Live in Concert 2.02.14: LSO - Elgar, Britten, Maxwell Davies

[Bryn]

The title was "Golden Reign" - being for the 2002 Golden Jubilee.

Sounds a bit like:

Which I was glad to find had made if from Nonesuch Explorer LP to CD. My treasured LP went in a house fire.

[mercia]

the symphony even made it onto the main evening television news

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-25979011

[maestro267]

So excited to hear this symphony. A continuation of one of the most significant symphony cycles of our time. This great form, that has evolved in structure over the centuries, is still inspiring composers to this very day. In fact, I'm listening to his First right now (followed after it by the Sixth), to get in the mood.

[Petrushka]

Score here:

http://www.schott-music.com/shop/products/show,318102,,f.html

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Good to know he survived the 9 symphony curse.

[jayne lee wilson]

Heavens, how wonderful was that?
Outstanding sonics tonight and performances to match - powerful, precise, passionate, with Vengerov OUTSTANDING in the Britten. Very near to tears at that long-breathed, gently sustained, conclusion.
(Perfect presentation from Penny Gore too.)

Off now to find a St. Bernard to help me survive the frozen wastes of my listening room. Or a kettle. Major heating malfunction. Brandy & coffee to the Max!

[Petrushka]

Heavens, how wonderful was that?
Outstanding sonics tonight and performances to match - powerful, precise, passionate, with Vengerov OUTSTANDING in the Britten. Very near to tears at that long-breathed, gently sustained, conclusion.
(Perfect presentation from Penny Gore too.)

Off now to find a St. Bernard to help me survive the frozen wastes of my listening room. Or a kettle. Major heating malfunction. Brandy & coffee to the Max!

The Britten Violin Concerto is unfamiliar territory for me but the Elgar In the South was thrilling, a magnificent performance with sonics to match. Stunning performance and playing from the LSO.

[EdgeleyRob]

Heavens, how wonderful was that?
Outstanding sonics tonight and performances to match - powerful, precise, passionate, with Vengerov OUTSTANDING in the Britten. Very near to tears at that long-breathed, gently sustained, conclusion.
(Perfect presentation from Penny Gore too.)

Off now to find a St. Bernard to help me survive the frozen wastes of my listening room. Or a kettle. Major heating malfunction. Brandy & coffee to the Max!

Forgive the language Jayne,but the Elgar and Britten were effing brilliant.
I'm not up for the Maxwell Davies 10.
Hope your heatings soon fixed.

[jayne lee wilson]

AS I perceived it, Maxwell Davies Symphony No.10 was in 4 movements, with choral and solo vocal parts in 2 and 4. A few first impressions and details I noticed on the fly, which may help anyone seeking it out on iPlayer...

The lengthy 1st movement begins with very typical long, slow string lines, punctuated by dramatic, anguished trumpet fanfares. Sombre yet tender wind and string solos, then a more extended one for tuba; at about 10' in, percussion enter and dominate the texture leading to climactic waves with trumpets and other brass. This dies away and after a deeply elegiac viola solo, at around 17' with a sudden crash on timpani the 2nd movement begins, attacca, at a quicker tempo with a chorus of mocking hilarity, to which the baritone gives an impassioned response.
At around 25', a scherzo movement seems to start, with percussion, winds and brass again dominating, but this soon slows down in a section with bare, bleak textures, violent, jagged trumpet outbursts and a striking piccolo solo. As the mood darkens further, the chorus enter slowly to start the last movement at around 30'. Then comes the long baritone solo in which Borromini (the architect whose works and life the symphony pays homage to) describes his suicide attempt - an account written as he lay dying, wounded with his own sword. Remarkably dark-textured accompaniment, on low brass and cello. After a baleful climax, there seems a brief referral back to those earlier fanfares, before a plainchant-like choral coda, of a quiet and sombre beauty invokes St. Cecilia, whose name the baritone briefly intones before the long, final dying away of the chorus.

