Prom 19: Harvey / Elgar / Holst, BBC SO / BBC SC, Dandy / Rummukainen / Oramo

[bluestateprommer]

Saturday 3 August 2024
19:30
Royal Albert Hall

Jonathan Harvey: Tranquil Abiding (first performance at The Proms)
Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, op. 85
[Encore: Kaija Saariaho: Sept Papillons - No. 2 (first performance at The Proms)]

Interval

Holst: The Cloud Messenger (first performance at The Proms)

Jess Dandy, contralto
Senja Rummukainen, cello (Proms debut artist)

BBC Symphony Chorus
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sakari Oramo, conductor

https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/e3qxp6

https://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/proms/bbc-proms-24/prom-19/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0021jp4

[bluestateprommer]

Very fine start to this Prom with Jonathan Harvey's Tranquil Abiding, which struck me, at the risk of sounding very shallow and superficial, as something of a mellower version of Birtwistle, in its ritualistic and meditative character.

BTW, if anyone needs the text of The Cloud Messenger, this link has it on page 6 of the file.

[jonfan]

A very fine Elgar Cello Concerto with introspection coupled with drama, all deeply felt with excellent orchestral support.

[bluestateprommer]

Senja R. certainly stretched passages out in the first and fourth movements of the Elgar, but not in a self-indulgent or narcissistic way, IMHO. She also chose her encore of the Kaija Saariaho selection (archived above, of course) very well, to complement rather than upstage the Elgar.

Regarding the Holst, I must admit that my attention wandered more than once, though not because of any faults with the performance or the performers, and admittedly on my very first time ever hearing The Cloud Messenger in any form. The work seems to inhabit the same sonic zone for prolonged stretches. Still, full marks to Jess Dandy, the BBC SO and BBC Symphony Chorus, and Sakari Oramo for doing a very good job here. Nice and lively interval discussion between Kate Kennedy and Martin Handley, as icing on the cake.

[edashtav]

Good to see that Jonathan Harvey's very spiritual music still has a home at the Proms.
Tranquil Abiding was a good foil to Holst's Messenger although JH could teach GvH a few tips about cogency, coherence,and form.

Gustav needed to write Cloud Messenger to rid his system of lingering memories of Wagner. The piece outstayed its welcome.

[smittims]

I'm listening to the Harvey now. I don't know his music well,as it's not often broadcast, but he seems to be an underrated composer. I like this piece very much. Unlike the other novelties so far this season,it has strength and substance.

[Maclintick]

I agree with BSP & Ed's assessments of Cloud Messenger -- certainly no "masterpiece" as claimed in the over-hyping Proms online blurb, but well worth hearing nonetheless. The Cloud's meandering progress from the world of Parry & Wagner didn't always hold my attention, but I sat up after the contralto solo ( Jess Dandy, wonderfully rich) as the textures morphed first towards North African inflections à la Beni Mora, & then into typically Holstian wonder-filled mysticism replete with pre-echoes of later masterpieces such as The Hymn of Jesus, & The Perfect Fool. The inexorable bass-laden tread of Saturn & Egdon Heath are clearly foreshadowed at the end of the cloud's travels. A transitional, but fascinating piece. Terrific Prom, all round.

[smittims]

Holst, I have heard , longed to have a big public success with a choral/orchestral work, to rank with VW and Elgar, but something went wrong. Many years later the Choral Symphony met had a very cool reception and was similarly forgotten for decades.

[Serial_Apologist]

Holst, I have heard , longed to have a big public success with a choral/orchestral work, to rank with VW and Elgar, but something went wrong. Many years later the Choral Symphony met had a very cool reception and was similarly forgotten for decades.

Inadvisably Holst, who was seldom great at adapting developmental procedures in his extended orchestral works, seems to have allowed the text to determine the musical form in this work, resulting in its "longueurs", This was one of the potential downsides of his and Vaughan Williams's rejection of post-Brahmsian structuring models; VW was eventually able to overcome this in works non-reliant of extra-musical programmes by turning back aesthetically to High Renaissance modal models dramatically alternated with tension-built sections using more "modern" modes - something not in accordance with Holst's shorter-range gift for sharply contrasted moods and images. For me Holst's finest attainments of formal consequence was to be found in his Fugal Concerto of 1920, in his adapting of folk-type materials within Baroque procedures in this very early example of Neo Classicism. This tended to be his methodology for most of the later instrumental works such as the Double Concerto, Lyric Movement and that symphonic Scherzo, but also in Egdon Heath. Britten, in whose music Holst's late work's influence can sometimes be clearly heard, was another - (surprisingly to me) - who had difficulties in "thinking symphonically", most successfully overcome when adapting baroque forms.

[Maclintick]

Holst, I have heard , longed to have a big public success with a choral/orchestral work, to rank with VW and Elgar, but something went wrong. Many years later the Choral Symphony met had a very cool reception and was similarly forgotten for decades.

The Hymn of Jesus, often reckoned to be GH’s preeminent choral masterpiece (& certainly IMHO) was a great success at its première, but has also lapsed into comparative neglect. A great pity. Perhaps concert programmers baulk at the offstage requirements - sub-conductor & extra paraphernalia needed,

[Maclintick]

Britten, in whose music Holst's late work's influence can sometimes be clearly heard, was another - (surprisingly to me) - who had difficulties in "thinking symphonically", most successfully overcome when adapting baroque forms.

Yes, it's clear that Holst drank from the wellsprings of Purcell & folk idioms, of course, and Britten similarly. Both were aware of international trends, though the UK became rather divorced from "continental" developments during and after WW1 when Holst reached maturity as a composer -- but I'm not sure there's much evidence that GH & BB were interested in developing "post-Brahmsian structuring models" in the sense I take you to mean. Certainly, their work lacks "symphonic" pieces in the Brahmsian sense.

[edashtav]

Yes, it's clear that Holst drank from the wellsprings of Purcell & folk idioms, of course, and Britten similarly. Both were aware of international trends, though the UK became rather divorced from "continental" developments during and after WW1 when Holst reached maturity as a composer -- but I'm not sure there's much evidence that GH & BB were interested in developing "post-Brahmsian structuring models" in the sense I take you to mean. Certainly, their work lacks "symphonic" pieces in the Brahmsian sense.

I agree, Maclintick.

[oliver sudden]

I'm listening to the Harvey now. I don't know his music well,as it's not often broadcast, but he seems to be an underrated composer. I like this piece very much. Unlike the other novelties so far this season,it has strength and substance.

His music does indeed merit serious exploration and should be heard much more widely than it has been. He was a truly lovely man as well.

[bluestateprommer]

A few reviews of this Prom:

https://theartsdesk.com/classical-music/prom-19-rummukainen-dandy-bbcso-oramo-review-inward-reflections-and-choral

https://operatoday.com/2024/08/prom-19-marking-150-years-since-holsts-birth-the-cloud-messenger-receives-its-proms-premiere/

[Barbirollians]

i really enjoyed this Prom with Oramo at the helm. The Jonathan Harvey work definitely deserves the praise given above. Although the soloist occasionally stretched things out this was a fresh individual take on the Elgar Cello Concerto and I liked the ethereal Cloud Messenger even if it could have done with some editing by Holst it was a great deal more engaging than some more stodgy English choral works.