Prom 56: Poulenc / Mahler, BBC Singers / LSO, Rattle, Sunday 27 August 2023

[bluestateprommer]

Sunday 27 August 2023
19:30
Royal Albert Hall

Poulenc: Figure humaine

interval

Mahler: Symphony No. 9 in d

BBC Singers
London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Simon Rattle, conductor

https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/ed9n5v

https://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/proms/bbc-proms-2023/prom-56-rattle-conducts-mahlers-ninth/

[bluestateprommer]

It's been a while since I've heard Figure humaine in any format, and I missed the LSO/BBC Singers concert relay on R3 earlier this year of the same program, so I wasn't ready for the shock finish of the very high soprano note in the last bar. I sort of wondered about Sofi Jeannin not getting the chance to conduct the BBC Singers in the Poulenc, earlier and now, but it is what it is, and nice to hear that SJ is in the RAH tonight, from Kate Molleson mentioning that Jeannin took a bow with SSR after the Poulenc.

[underthecountertenor]

Listening on headphones, I thought I could hear a sort of staccato bass from time to time which bore no relation to the score, and wondered whether Sir Simon was rather too close to a mic and was emoting?

[Joseph K]

I enjoyed that - didn't catch any staccato bass though I wasn't listening on headphones, but I did hear lots of detail which was nice. It's my favourite Mahler symphony... it's really colourful both in its scoring and harmony (in this latter respect I hear some Giant Steps-type movements) and everything is integrated, the same materials totally transformed in their expressive affect from movement to movement.

And it's been recorded for TV...

[underthecountertenor]

I enjoyed that - didn't catch any staccato bass though I wasn't listening on headphones, but I did hear lots of detail which was nice. It's my favourite Mahler symphony... it's really colourful both in its scoring and harmony (in this latter respect I hear some Giant Steps-type movements) and everything is integrated, the same materials totally transformed in their expressive affect from movement to movement.

And it's been recorded for TV...

Sorry, should have made it clear that I was referring to Figure Humaine. The emoting was much less audible in the Mahler (a little bit in the 2nd movt only), and it struck me as very fine indeed.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Sorry, should have made it clear that I was referring to Figure Humaine. The emoting was much less audible in the Mahler (a little bit in the 2nd movt only), and it struck me as very fine indeed.

Yes indeed it was magnificent. Words are superfluous.
I think the maestro (or some one ) hit the music stand or rostrum with his baton (or bow) just before the first bassoon entry in the Adagio.

[Joseph K]

Sorry, should have made it clear that I was referring to Figure Humaine. The emoting was much less audible in the Mahler (a little bit in the 2nd movt only), and it struck me as very fine indeed.

My fault for not spotting the time you made that post!

[underthecountertenor]

Yes indeed it was magnificent. Words are superfluous.
I think the maestro (or some one ) hit the music stand or rostrum with his baton (or bow) just before the first bassoon entry in the Adagio.

Yes - too close to be an audience champagne bucket incident, I thought!

[underthecountertenor]

My fault for not spotting the time you made that post!

Not to worry - easily done, not least by me!

[bluestateprommer]

Listening on headphones, I thought I could hear a sort of staccato bass from time to time which bore no relation to the score, and wondered whether Sir Simon was rather too close to a mic and was emoting?

Through computer speakers, I'm with you (I knew that you meant the Poulenc, w/o seeing the other posts just now). I think that I also heard a bit of vocalizing from SSR. In hindsight, that might actually not be a surprise, as he may well have been doing "prompter" duties, mouthing the words as best as he could (since he can obviously only do one vocal line at a time), and it might have unintentionally surfaced as actual vocalizing rather than just silently mouthing the words. FWIW, just from my own perspective, I would myself flip the perspective on "Sir Simon was rather too close to a mic", in terms of where the BBC engineers placed the microphones for the radio relay.

Fine Mahler 9 from the LSO and SSR, a few pushes and pulls of phrasing here and there, particularly in the 2nd movement, that might sound "mannered" to some. But that seems par for the course in Mahler. Nice to note the concentration of the audience, and the long wait after the end before the applause began. Good to know that this Prom will be on TV (obviously I can't watch it, and I'm not creative enough on VPN's to try anything with that, but then I'm overloaded with too many Proms to catch up on anyway, as well as operas from OperaVision, not to mention missing Wigmore Hall videos for months now, but never mind), and hopefully it gets a big TV audience this week. Between Haitink and SSR, the LSO has traversed Mahler 9 quite frequently in the last 15 or so years, it seems.

[edashtav]

Listening on headphones, I thought I could hear a sort of staccato bass from time to time which bore no relation to the score, and wondered whether Sir Simon was rather too close to a mic and was emoting?

Yes, it was ‘underthetenor’ and must have been SR, although it may have been the ghost of Andris Nelsons, still practising his notes for his next Death and Transfiguration.

It did not spoil Figure Humaine for me which was the stand-out performance of the evening for me.

I enjoyed the Mahler Symphony rather more than the last two Proms interpretations which I heard live in the RAH, one of which was spoled by lack of string vibrato and the other by some wayward conducting.

[Barbirollians]

Looking forward to catching up with this . If it is anything like as wonderful as their Mahler 2 from last year …

[Petrushka]

I was in the hall for this Prom and greatly enjoyed it. However, I was hoping to follow the text of the Poulenc as printed in the programme but this proved impossible once the lights went down.so was forced to just listen. Frustrating.

[Pulcinella]

I was in the hall for this Prom and greatly enjoyed it. However, I was hoping to follow the text of the Poulenc as printed in the programme but this proved impossible once the lights went down.so was forced to just listen. Frustrating.

I see from the Wiki article that the first performance was in English.

Figure humaine (Human Figure),FP 120, by FrancisPoulenc is a cantata for double mixed choir of 12 voices composed in 1943 on texts by Paul Éluard including "'Liberté". Written during the Nazi occupation of France, it was premiered in London in English by the BBC in 1945. It was first performed in French in 1946 in Brussels, then in Paris on 22 May 1947. The work was published by Éditions Salabert. Cherished as the summit of the composer's work and a masterpiece by musical critics, the cantata is a hymn to Liberté, victorious over tyranny.

I wonder who made the translation, how good it is, and how well it fitted the music.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_humaine

[edashtav]

I was in the hall for this Prom and greatly enjoyed it. However, I was hoping to follow the text of the Poulenc as printed in the programme but this proved impossible once the lights went down.so was forced to just listen. Frustrating.

I wonder if you can help. I believe that Francis Poulenc write his work to be sung by a large choir, perhaps 200 strong. When the BBC SINGERS first performed the work, Poulenc agreed to an amplified Choir , maybe 70plus.

How large was the BBC SINGERS last evening? From its sound, my guess is that had their normal complement, c. 20.