Prom 10: Britten/Cheryl Frances-Hoad/Elgar, BBC SSO, van der Heijden/R. Wigglesworth

[bluestateprommer]

Friday 26 July 2024
19:30
Royal Albert Hall

Britten: Gloriana - Symphonic Suite
Cheryl Frances-Hoad: Cello Concerto, ‘Earth, Sea, Air’ (London premiere)
[Encore: "El cant dels ocells" ("Song of the Birds"; arr. for cello and orchestra by Pablo [Pau] Casals)

Interval

Elgar: Symphony No. 2 in E flat major, op. 63

Laura van der Heijden, cello
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Ryan Wigglesworth, conductor

https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/embd2m

https://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/proms/bbc-proms-24/prom-10/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00213lv

[smittims]

Thanks for the reminder. I'm looking forward to this concert, one of the eleven, I think, Proms I've decided are worth hearing in these straighteneed times. We've had some magnificent Elgar2's in the last few years: Harding, Elder and Petrenko stay in the memory , each a landmark perromance in its way . I've high hopes for Wigglesworth having heard his fine VW symphony readings. And I'll be interested to hear if the concerto is as awful as I'm expecting it to be! Who knows, maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

[oliver sudden]

As I often say, the key to happiness is low expectations!

[LMcD]

Thanks for the reminder. I'm looking forward to this concert, one of the eleven, I think, Proms I've decided are worth hearing in these straighteneed times. We've had some magnificent Elgar2's in the last few years: Harding, Elder and Petrenko stay in the memory , each a landmark perromance in its way . I've high hopes for Wigglesworth having heard his fine VW symphony readings. And I'll be interested to hear if the concerto is as awful as I'm expecting it to be! Who knows, maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

As it's the BBCSSO, I would say the chances of a fine Elgar 2nd are pretty good.

[Barbirollians]

Charlotte Gardner liked the concerto when she reviewed it in Gramophone.

I hope Ryan Wigglesworth has improved since he left the Halle - I recall a technically brillliant but emotionally eviscerated Rite of Spring .

[Barbirollians]

I rather enjoyed that concerto - rather striking Britten and a touch of Shostakovich in there . Laura van der Heijden is an outstanding cellist as a particularly fine Dvorak with the Halle the other year suggested . Charming rendition of the Song of the Birds too sometimes played rather syrupy but not here.

[bluestateprommer]

CF-H's new cello concerto just finished. It's a nice listen, generally very lyrical and 'audience-friendly' in feel, which the audience evidently appreciates now. Perhaps a bit more 'edginess' and contrast between the movements would have been welcome, but that's only based on the one listen. Must revisit the concerto later. Good that CF-H is in the RAH to take a bow.

On Barbirollians' point about Ryan W., whose gist I recall from other threads, I see his point. In the Britten suite from Gloriana, the slower sections sounded a bit stolid to me. The faster movements had more energy, by definition. But this may be a sort of Klaus Makela-ish situation, in terms of the BBC SSO liking Ryan W. very much and getting along with him very well (and vice versa), while he doesn't necessarily deliver pin-you-to-the-back-of-your-seat interpretations. But Elgar 2 awaits in the second half, so perhaps I'll be proved wrong (which would be OK with me). We shall see.

Very gentle, low-key encore from LvdH and the orchestra, kind of the standard cello encore these days of the Catalan song "Song of the Birds". On reflection, this was a good choice, so as not to upstage the new concerto.

[Barbirollians]

That was the least moving performance of an Elgar symphony I have ever heard . Especially the Larghetto - left me completely cold.

[LMcD]

That was the least moving performance of an Elgar symphony I have ever heard . Especially the Larghetto - left me completely cold.

I thought it was a magnificent performance, but then I've always preferred my Elgar somewhat 'buttoned up'.
It certainly seemed to go down very well in the hall.

[edashtav]

A difficult concert to sum up.

CF-H's Cello Concerto has been recorded already by tonight's performers and as a result, there was a confidence and polish that is sometimes lacking from new works. For me it was an advance on pieces mainly choral , which I've heard from Cheryl. It is melodic but cut across with some striking chords which add muscle and, in the end, provide a surprising finish. Has the Concerto got legs to become a repertoire piece or will it be an exotic occasional visitor? I fear the latter. However, if one in a hundred Elgar cello concerto performances were replaced by other British Concerti by Bridge , Finzi and Francis-Hoad, I would cheer.

The glories of Gloriana fell on the deaf ears of the British Great and Good who were awarded free tickets to hear its early performances. BB rescued a variety of off-cuts such as tonight's orchestral suite, and the Choral Dances which I performed frequently forty years ago. BB probably made more money writing a fanfare to launch the Oriana cruise liner.

Tonight's suite is a motley affair with courtly Elizabethan pastiches mixed with off-colour Britten.

Elgar's Second Symphony was a curate's egg: great playing, wonderful, jaunty start but the heart of Elgar's matter: those slow reflective
passages where so much of the work's development occurs were tossed off and lacking in consequence.

There's a lot of sex hidden in Elgar's buttoned-up music: release is all the greater if the climax is held back until its resolution is unstoppable and inevitable.

Bring back Barbirolli, eh, Barbirollians?

[smittims]

On a first hearing (I'll be listening to it again at least once more) I was disappointed by the Hoad concerto. I didn't detect any striking or memorable musical material; it seemed nondescript and dull to me. I should perhaps explain that I always listen to a piece of music expecting it to stand up on its own as music, regardless of any extra-musical agenda or programme. Maybe the topical 'climate' tag helped to get it performed , but I wouldn't have guessed that it was meant to be 'about ' anything. Just another Dud, I'm afraid.

I haven't heard the Elgar performance yet so I'll be interested to hear it in the light of the comments made above.

[smittims]

I've now heard the Elgar and liked it much more than Barbirollians and edashtav did. I'd like to hear Wigglesworth do more Elgar. There were some lovely details.

[Barbirollians]

Oh yes lots of lovely details - it showed the workings of the symphony splendidly but left the emotion behind just as with the stunningly well played Rite of Spring with the Halle.

[Barbirollians]

A difficult concert to sum up.

CF-H's Cello Concerto has been recorded already by tonight's performers and as a result, there was a confidence and polish that is sometimes lacking from new works. For me it was an advance on pieces mainly choral , which I've heard from Cheryl. It is melodic but cut across with some striking chords which add muscle and, in the end, provide a surprising finish. Has the Concerto got legs to become a repertoire piece or will it be an exotic occasional visitor? I fear the latter. However, if one in a hundred Elgar cello concerto performances were replaced by other British Concerti by Bridge , Finzi and Francis-Hoad, I would cheer.

The glories of Gloriana fell on the deaf ears of the British Great and Good who were awarded free tickets to hear its early performances. BB rescued a variety of off-cuts such as tonight's orchestral suite, and the Choral Dances which I performed frequently forty years ago. BB probably made more money writing a fanfare to launch the Oriana cruise liner.

Tonight's suite is a motley affair with courtly Elizabethan pastiches mixed with off-colour Britten.

Elgar's Second Symphony was a curate's egg: great playing, wonderful, jaunty start but the heart of Elgar's matter: those slow reflective
passages where so much of the work's development occurs were tossed off and lacking in consequence.

There's a lot of sex hidden in Elgar's buttoned-up music: release is all the greater if the climax is held back until its resolution is unstoppable and inevitable.

Bring back Barbirolli, eh, Barbirollians?

Indeed, and you can have more buttoned up Elgar that still is extraordinarily emotional - witness Boult’s wartime recording with the BBCSO.

[LMcD]

Oh yes lots of lovely details - it showed the workings of the symphony splendidly but left the emotion behind just as with the stunningly well played Rite of Spring with the Halle.

I'm perfectly happy for Elgar to leave the emoting to me.