Prom 49: R. Schumann - Das Paradies und die Peri, LSO, Rattle, Tues. 22 Aug. 2023

[bluestateprommer]

Tuesday 22 August 2023
19:30
Royal Albert Hall

Robert Schumann: Das Paradies und die Peri (first complete performance at The Proms)

Lucy Crowe, soprano
Jeanine De Bique, soprano
Magdalena Kožená, mezzo-soprano
Andrew Staples, tenor
Linard Vrielink, tenor (Proms debut artist)
Florian Boesch, baritone (Proms debut artist)

London Symphony Chorus
London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Simon Rattle, conductor

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

https://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/proms/bbc-proms-2023/prom-49-schumanns-das-paradies-und-die-peri/

[CallMePaul]

I'm surprised to see that Florian Boesch is making his Proms debut!

[edashtav]

I’m struggling to be positive re tonight’s Concert despite a strong cast of singers with Sir Simon Rattle in charge of the LSO. I’m a Schumann lover and so I’ve made an effort to enjoy this extended work but I’ve never progressed beyond the dismay voiced by London critics after the work’s (reluctant?) first performance in London which was attended by Royalty:

THE PRESS June, 1856
“Perhaps Monday last was one of the dreariest Philharmonic nights ever experienced; and yet there was a strong disposition amongst the amateurs to be as gracious and forbearing as possible, first on account of the sympathy felt for a composer who as a critic has written generously of English musicians; secondly, because Schumann's reason has left him for ever ; and, lastly, because his wife, the distinguished pianist has been nobly struggling this season in London, with a broken spirit, for her husband and children. If Mme. Goldschmidt-Lind, [i.e ‘Jenny’] in consenting to sing for one night at these concerts, exacted as a condition that the " Paradise and the Peri" was to be executed, then was her boon to the society a positive act of cruelty to the subscribers, who have thus been deprived of a night of good music for a speculative triviality, which has brought the concerts to a dismal ending. If the "Paradise and the Peri" be a specimen of the modern composers of Germany, then indeed have the giants been succeeded by dwarfs.”

MORNING POST June 1856

“The cantata was received with civility; but we apprehend there were few who did not heartily rejoice when it came to a close.”

I hope that the 5000+ enthusiasts in the RAH tonight and the millions of listeners on Radio 3 gain great enjoyment from the occasion.

[gradus]

It was one of the 5 essential Schumann pieces in last Saturday's BAL and the excerpt was out of the ordinary with RS pre-figuring Wagnerian harmony and writing beautifully for the voices.

[Master Jacques]

Utterly gorgeous Schumann, the musical equivalent of one of those delectable Victorian canvases full of colour, foliage and fairies. I love every bar, and this was never less than an affectionate performance with good choral singing (though not all the soloists were at the level of Lucy Crowe, who was on good form even for her).

[french frank]

Utterly gorgeous Schumann, the musical equivalent of one of those delectable Victorian canvases full of colour, foliage and fairies. I love every bar, and this was never less than an affectionate performance with good choral singing (though not all the soloists were at the level of Lucy Crowe, who was on good form even for her).

A short clip of Simon Rattle on "the great masterpiece that you haven't heard ... one of the most perfect choral pieces there is." [On 2015 perf].

[edashtav]

Utterly gorgeous Schumann, the musical equivalent of one of those delectable Victorian canvases full of colour, foliage and fairies. I love every bar, and this was never less than an affectionate performance with good choral singing (though not all the soloists were at the level of Lucy Crowe, who was on good form even for her).

I gave the piece another chance last evening and gained a substantial level of enjoyment from a committed interpretation. Suspect it takes a Jenny Lind to get it fully aloft and ai agree that Lucy Crowe was a great advocate. The LSO orchestra and the Chorus were well invested in the performance, too. That’s not easy given the text which is full of Irish whimsy. Sir Arnold Bax would have been charmed by it all. For my part, I was glad to be home when mirth took me over at the end of Part II when the chorus sang ‘ruhe in Träumen voll Duft ' i.e. Sleep on, in visions of odour rest. When the cinema came to Buckingham’s cramped, airless Town Hall, during intervals Usherettes would push amongst the steaming hordes, wafting scent from large bottles. Last night I dreamed of SmellyVision quenching the odour of Popcorn in the RAH.

To summarise: I’m not a convert but I’m on the turn.

[Master Jacques]

I gave the piece another chance last evening and gained a substantial level of enjoyment from a committed interpretation. Suspect it takes a Jenny Lind to get it fully aloft and ai agree that Lucy Crowe was a great advocate. The LSO orchestra and the Chorus were well invested in the performance, too. That’s not easy given the text which is full of Irish whimsy. Sir Arnold Bax would have been charmed by it all. For my part, I was glad to be home when mirth took me over at the end of Part II when the chorus sang ‘ruhe in Träumen voll Duft ' i.e. Sleep on, in visions of odour rest. When the cinema came to Buckingham’s cramped, airless Town Hall, during intervals Usherettes would push amongst the steaming hordes, wafting scent from large bottles. Last night I dreamed of SmellyVision quenching the odour of Popcorn in the RAH.

To summarise: I’m not a convert but I’m on the turn.

Very good! I love your comparison with Bax - now you mention it, his Nympholept is indeed something of a Swinburnian retread of Schumann's world of Faerie.

[edashtav]

Parts of Spring Fire cover similar territory, too.

[Barbirollians]

Looking forward to catching up on this today - I am a fan - have not heard Rattle's recording but the Harnoncourt is outstanding.

[bluestateprommer]

Exceedingly belated (and generic, at 4 months' listening distance) post on this Prom, and also a bit of a thread-bump, as this Prom is set for a Christmas/New Year's repeat on January 3:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001trkk

I'd thought that I'd heard the work on a recording some years back, but didn't really remember it. So hearing this Prom was, for all intents and purposes, a 'first listen'. On that listen, I understand why SSR adores the work and sings its praises. The performance was enthralling from start to finish, with Lucy C. heading a strong line-up of soloists. If anyone missed it at the time, it's well worth a visit, or a re-visit for those who want to give it another go.

Of course, the fact that it does require six solo singers is probably one reason why it doesn't seem to crop up all that often in live concert, at least outside of Austria and Germany. Haven't tried to look for evidence of other recent performances besides this Prom. I recall that SSR dared to program it in Philadelphia in the 2000's, and in a Philadelphia Inquirer article, mentioned a musician in the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (ironically enough, now) who had texted SSR with a message to the effect of:

"I've been an orchestral musician for 40 years and have played all the great masterpieces. How is it that I have never heard of or played this Schumann work?"

Not the exact words (don't have the article in front of me, if I ever did), but this is the gist of the BRSO musician's text to SSR. SSR said that he kept that text message on his phone as a memento. Found some old links about the related performance at Carnegie Hall in 2007:

https://www.playbill.com/article/everybody-needs-to-know-about-this-piece-simon-rattle-and-philadelphia-orchestra-revive-rare-oratorio-by-schumann

https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/03/arts/music/03ratt.html