly having to shift literally a ton of stuff to/from London. Plus, Health and Safety might be an issue in a venue with a small stage where, unlike the RAH, there isn't a way to have a large space between the bells and the rest of the orchestra. They are literally deafening at close range.

For a good example of the full effect, try https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9lo9ZDYuDU from 1:05:39 - a gripping DSCH 11 from Sondergard/BBCNOW. Even here, there was a problem. I remember my friend (playing the G in this recording - with earplugs!) explaining that they could only source G, Bb and C and so had to use two bass bells for the B natural. The difference is glaringly obvious.

[Bax-of-Delights]

Many thanks for the response Simon B. Glad I wasn't the only one that thought it lacked ooomph and, quite coincidentally, I had read somewhere else this very week (in relation to a Bax recording I believe) that the Glasgow City Halls and the BBCSSO were not ideal companions.

Thanks for the Sondegard link. Riveting.