BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Andrew Manze city halls 25/10/2012

[jayne lee wilson]

Now THIS should get the listeners into the Home Concert Hall -

BACEWICZ - Concerto for String Orchestra

BEETHOVEN - Piano Concerto No.4 in G

VAUGHN WILLIAMS - Symphony No.3 (A Pastoral Symphony)

Strong programme, seemingly planned as a journey from energy, beauty and reflection - into tragedy, and darkest, bleakest elegy.
Much to fascinate throughout. Worth making time for - hope LIFE doesn't get in the way...

[Simon]

Indeed. A great programme, if you are nearby.

[jayne lee wilson]

With Home Concert Hall everyone with a radio or computer is nearby!

[amateur51]

Indeed. A great programme, if you are nearby.

Oh dear - it's on the radio, Prof

After their top-class Proms 2012 performances of RVW symphonies 4-6, I've got high hope for this evening's performance of symphony no 3

Many thanks for the alert jlw - that's prosecco

[EdgeleyRob]

Coming up next.

[jayne lee wilson]

Well, that was just an extraordinary concert. Wasn't it? It was.
...Beautiful and profoundly moving, and a perfect webcast on R3 HD too.

Kitchen beckons, more later I hope.

[EdgeleyRob]

Well, that was just an extraordinary concert. Wasn't it? It was.
...Beautiful and profoundly moving, and a perfect webcast on R3 HD too.

Kitchen beckons, more later I hope.

Can't wait to read your review Jayne,enjoy your tea.
Missed the first piece and 2 thirds of the Beethoven (life did get in the way) but listened to RVW 3.
Perfect,this guy can conduct Vaughan Williams for sure can't he ?.

[jayne lee wilson]

Most may remember this concert for the remarkable blend of intensity and delicacy Manze brought to Vaughn Williams' Pastoral Symphony, a performance which reserved its greatest power for those few moments in the lento movements where a defiant passion blazes - lament or protest, or both - "emotions of war, but not recollected in tranquillity" as Michael Kennedy put it. Manze achieved a marvellous balance, a luminosity which clearly related the textures to VW's lessons with Ravel. This orchestral transparency, with those many uniquely English harmonies and modulations, lend to this symphony a uniquely understated tragic voice (three of the four movements have "moderato" in their title).
In the first movement, Manze's phrases and paragraphs flowed patiently and naturally, building to quasi-climaxes of careful gradation. Wonderfully unforced and true to the idiom. I wondered whether his Moderato Pesante carried enough rhythmic clarity with its weight, but this only served to heighten the contrast with that strange, fantastically scurrying coda. The quick, who were soon to become the dead.

A great performance of a symphony whose lament for the lives of young men, wasted and destroyed by the decisions of the remote and powerful, has a European breadth of compassion. Manze's reading is equal to its utterly original vision; he, with this orchestra, have found a special bond with this music.

After a first movement which brought an austere orchestral clarity and poise to the accompaniment of Stephen Osborne's self-effacing poetry, the andante con moto of Beethoven's G Major Concerto suddenly leapt at the listener with an intensified drama of contrasting voices: Manze's strings severe, brusque, barking out their sforzandos; Osborne sweetly, caressingly, attempting the unemphatic placation. Then Manze, Osborne and the BBCSSO sang and danced together, unambiguously joyful in the finale.

Bacewicz' Concerto for String Orchestra seemed a little anonymous in its neo-classicism, though with a lovely slow movement. "Good work in the style of the period" perhaps, but who knows what secrets repeated hearings may reveal. A shame her stronger pieces, the Violin Concertos for example, don't get a live outing more often (or at all). It was despatched with a slightly dry virtuosity by the BBCSSO strings.

Only remains to add a comment on the fine sound balance from the City Halls. On HD-hi webstream, I had a perfect transmission which achieved a wide dynamic range within the smallish, dryish space of this acoustic.

[EdgeleyRob]

Most may remember this concert for the remarkable blend of intensity and delicacy Manze brought to Vaughn Williams' Pastoral Symphony, a performance which reserved its greatest power for those few moments in the lento movements where a defiant passion blazes - lament or protest, or both - "emotions of war, but not recollected in tranquillity" as Michael Kennedy put it. Manze achieved a marvellous balance, a luminosity which clearly related the textures to VW's lessons with Ravel. This orchestral transparency, with those many uniquely English harmonies and modulations, lend to this symphony a uniquely understated tragic voice (three of the four movements have "moderato" in their title).
In the first movement, Manze's phrases and paragraphs flowed patiently and naturally, building to quasi-climaxes of careful gradation. Wonderfully unforced and true to the idiom. I wondered whether his Moderato Pesante carried enough rhythmic clarity with its weight, but this only served to heighten the contrast with that strange, fantastically scurrying coda. The quick, who were soon to become the dead.

A great performance of a symphony whose lament for the lives of young men, wasted and destroyed by the decisions of the remote and powerful, has a European breadth of compassion. Manze's reading is equal to its utterly original vision; he, with this orchestra, have found a special bond with this music.
After a first movement which brought an austere orchestral clarity and poise to the accompaniment of Stephen Osborne's self-effacing poetry, the andante con moto of Beethoven's G Major Concerto suddenly leapt at the listener with an intensified drama of contrasting voices: Manze's strings severe, brusque, barking out their sforzandos; Osborne sweetly, caressingly, attempting the unemphatic placation. Then Manze, Osborne and the BBCSSO sang and danced together, unambiguously joyful in the finale.

Bacewicz' Concerto for String Orchestra seemed a little anonymous in its neo-classicism, though with a lovely slow movement. "Good work in the style of the period" perhaps, but who knows what secrets repeated hearings may reveal. A shame her stronger pieces, the Violin Concertos for example, don't get a live outing more often (or at all). It was despatched with a slightly dry virtuosity by the BBCSSO strings.

Only remains to add a comment on the fine sound balance from the City Halls. On HD-hi webstream, I had a perfect transmission which achieved a wide dynamic range within the smallish, dryish space of this acoustic.

Just a brilliant review as usual Jayne.
A perfect description of RVW 3.

[BBMmk2]

Hearing the BBCSSO at the Proms this year, i think they seemed to have improved, withy their sound, playing etc, overall. I still think when they did that mahler 3(last yeare wasnt it?0, they were struggling in places!

[Stanfordian]

Andrew Manze is a fine conductor and I believe that he will progress even further as he gains in experience. I attended a concert of his in Munich with the Munich Philharmonic in May 2011. He was conducting Britten's Sinfonia de Requiem and the Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes together with some Purcell orchestrations. I interviewed him the next day and he said he never intended to become an early music specialist which came about owing to his Cambridge University connection with Richard Egarr. Manze said that he had put the violin down and was concentrating on conducting. At that time he was principal conductor of the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra so he is certainly not new to the conducting scene. It’s good to see that Manze is championing English music especially Vaughan Williams.