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

[LMcD]

Ouch though, 3 for the Larghetto…

In my blissfully uncomplicated world, I'm generally happy enough if the whole exceeds the sum of the parts. When it comes to performances of Elgar symphonies, this is very rarely not the case. One or two may have been only 4-star - I forgot to take notes (so to speak).

[smittims]

I listened again to both the concerto and the Elgar yesterday and I have to say I was still very pleased with the symphony performance. I don't understand how some posters here were dissatisfied with it: it was very similar to several famous interrpetations (Barbirolli's early-50s mono Lp, for instance) ,and the tempi were very close to Elgar's own. But there it is: maybe we just hear things differently.



As for the concerto, I'm afraid it sounded even more stale and uninspired a second time. . Someone mentioned Britten and Shostakovitch: yes, indeed, it could have been written seventy years ago. If this was a BBC commission,then my money is not well spent.

[hmvman]

I shall give the symphony another listen. I thought the Britten suite was beautifully played. I'm with smittims on the concerto, I tried hard with it but it didn't hold my attention.

[LMcD]

I shall give the symphony another listen. I thought the Britten suite was beautifully played. I'm with smittims on the concerto, I tried hard with it but it didn't hold my attention.

... and I'm with the two of you - I thought it was occasionally reminiscent of Britten and Shostakovich but less interesting than either.

[oliver sudden]

This old chestnut again. To me if the performers don’t have an emotional response to the music you might as well just read a score ( if you can) .

From where I sit (which is usually on the other side of the music stand) it’s a bit more complicated than just the question of whether or not there’s emotion going on, though. Given that I’ve recognised there’s some kind of emotion to be got across, should I be, for example, experiencing it, portraying it, or evoking it? It’s nice when all those things work together of course, but sometimes they get in each other’s way and there’s not much that’s more tiresome for me as an audient than seeing musicians who are clearly in the throes of some kind of passion which is, alas, all staying up (or down) there on the stage. (And that’s before considering the conundrum of whether emotion that’s communicated visually comes across in the sound, which is anything but a given.)