The length overall was around 45'-46'. If it doesn't - at first - seem to break any very new ground orchestrally it is of course Max's first symphony to include vocal parts, and there is an extreme, frequently eruptive intensity of expression (and in a way, concision - the 1st movement provides some moods and materials for the succeeding, shorter movements to explore and build upon), in the sharp contrasts between the strings and choral writing, the violent brass outbursts, and those skeletal combinations of winds and percussion. A anguished yearning for life, an awareness of the nearness of death. I felt it filled its 45-plus minutes very well, with not a note or a gesture wasted. The writing for voices is both deeply eloquent and intensely varied in colour and expression

If a text is available anywhere on line, that would be the best means of getting closer to the piece whilst it is still available on iplayer, but it is a clearly-structured, vividly communicative creation even without it. Penny Gore's introduction before the piece is very helpful and worth listening closely to. Forgive any inaccuracies in the above, but I felt impelled to give an immediate response to a significant, and very moving, musical event.

[Petrushka]

Jayne, see my message 19 where you can view the entire score.

[Quarky]

AS I perceived it, Maxwell Davies Symphony No.10 was in 4 movements, with choral and solo vocal parts in 2 and 4. A few first impressions and details I noticed on the fly, which may help anyone seeking it out on iPlayer...

. Then comes the long baritone solo in which Borromini (the architect whose works and life the symphony pays homage to) describes his suicide attempt - an account written as he lay dying, wounded with his own sword. Remarkably dark-textured accompaniment, on low brass and cello. After a baleful climax, there seems a brief referral back to those earlier fanfares, before a plainchant-like choral coda, of a quiet and sombre beauty invokes St. Cecilia, whose name the baritone briefly intones before the long, final dying away of the chorus.
.

Many thanks for that assessment of Max's 10th symphony - that was very helpful.

However, so much Classical music is concerned with death, and the process of dying. I guess this may be a very legitimate subject for art, but it does turn me away!

[Serial_Apologist]

Many thanks for that assessment of Max's 10th symphony - that was very helpful.

However, so much Classical music is concerned with death, and the process of dying. I guess this may be a very legitimate subject for art, but it does turn me away!

From what I gleaned from his excerpted interview before the performance, PMD would as likely as not have been concerned with his own mortality, writing this work, as he was, in hospital under treatment for lukaemia (sp.?). An amazing work, I thought, the composer's most Mahlerian, with far more overt tonal references - quite conventional diatonic passages in the choral sections - than in any of his earlier symphonies.

[Stanley Stewart]

Thanks, too, to jlw for her lucid comments on Sym 10. Overall an exceptional performance throughout from the LSO - should make a splendid 2CD-R set from minidisc - and my enjoyment was enhanced by having a download of the 36 page programme, including composer profiles, an interview with PMD and a loud cheer for the libretto of the 17th century sonnet, Alla ricerca di Borromini which made this movement so vivid and poignant. PMD looking so well on the programme cover, made me chuckle as he also looked ready for a touring version of Beau Geste!

Sheer serendipity as I also came across a 2004 video on Friday - now on DVD - of the LSO Gala Centenary, 9 June 2004 - was it really almost a decade ago! - a "shreds and patches" evening as it had the Queen & Prince Philip in attendance - but we got a full array of talent over 140 mins and it was touching to see so many respected but now departed spirits, Colin Davis, 'Slava' and Richard Hickox at the centre of the music making.

And, saly, if you are reading this, I'll make sure you have a DVD copy when you return home when we can reminisce about so many of the performances.

[Boilk]

Andrew Clements in today's online Guardian review ...

It's one of the most movingly personal of Davies's recent scores, and a major new symphony.

LSO video on Max speaking about his Tenth...

[jayne lee wilson]

What a lovely little talk, wish it were longer... amusing anecdote about Hans Keller...! (Maybe he missed The Sonata Principle ...)

Listened again to Max 10 earlier today - what a WONDERFUL piece. I urge everyone to listen to it whatever your tastes, at least... is twice too much to ask? It may indeed be death-haunted, but the experience of its beauty and savage passions is life-affirming in that musically alchemical way.

Let's hope for a recording soon - very soon! And it's just made for the Proms, surely...