Russian orchestras at the Proms 1960s-1970s

[Dave2002]

I have been prompted to write this by the thread on Shostakovich recordings.

My mind is obviously going, and becoming hazy, but I know that I went to one of the first Proms with Russian orchestras once there was something of a cultural thaw between Russia and the UK.

I thought the first was with the USSR State Orchestra - but the only reference I can find is to one in 1968 with Rostropovich and Svetlanov on August 21st. I'm uncertain about the programme of the concert I went to, though I have a feeling that Lohengrin Prelude to act 3 was the encore. http://www.bbc.co.uk/events/rpp38g/series

I remember being very, very impressed.

A later concert with Russian orchestras at the Proms was almostly certainly the one with the Leningrad (then) orchestra including Tchaikovsky 4th symphony. I think that might have been September 9th, 1971. There is a YouTube, but no shots of me in the audience I think!

In the space of only a few years, Russian orchestras were making many more visits to the UK.

Perhaps I was at the 1968 concert, though (at first sight) it seems unlikely to me for other reasons. I wonder if there were other concerts at the RAH with Russian orchestras during the late 1960s - early 1970s. Actually now I reflect further it is perfectly possible - indeed likely - that I was at that 1968 concert - so maybe I really did go. I was right up in the gallery for one of the concerts.

Looking through the list of 1968 concerts I can see a few which I definitely went to - including the Barbirolli Viennese night, and the Monteverdi Vespers, and I may also have been at the performance of Beethoven 6 conducted by Boult.

If by any chance I was at the 1968 Prom with Rostropovich (which is now seeming more than likely), then clearly I should have kept the programme, as I noticed that one copy sold a few years ago for £33. That particular concert seems to have been considered important not just for musical reasons, but because of the political tensions and events around that period.

It seems difficult at the present time to track down the concert details of the Proms, though last year during the Proms season there was a very comprehensive database. Maybe it will come active again this summer. At present, trying to locate a particular Prom by content seems hard, and the pages which come up default to 2016. It is possible to trawl through individual years week by week, but that is tedious. Actually it is still possible to get a complete listing of all the concerts in any one year in a single scrollable web page.

[Bryn]

Googling "BBC Proms" and the year does the trick.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

At present, trying to locate a particular Prom by content seems hard

If you know the composer content, then the alphabetical composer list might be useful:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/events/composers/by/a-z

... or, if you're looking for a particular conductor, the the alphabetical performer list is similarly helpful (although the USSR SO isn't listed - I checked!):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/events/r938q9/performers/by/a-z#

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

(although the USSR SO isn't listed - I checked!)

Actually, it might be in there somewhere - the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra is listed ... under "R"!

[Bryn]

The infamous Prom 30 of 1968. Just Google "BBC Proms 1968 USSR"

The Beeb's own search engine is rubbish!

[Dave2002]

Don't worry - I'm now 99% sure I was at that one. Great concert. Pity about the tanks.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Pact_invasion_of_Czechoslovakia

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalmusic/3592296/First-person-singular-the-night-Rostropovichs-cello-talked-politics.html

[HighlandDougie]

That 1968 Prom was the USSR State Symphony Orchestra. In 1966, Rozhdestvensky conducted three concerts with the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, with the programmes including Prokofiev's Second Symphony and Janet Baker singing Kindertotenlieder. Much earlier, there was the famous Leningrad Phil/Mravinsky tour in 1960 (not, though, including the Proms), which started out with a concert in the Usher Hall, took in London (RFH) and then took in various places, notably Vienna, where DGG recorded the 5th and 6th symphonies in the Musikverein. The 4th had been recorded earlier in Brent Town Hall.

I'd always assumed that such tours were partly for propaganda purposes but also for earning - hard - foreign currency. Ditto extensive touring by the Red Army Choir. Victor and Lilian Hochhauser were the promoters of most (if not all) of such visits/tours from the late 1950s until 1974 when their association with the Rostropoviches made them personae non gratae with the Russian authorities. There is an interesting article from the days when the Telegraph actually practised serious journalism at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/dance/10988191/Victor-and-Lilian-Hochhauser-exclusive-interview.html

[Conchis]

That would have been a memorable Prom for 'external' reasons alone. 1968 was a scary year to be an adult in (I was only one, so I can't remember) and August 1968 - post Tet offensive, post-MLK and RFK assassinations, with the election of Nixon to look forward to in November - must have been one of those times when you wondered whether you'd be alive this time next week.

The Israel Philharmonic was subjected to some rather disgraceful barracking by a Proms audience a couple of years back (2011?).

[BBMmk2]

That would have been a memorable Prom for 'external' reasons alone. 1968 was a scary year to be an adult in (I was only one, so I can't remember) and August 1968 - post Tet offensive, post-MLK and RFK assassinations, with the election of Nixon to look forward to in November - must have been one of those times when you wondered whether you'd be alive this time next week.

The Israel Philharmonic was subjected to some rather disgraceful barracking by a Proms audience a couple of years back (2011?).

Indeed they were. I have a friend who plays in that orchestra!

