Prom 40: Brahms / D. Pejačević, BBC SO, Helmchen / Oramo, Mon. 14 Aug. 2023

[bluestateprommer]

Monday 14 August 2023
19:30
Royal Albert Hall

Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 in Bb
[Encore: Brahms: Intermezzo in A Major, op. 118, no. 2]

interval

Dora Pejačević: Symphony in F sharp minor (first performance at The Proms)

Martin Helmchen, piano (Proms debut artist)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sakari Oramo, conductor

https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/erjqwh

https://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/proms/bbc-proms-2023/prom-40-martin-helmchen-plays-brahms/

[french frank]

Monday 14th August at 19:30:

"Award-winning German pianist Martin Helmchen makes his Proms debut as soloist in Brahms’s Second Piano Concerto, a vast work full of mercurial mood swings and technical demands.

"The concerto’s late-Romantic spirit and generous scope find an echo in Dora Pejačević’s Symphony in F sharp minor, richly scored symphony and resplendent with brass. Composed during the First World War, when Pejačević worked as a nurse, the work receives its Proms premiere by Sakari Oramo following their critically acclaimed recording." [RAH website]

[Pulcinella]

Bumping this thread in preparation for tonight's concert.

Every time I listen to one of the Brahms PCs I think it's my favourite.....until I hear the other one.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Bumping this thread in preparation for tonight's concert.

Every time I listen to one of the Brahms PCs I think it's my favourite.....until I hear the other one.

My favourite PC without question . I hope you’re enjoying this . I’d never heard of Martin, though as a NGA I must have heard him before. It’s a hugely big boned performance . He wasn’t kidding about the muscle (memory ) he’s developed for it. But also great delicacy. Those very difficult octaves in the second movement - he didn’t just play them but phrased them. Really good playing in a concerto that rarely gets played as I suspect it requires weeks of preparation.

[Pulcinella]

My favourite PC without question . I hope you’re enjoying this . I’d never heard of Martin, though as a NGA I must have heard him before. It’s a hugely big boned performance . He wasn’t kidding about the muscle (memory ) he’s developed for it. But also great delicacy. Those very difficult octaves in the second movement - he didn’t just play them but phrased them. Really good playing in a concerto that rarely gets played as I suspect it requires weeks of preparation.

Yes: though who'd want to be the horn player, to have to kick off the whole evening like that?
One of my happiest memories is of hearing this concerto at Tanglewood on 10 August 1979: Peter Serkin and the BSO.


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Program

Béla Bartók Miraculous Mandarin (complete), Op. 19 Tanglewood Festival Chorus SATB Chorus

Johannes Brahms Concerto for Piano No. 2 in B-flat, Op. 83 Peter Serkin Piano

Date	8/10/1979 21:00
Event Title
Season	1978-1979 Season
Orchestra/ Ensemble	Boston Symphony Orchestra
Conductor	Seiji Ozawa
Venue	Tanglewood - Shed
Location	Lenox, MA, U.S.A.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Well tonight’s first horn did a good job of it - lovely fat refulgent sound. Good cello solo as well.

[HighlandDougie]

Martin Helmchen has recorded the LvB PCs with Andrew Manze - which are a delight (I seem to remember Barbirollians being a fan) - so this performance was unsurprisingly very good indeed. It is among my favourite PCs so I'm pretty much biased in favour of any performance of it.

[bluestateprommer]

Well tonight’s first horn did a good job of it - lovely fat refulgent sound. Good cello solo as well.

Petroc mentioned Martin Owen, co-principal horn of the BBC SO, and Jonathan Aasgaard as the first cellist. Agree that Martin Helmchen is a terrific pianist, and did a terrific job here. Lovely Brahms encore as well.

A look at the Proms performance archive indicates 81 performances for Brahms PC # 2, with the most recent being the "Olly Prom" in 2016. I haven't checked around US orchestras specifically in the upcoming season or in recent seasons, but I don't think that Brahms PC # 2 lacks for performances here. (For pianists in the USA with the chops to take it on, that's another question ;) .)

[gedsmk]

Wow! that was a tremendous performance of the Brahms! A style of playing so suited to the composer one might even think it a totally different piano from what we've heard from the RAH in recent days. And the orchestral playing (ensemble and solo work) was up there with the best so far this season. this has so far been a tremendous proms season judging by the standard of performance. considering it was presumably planned more than 18 months ago (coming out of Covid and in the face of the Brexit troubles) and with more concerts by our home-based ensembles I say "well done" to all concerned. I hope we are able to return in the future to rather more involvement by international groups (e.g. could we please have Philadelphia, Bavarians, Vienna Phil and Pittsburgh back soon?)

[Ein Heldenleben]

Wow! that was a tremendous performance of the Brahms! A style of playing so suited to the composer one might even think it a totally different piano from what we've heard from the RAH in recent days. And the orchestral playing (ensemble and solo work) was up there with the best so far this season. this has so far been a tremendous proms season judging by the standard of performance. considering it was presumably planned more than 18 months ago (coming out of Covid and in the face of the Brexit troubles) and with more concerts by our home-based ensembles I say "well done" to all concerned. I hope we are able to return in the future to rather more involvement by international groups (e.g. could we please have Philadelphia, Bavarians, Vienna Phil and Pittsburgh back soon?)

I suspect it was a different piano to the one played by Schiff as he is in the class of pianist that can reserve his own Steinway. This Proms season has been a absolute feast for piano fans and this performance was up there with the very best. Wonderful interplay with the orchestra as you say. I also found the Dora Pejačević symphony a very beguiling listen and very much deserving a place in the series.

[Maclintick]

This Proms season has been a absolute feast for piano fans and this performance was up there with the very best. Wonderful interplay with the orchestra as you say. I also found the Dora Pejačević symphony a very beguiling listen and very much deserving a place in the series.

.
Agreed on all counts. Nothing much to add, except I would have welcomed a degree more poise at the start of the Brahms slow movement -- a minor niggle.

[Rolmill]

A very enjoyable concert. I agree with the positive comments about the Brahms, though I felt the piano (or pianist) was a little light on bass throughout (including the encore). Maybe it's my hearing.

The symphony was a revelation. I took my 18 year old daughter with some qualms over a relatively heavy and not especially newbie-friendly programme (it was only her second ever Prom), but she loved it and to my surprise preferred the symphony to the Brahms.

[silvestrione]

A very enjoyable concert. I agree with the positive comments about the Brahms, though I felt the piano (or pianist) was a little light on bass throughout (including the encore). Maybe it's my hearing.

The symphony was a revelation. I took my 18 year old daughter with some qualms over a relatively heavy and not especially newbie-friendly programme (it was only her second ever Prom), but she loved it and to my surprise preferred the symphony to the Brahms.

No, I thought the same about the pianist being 'light on bass', and thought maybe he just doesn't play deep enough in the keys for me! It was very enjoyable anyway, of course.

[edashtav]

Wow! that was a tremendous performance of the Brahms! A style of playing so suited to the composer one might even think it a totally different piano from what we've heard from the RAH in recent days. And the orchestral playing (ensemble and solo work) was up there with the best so far this season. this has so far been a tremendous proms season judging by the standard of performance. considering it was presumably planned more than 18 months ago (coming out of Covid and in the face of the Brexit troubles) and with more concerts by our home-based ensembles I say "well done" to all concerned. I hope we are able to return in the future to rather more involvement by international groups (e.g. could we please have Philadelphia, Bavarians, Vienna Phil and Pittsburgh back soon?)

I’ve caught up on BBC SOUNDS and agree entirely with your views. Martin Helmchem was impressive not only in big bravura passages but also in those pseudo-chamber music moments which occur often in Brahms’ score. The orchestra and its soloists were on fine firm, also. There would have been time for a short opening overture- the horn player didn’t need it but I believe in safety first and a prelude helps audiences to settle.

[Barbirollians]

No surprise to me that Martin Helmchen and the orchestra gave such a powerful yet beguiling performance of the Brahms 2- his Beethoven Concerto recordiings are outstanding as are his chamber music collaborations with Julia Fischer .

I hope to listen to the symphony later.