This Friday 16th November at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester Juanjo Mena is conducting the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9 and JS Bach’s Cantata No. 147 'Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben'. After a wonderful performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 at the Bridgewater a couple of weeks ago chief conductor Juanjo Mena showed his prowess with large late-Romantic works and the stunning Bruckner 9 fits the bill. In the Bach Cantata No. 147 the BBC Phil are joined by the Manchester Chamber Choir and his cast of soloists are: soprano Julia Doyle soprano; counter-tenor Robin Blaze and baritone Roderick Williams.
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Last edited by Stanfordian; 19-11-12, 18:08. -
I guess they're not playing the 9th's finale? Now THAT would be a great event! -
Hiya jayne,Originally posted by jayne lee wilson View Post
A fourth movement for Bruckner's 9th is maybe not as unlikely as one might think. There have been several Finale completions. Earlier this year Sir Simon Rattle released a recording with the Berlin Philharmonic on EMI containing a Finale, lasting 23 minutes, newly reconstructed by a team of four musicologists.Comment
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Indeed it is quite impressive and, unlike the more Mahlerian and rather unconvincing Peter Jan Marthe effort, it sounds very much like Bruckner based more strictly on the composer's original sketches, though I find the coda rather tame considering the exciting and forward-looking stuff which precedes it. I'm sure Anton might have conjured up something very special and even more awe-inspiring if he had been strong enough to complete the work before he died.Originally posted by Stanfordian View Post
I see no reason why the 'purists' cannot continue to demand the three-movement performances while those who feel short-changed are also able to experience this 'completion'. The latter group can also claim with some justification that the sketches are quite extraordinary in their own right and without the completion these would be generally lost to the public.
Before I heard the sketches some years ago I was a stubborn and incorrigible 'purist' ... now I'm gradually moving to become 'a short-changer' though I'm not particularly hung-up on the issue. Let's have performances of both to satisfy the respective Bruckner camps, each of which has a perfectly valid case, imho!Comment
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Can't go this evening. Went to hear the Halle last night. If Juanjo Mena conducts Bruckner 9, as he did the 6th and 7th in previous seasons, then tonight's audience are in for a real treat.Comment
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Glorious concert, glorious night...
Very poorly today, not sure I'd be up to it; but on such a night as this, the music draws you in, and through. Mena - once again - showed himself a very natural, true and devoted Brucknerian. He serves this music, building its great paragraphs, the complex developments and waves of climaxes, with such a patient and flowing phrase, it almost seems to play itself. Not Mena's Bruckner, but archetypal Bruckner. All of it founded on a wondrously full, richly-textured orchestral sound.
I'm no sort of expert on Bach, but I do like No.147, and this performance seemed to me lithe, clear and light of touch. Nicely sung too. How well a Bach Cantata precedes a Bruckner Symphony! It should be a more frequent partnership.Comment
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Yes a freshly minted Bruckner 9 indeed.
Not a hint of routine. An object lesson in properly observed note values !
Can we hope for a Proms 2013 rendition from this source ?Comment
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Who's saying ugh to whom about what..?
That performing version of the 9th's finale, courtesy Rattle's Berlin Phil magnificence, has had me in tears several times. It's wonderful! I don't much care if it's been written by a computer or a committee. But it's the creation of years of devoted research and reconstruction, by a group of music-lovers (whatever else you might call them...) inspired by love.
I tend to think of the 9th as having "2 performing versions" now, of 3 or 4 movements. I'd love to hear Mena do the 4 movements - I wonder if, as Rattle has said of his own performances, he would have to change his whole interpretative approach to attain that particular peak?Comment
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Heard the Bach in the car on the way home from work ......very much enjoyed it and I feel it does make a good opener for the Bruckner 9. I too love the new finale to B9 and would really like to hear Sir Simon do it at the Proms.Comment
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Re: Bach
Manchester Chamber Choir is no Monteverdi Choir but I thought they were good. The soloists were very good. I particularly liked the tenor Nicholas Mulroy and it was good to hear Robin Blaze still in good form.
But I do seriously object Bch being talked about as a starter or an opener.
Last edited by doversoul1; 17-11-12, 09:28.Comment
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Strange the language games that people play...
ds - I chose "precede" precisely because it does not imply any inferiority or lesser status. Indeed "precede" in one of its senses means "to surpass in rank".Comment
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In the hall the Bruckner was indeed very fine - spacious but well-paced, wonderfully sonorous. I'm never going to be a Bruckner enthusiast but a performance like that could start a conversion...
The Bach was slightly less satisfactory - ensemble difficulties between choir and orchestra in the first movement and a rather lack-lustre choral sound to my ears (although it was more disciplined later on). All the soloists had something to offer. I was surprised that Mena did not acknowledge the excellent solo trumpeter - almost everyone else got a solo bow. Otherwise, curtain calls were better choreographed than at the last Mena/BBC Phil concert I attended!Comment
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Jayne; I understood dovers' comment to be a wry josh at Anton's use of the word "starter" in the post immediately preceding (with no implication of inferiority or lesser status) his reply; the use of the smileys suggesting that no serious comment/criticism was being intended.Originally posted by jayne lee wilson View Post[FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]Comment
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