[Petrushka]

That would have been a memorable Prom for 'external' reasons alone. 1968 was a scary year to be an adult in (I was only one, so I can't remember) and August 1968 - post Tet offensive, post-MLK and RFK assassinations, with the election of Nixon to look forward to in November - must have been one of those times when you wondered whether you'd be alive this time next week.

RFK was assassinated on my 14th birthday and I remember 1968 very well indeed. If there is any Prom at which I wish I'd been present it's that one on August 21, the very day that Russian tanks rolled into Prague, and on the programme Dvorak's Cello Concerto of all pieces played by Rostropovich. Both the Dvorak and Shostakovich 10 given in the second half are available on CD and the barracking has been retained. The audience, though, remain silent throughout the music. The tension comes across very strongly. It must have been quite a night.

[pastoralguy]

Thanks for the Torygraph link, HD. Very interesting.

[Dave2002]

The tension comes across very strongly. It must have been quite a night.

It probably was, but I only remember the music, and that only vaguely. I recall thinking that the orchestra was superb, but very different from British and other orchestras I'd heard. I don't remember Rostropovich, but that's probably because I wasn't in the arena. I think others in my family reminded me of the Soviet invasion - and maybe they found the RAH programme in my things, but really although we were aware of tensions in the Czech area, I think the actual invasion was still a shock, and not really expected. I also went to a performance by the Red Army Ensemble sometime in the years 1967-68, and then political events followed on later. At the time I thought that the cultural exchanges were a good thing, though the political turbulence was very undesirable.

I think it's wrong to assume that any "tension" in the performance as recorded was necessarily due to political events - though it might have been. Listener's perceptions may be very wrong, just as viewers of films may be affected - see the Kuleshov effect. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuleshov_effect

This applies to many art forms - it is probably wrong to assume that emotions evinced in a listener/viewer imply that the composer/artist/performers necessarily had similar emotions or were trying to express tension etc. They may be - but it's not a given.

[rauschwerk]

I was at Prom 31 in 1968, right at the front of the arena. The orchestra looked nervous as they entered, but that changed when we applauded. Someone gave a yell about Dubcek, there was an answering yell of 'shaadaap!' No further disturbances. We began with Rachmaninov's Isle of the Dead, and at the point where the strings take up the 'rowing' theme in C minor, I realised I had never heard such rich string tone before.
I

[Conchis]

Here is the Cello Concerto, complete with opening barracking:

https://youtu.be/MwmcKlupkS4

[Gordon]

....A later concert with Russian orchestras at the Proms was almost certainly the one with the Leningrad (then) orchestra including Tchaikovsky 4th symphony. I think that might have been September 9th, 1971.

They were certainly at the Proms that year, they gave a concert of September 13th 1971 in which they played Tchaikovsky's Francesca da Rimini and then Shostakovich 5th symphony. They opened with some items from the Sleepng Beauty ballet. Arvid Yansons as the conductor, father of the son Mariss. There were 3 other concerts [see at bottom]. Incidentally there is a BBC Legends Shostakovich 8th with Mravinsky form the RFH in 1960.

I have a recording of the concert - less the Sleeping Beauty pieces - both performances rivetting and good to hear authentic Russian brass and string tone too.

I was living NW London then and the recording was made from Wrotham which had been stereo for some time and had upgraded links from BH. Also I had some decent equipment by then so the sound isn't bad. I think also that the BBC were still using their co-incident pair as the main mics back then. I probably recorded the other concerts too but have not kept them all

I haven't checked if this concert has been issued on the various BBC licenced labels or whether there are any You tube postings. Anyone interested in the recording please PM.

According to the BBC site here are the four concerts they gave, Tchaik 4 listed for September 9th:

THU 9 SEP 1971
19:30 Royal Albert Hall
Prom 46
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Symphony No 4 in F minor
Hector Berlioz Symphonie fantastique
Gennady Rozhdestvensky Conductor
St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra (c.1925-91, Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra)

FRI 10 SEP 1971
19:30 Royal Albert Hall
Prom 47
Alexander Borodin Prince Igor Overture
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Violin Concerto in D major
Sergei Prokofiev
Symphony No 5 in B flat major
Mikhail Waiman violin
Gennady Rozhdestvensky Conductor
St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra (c.1925-91, Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra)

SUN 12 SEP 1971
19:30 Royal Albert Hall
Prom 49
Sergei Prokofiev Symphony No 1 in D major, 'Classical', Op 25 (1st mvt)
Fryderyk Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor
Johannes Brahms Symphony No 1 in C minor
Alexander Slobodyanik piano
Gennady Rozhdestvensky Conductor St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra (c.1925-91, Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra)

MON 13 SEP 1971
19:30 Royal Albert Hall
Prom 50
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky The Sleeping Beauty, Op 66
No. 6 Valse Act 1 No. 2
No. 17 Panorama Act 2 No. 8
No. 8a Pas d'action: Adagio Act 1 No. 4a
No. 1a Introduction

Francesca da Rimini

Dmitri Shostakovich Symphony No 5 in D minor
Arvīds Jansons Conductor St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra (c.1925-91, Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra)