Britten Sinfonia, 11th Oct new venue Milton Court, London

[amcluesent]

Did everyone get the fiasco of missing the opening of the Haydn as they pulled the plug on the pre-recorded interview? Must have been Trelawny taking too much time shouting and bawling...

Apart from that, what are listener's opinions of the Milton Court acoustic?

[edashtav]

Did everyone get the fiasco of missing the opening of the Haydn as they pulled the plug on the pre-recorded interview? Must have been Trelawny taking too much time shouting and bawling...

Apart from that, what are listener's opinions of the Milton Court acoustic?

So far, I've listened only to Anna Clyne's beguiling elegy in memory of her mother : In Her Arms.

I was delighted by the immediate, warm but clear sound from Milton Court. I was drawn into Anna's initially fragmented world of sighs and sorrowing by the beguiling sounds emanating from the Britten Sinfonia's dozen, or so, string soloists. Their performance was affectionate and riveting and revealed the piece as a neo-tonal containing new sound combinations and ideas that shimmered and changed focus in an entrancingly evanescent manner. The whole piece was firmly rooted by some long bass notes and it fitted into the distinguished procession of sad, string works composed over the last 75 years that stretches back to Barber's Adagio and Panufnik's Lullaby. Old English models were evoked and the piece built to a fine climax when the splinters formed into a fine but simple melody. Afterwards, I found that theme was lodged firmly in my memory and I felt it was a quotation - perhaps from a piece Anna's mother knew and loved. I've read the various programme notes on the piece scattered across the electronic ether but can find no reference to a borrowed source.

Please have a listen to this gem of a piece in the Britten Sinfonia's burnished performance - it'll take you less than 15 mins - and tell me if you can identify this tune, please.

[teamsaint]

Thanks for that heads up, Ed.

On first listen "In Her Arms" seems a fine piece. As you suggest, it all finally makes complete sense at the climax, when the components come together. Its really very well worth a listen . I know what you mean about that theme, but i can't say I recognise it specifically, although its a common enough note pattern I would have thought. I wonder if there is a clue in the varying number of beats allotted to the lowest note of that theme?
To me, the sustained bass notes in this elagaic piece put me in mind of thoughts of the passage, or perhaps more sensibly the existence of time. Or perhaps , within the piece as a whole, they represent her mothers time, within a greater time "frame".
The Britten Sinfonia's quality shines through as ever, and their thoughtful programming and success are surely a lesson that others can learn from?

[edashtav]

Thanks for that heads up, Ed.

On first listen "In Her Arms" seems a fine piece. As you suggest, it all finally makes complete sense at the climax, when the components come together. Its really very well worth a listen . I know what you mean about that theme, but i can't say I recognise it specifically, although its a common enough note pattern I would have though. I wonder if there is a clue in the varying number of beats allotted to the lowest note of that theme?
To me, the sustained bass notes in this elagaic piece put me in mind of thoughts of the passage, or perhaps more sensibly the existence of time. Or perhaps , within the piece as a whole, they represent her mothers time, within a greater time "frame".
The Britten Sinfonia's quality shines through as ever, and their thoughtful programming and success are surely a lesson that others can learn from?

Some perceptive thoughts there, saint - this piece demands proper analysis - maybe in the good old days of Radio 3 , it would have received that!

[bluestateprommer]

This was a very fine concert indeed by the Britten Sinfonia, very good variety of programming across the centuries. I'll admit that I can't pick out the 'tune of rememberance' that nominally underpins the Anna Clyne work. Nice, clean and unostentatious work from Paul Lewis as "first among equals" in the Mozart concerto. The Haydn was well done indeed, where I was half-expecting the audience to at least chuckle slightly at the deliberately bad passage in the Haydn. Oh well.

Did everyone get the fiasco of missing the opening of the Haydn as they pulled the plug on the pre-recorded interview? Must have been Trelawny taking too much time shouting and bawling...

Actually, no, not at all. The presenters obviously had a pre-recorded chat between Petroc and the leader of the Britten Sinfonia ready to go while the stage was being reset. What happened, to my long-distance interpretation, is that the stage resetting went a lot faster than anyone in the control booth anticipated, so that they had to pull the plug suddenly on the orchestra's leader as a result, when the orchestra was reseated and ready to go. A fair listening of iPlayer reveals that no blame ascribes to PT. He deserves an apology here.

PS: Just as a side bar, the inclusion of Haydn 60 reminded me of a program that David Robertson once devised in Lyon back in 2003 (which I did not see, as it was on the week after I was there):

Haydn: Symphony No. 60 ('Il distratto')
Elliott Carter: Variations for Orchestra
Richard Strauss: Don Quixote

Kind of clever programming, ain't it?