Andrew Manze conducts the BBCSSO tonight 8th March at 19.30

[Guest]

Andrew Manze leads the BBC SSO in music by Purcell, Elgar, Britten and Vaughan Williams.

A varied programme. Should be interesting.

HS

[amateur51]

The progrogramme is:

Purcell Fantasia upon one note (orch. Manze)
Pavan in B flat major (orch. Manze)
Chacony in G minor (ed. Britten)
Britten Cello Symphony

Interval:

Purcell In nomine (in seven parts) (orch. Manze)
Vaughan Williams Symphony No.6

Alban Gerhardt cello
Andrew Manze conductor
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

I have heard Alban Gerhardt several times and rate him highly among relatively young modern cellists - it will be interesting to hear him in a rare outing for the Britten Cello Symphony.

[french frank]

Studying the playlist itself, I can't see that any Elgar will be performed. It seems to be mainly Purcell, Britten and Manze (as orchestrator), with VW 6 - and more Purcell/Manze - in the second half. It is announced in the summary at the top of the page but whether that or the playlist is wrong we shall discover ...

[Ed: Thanks am51 - I was checking again for the Elgar and you preempted me!]

[salymap]

I can't associate what [little] I know of Andrew Manze with a big dramatic work like the RVW sym 6. Could be interesting.

[Chris Newman]

I can't associate what [little] I know of Andrew Manze with a big dramatic work like the RVW sym 6. Could be interesting.

In the 2011 Proms Andrew Manze conducted the BBCSO a repectable account of Brahms's Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25 (1861) orchestrated by Arnold Schoenberg. Like another Brahms Symphony it is certainly dramatic as well as fun. In the same programme he also conducted Angela Hewitt in Schumann's Introduction and Concert Allegro, Op. 134. His conducting style is every lively.

He has worked as guest conductor with most of the orchestras in Scandinavia. Since 2006 Manze has been Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of Sweden's Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra. With the HSO he has made several recordings including a cycle of the Brahms’ symphonies for CPO, Beethoven’s Eroica on Harmonia Mundi and Stenhammer's Piano Concerti on Hyperion. He was Principal Guest Conductor of the Norwegian Radio Symphony Orchestra from 2008-2011 and since 2010 Manze has been Associate Guest Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and

[salymap]

In the 2011 Proms Andrew Manze conducted the BBCSO a repectable account of Brahms's Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25 (1861) orchestrated by Arnold Schoenberg. Like another Brahms Symphony it is certainly dramatic as well as fun. In the same programme he also conducted Angela Hewitt in Schumann's Introduction and Concert Allegro, Op. 134. His conducting style is every lively.




He has worked as guest conductor with most of the orchestras in Scandinavia. Since 2006 Manze has been Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of Sweden's Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra. With the HSO he has made several recordings including a cycle of the Brahms’ symphonies for CPO, Beethoven’s Eroica on Harmonia Mundi and Stenhammer's Piano Concerti on Hyperion. He was Principal Guest Conductor of the Norwegian Radio Symphony Orchestra from 2008-2011 and since 2010 Manze has been Associate Guest Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and

Oh perhaps I'm thinking of someone else. A violinist who 'directed' the little orchestra on a barge on ??the Thames, playing, predictably, Handel's WaterMusic. I put him down as a small orchestra/chamber music group type. He has moved on then.

[french frank]

Oh perhaps I'm thinking of someone else. A violinist who 'directed' the little orchestra on a barge on ??the Thames, playing, predictably, Handel's WaterMusic. I put him down as a small orchestra/chamber music group type. He has moved on then.

Yes, that's him. He was Director of the English Concert for a relatively short time (after Trevor Pinnock) and was a Baroque specialist. Also presented The Early Music Show for a short time. He's widened his scope in recent years.

[salymap]

Thanks ff,I must catch up on him then.

saly

[3rd Viennese School]

Looking forward to the Vaughan Williams Symphony no.6 in E minor.

This will be the first time I 've heard it on Performance on 3!

3VS

[Hornspieler]

Looking forward to the Vaughan Williams Symphony no.6 in E minor.

This will be the first time I 've heard it on Performance on 3!

3VS

A fantastic performance of RVW Nº 6.

The first half? No comment.

HS

[Chris Newman]

Hi, HS. It really was a smashingly good RVW No 6.

I enjoyed the Purcell (maybe the arrangements were inauthentic but the In Nomine was especially fine). I am afraid despite all the excellent efforts of Alban Gerhardt, the BBCSO and Andrew Manze I never have taken to Britten's Cello Symphony; it is probably the gloomiest, chilliest BB ever wrote. I had to put some warmer clothes on.

Good to know we have another promising conductor for English music.

[jayne lee wilson]

Yes, stunning VW, marvellous! Rugged, even savage, power but incredible discipline and precision too. Perhaps the last movement wasn't really quiet enough, even via HDs (it is marked "pianissimo" after all), but never mind. The grand sweep of the performance was unanswerable!

Britten Cello Symphony scarcely less fine, placing it more vividly than usual in that odd tradition of very individualistic, rather spiky 20th C. concertante works going back to Bartok, DSCH and Nielsen. A fine cello/orchestra blend in the balance tonight, reflecting Britten's choice of title. Tautly played by every orchestral department - could have done with a mite more power in that wonderfully resonant final crescendo.

A fantastic performance of RVW Nº 6.

The first half? No comment.

HS

[Flosshilde]

I was there & it was absolutely stunning - almost literally so in the VW! - playing to knock your socks off. The whole orchestra was absolutely superb, the brass especially so. This was the VW symphony that really opened my ears to him (although I've known - & loved - the 1st for years), via BaL (I think) & CD, so I was especially looking forward to hearing it live. It won't be the same listening to it on CD after that performance!

The Britten I didn't know at all, & I was very taken by it - perfromance excellent, and an interesting work. The announcer said, when he was introducing the post-concert coda (Britten cello suite no. 1) that the same team would be in the hall on Sunday recording it for release by Hyperion - definitely one to go on my Amazon wish-list.

The Purcell, I'm afraid, I was less than impressed by, especially the first two - overblown & too romantic-y; they made me think of CFM's 'music to relax to'. The third piece in the first half, in Britten's edition, was better - perhaps he had more feeling for Purcell thanc Manze? (which would be odd, as Manze was in the past a violinist specialising in Baroque music.) His orchestration of the In Nomine a 7 was rather better - less brass?

[Panjandrum]

Thanks ff,I must catch up on him then.

saly

I'm sure he'll be grateful he's come to your attention finally.

[salymap]

I'm sure he'll be grateful he's come to your attention finally.

It's a job to keep up with everyone when you have 65 years of music and musicians fighting for space in your mind Panjandrum