Bournemouth S.O play Prokofiev on Wednesday 10th October

[Hornspieler]

Prokofiev
Radio 3 Live in Concert, Live from the Lighthouse, Poole

First broadcast:Wednesday 10 October 2012Live from the Lighthouse, Poole

The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Kirill Karabits continue their important Prokofiev cycle and the brilliant twenty-six year old pianist, Denis Kozhukin, joins them to play Rachmaninov's Fourth Piano Concerto.

Presented by Martin Handley

1930 Prokofiev Symphony No.3
INTERVAL
2036 Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.4

Ravel La Valse

Denis Kozhukhin (piano)
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Kirill Karabits (conductor)

Principal conductor, Kirill Karabits's brilliantly conceived programme pairs two works written in 1926 but conceived over a much longer time frame. Music from Prokofiev's opera, The Fiery Angel, is re-worked in gloriously symphionic terms in his rarely heard Third Symphony whilst Rachmaninov Fourth Piano Concerto ended an eight year drought following the composer's enforced move from his homeland following the Russian Revolution. The Novgorod-born, Denis Kozhukhin is the soloist in this concerto - as much for the orchestra as the pianist - which is by turns improvisatory, jazzy and yet typically noble. Ravel's deadly-aimed shot at the lost world of Imperial Vienna rounds off the programme in a crescendo of the macabre

For myself, I shall listen to the Prokofiev.
I confess my shame in thinking that Rachmaninov's 4th piano concerto is woefully below the standard he set in his first three
and I absolutely Hate "La Valse", so I will seek my entertainment elsewhere during the second part of the concert.

My loss, I'm sure.

HS

[salymap]

It's a pity La Valse has been ruined by over-exposure. At 15 or so I had a wonderful 78 record of Pierre Monteux conducting it and thought it magical. I can't remember the orchestra.

[amateur51]

I love La Valse but make a point of only listening to it in concert these days which limits my exposure to it.

There again, sometimes a different view can help ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS0i9aCGclc&feature=related

[Petrushka]

I love La Valse but make a point of only listening to it in concert these days which limits my exposure to it.

Pretty much the same here. I doubt if I've heard La Valse more than three times in the past 12 months.

[jayne lee wilson]

La Valse looks an unsuitable makeweight in this programme, but coming after the short but very percussive Rach 4 might seem too much!

Without La Valse, the prog would work better in reverse order; 4th Concerto has some lovely oases of melody among the brassy rhythmic adventures (2nd subject in (i), slow movement), and a brilliant conclusion! Plenty for the soloist to show off with too. It is a slightly odd blend of nostalgia and innovation but the finale pulls all the thematic threads together compellingly. Best approached with abandon.

Prokofiev 3rd Symphony - lovely slow movement but - take no prisoners, look very encouragingly at the brass - just make the biggest noise you can!

[salymap]

Think I will record it and listen tomorrow as I don't know the symphony and haven't heard the Rach PC 4 for yonks.

[Hornspieler]

Think I will record it and listen tomorrow as I don't know the symphony and haven't heard the Rach PC 4 for yonks.

Well I really enjoyed the Prokofiev. The orchestra was in very good form.

I think I might leave my recorder running and listen to Part 2 later. (I might even change my mind about that Rachmaninoff 4th P/C)

HS

[teamsaint]

Shall have to catch up on this. Prokofiev 3 is a favourite of mine....just needs to given a manic treatment in my view.

Seems those who heard it enjoyed it...

[Pianorak]

Love solo piano version of La Valse Argerich! - not overly keen on the orchestral version.

[cloughie]

I switched on my car radio part-way through La Valse - what a great performance - and yes what a great piece.

[Hornspieler]

Rachmaninov's 4th concerto:

It seems to me that the talents of Denis Kozhukhin were obvious by his performance. He actually made something of Sergei Rachmaninov's 4th concerto.

Oh dear! "Two lovely black eyes" - a traditional English melody set to words and made famous by the Music Hall artist Charles Coborn in 1886.
A coincidence perhaps (there is a limited combination of notes and rhythms and similar instances can be spotted in works by other composers) but then followed almost immediately by the opening bars of one of Liszt's piano concertos!

Compared with Rachmaninov's other three concertos this was "not fit for purpose" The poor man was running out of funds and running out of ideas.

I would much rather have heard last night's soloist play the 1st piano concerto; which is rather neglected compared with the 2nd and 3rd.

Still, the orchestra played well throughout the evening. If the Prokofiev was not quite savage enough for some listeners, I would put it down to the (IMHO) poor accoustics in the "Lighthouse" (one mile from the sea) compared with the old Bournemouth Winter Gardens; destroyed by money-grabbing local councillors in spite of pleas and petitions by Bournemouth's residents.

HS

[rauschwerk]

The poor man was running out of funds...

The how, at this very time, did he manage to subsidise his impoverished friend Nikolai Medtner, to say nothing of his renting luxury accommodation in Europe each summer, taking his piano and car with him?

As for

"Two lovely black eyes"

, we know that Rachmaninov's main concern was about his theme sounding like a major version of the Schumann concerto's opening theme.

And you can hardly deny that ideas returned in abundance, even if Rachmaninov no longer had a great deal of time to compose them.

[BBMmk2]

No matter how many times I have heard Rach's PC4, i still think it's rather uinderrmines SR's output. I will catch up with their performance of prok's 3rd(one of my favourites).

[salymap]

I attempted the symphony on my TV recorder but it wasn't clear enough tomake much of it.

I've just listened to the Rach PC 4 on iPlayer. It was certainly wellplayed imo. A tour de force for soloist and orchestra and unmistakeably Rachmaninov but seems episodic and shapeless compared with nos 2 and 3. Just my opinion as a humble listener

[Barbirollians]

Michelangeli dispels all doubts for me .