Originally posted by Oddball
View Post
-
I enjoyed the Ives, but I suspect that the general idea, most obviously on display (which I think is the right phrase) in the Marsalis and the Barber, was to give us ample opportunity to admire Mr Wilson and his orchestra.
-
So we get back to the same old, same old question. Not whether in terms of individual and personal enjoyment/quality. But context. Radio 3? The Proms? Why not? If it's good in my book that's all that matters. AND I THOUGHT IT WAS REALLY GOOD!!Originally posted by Nick Armstrong View Post
Jessica Duchen would beg to differ…
It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.Comment
-
It was certainly a “glorious display of orchestral virtuosity.”Originally posted by Pulcinella View Post
But virtuosity isn’t enough . Even little things . The clarinet opening of Rhapsody in Blue - very virtuosic and highly coloured and jazz inflected (maybe to the point of parody - the great jazz clarinet players were more restrained ) but the rest of the band didn’t respond in kind. It felt like they were faking the blues .,,,
It was a good concert but the only pieces I really enjoyed were the Two encores .
Billy The Kid was very flat (rhythmically) really wasn’t it ?Comment
-
Was this the link you intended? I found no Iverson there…Originally posted by bluestateprommer View Post
I did go a-googling though and found a New York Times article where he took Rhapsody in Blue to task at tiresome length for not being something it wasn’t trying to be and couldn’t have been even if it wanted to, at least not without a time machine. A bit silly, I thought. There are definitely lots of things I don’t get along with in the said work but failing to be sufficiently diasporic is, to be honest, not one of them.Comment
-
Originally posted by Ein Heldenleben View Post
I certainly thought so.
I've sometimes thought that the LSO is (was?) the only orchestra that could do any sort of 'swing'. Not all Copland's own London-orchestra CBS/Sony recordings were with them, though, his S3 being one example that used the New Philharmonia Orchestra.
I've no idea (not sure if the info is available but I've better things to do anyway than check!) how many LSO players were in last night's SoL, but even they would presumably have been constrained by what others have called JW's metronomic approach.Comment
-
Anyone who hasn’t heard how Ross Gorman played it should definitely have a listen:Originally posted by Ein Heldenleben View Post
I don’t personally think that the great jazz players are the only yardstick for a piece written in 1924 though… a lot of the greatest jazz hadn’t happened yet!
Comment
-
Yes well last nights certainly was HIPP (and hip) as it’s very similar to Ross’sOriginally posted by oliver sudden View PostAnyone who hasn’t heard how Ross Gorman played it should definitely have a listen:
I don’t personally think that the great jazz players are the only yardstick for a piece written in 1924 though… a lot of the greatest jazz hadn’t happened yet!
Comment
-
Went back and corrected the NYT link accordingly; thanks for catching my gaffe.Originally posted by oliver sudden View Post
After experiencing the 2nd half, I'm in of two minds overall, in Fiddler on the Roof "On the one hand / on the other hand" mode:
* On the one hand, JW isn't all that distinctive a musical interpreter, for all his clear intelligence and love of music. His pacing particularly of the John Adams work seemed overly static in the slower moments, for one. (Very good job with the Charles Ives, though.) To elaborate slightly on what I'd said earlier: generally with JW, you get the notes and the score, well-prepared and well-rehearsed. And that's pretty much it, or at least that's been it for me through the sonic prism of R3 and BBC Sounds.
* On the other hand, this Prom was a very meaty and substantial program, with, in retrospect, no dumbing down, even if the choices of the Copland, Barber, and Gershwin were old hat to the more veteran classical music lovers here. My guess is that for much of the audience, who may well have been weaned on JW's previous Proms related to Broadway and Hollywood, this more core classical orchestral concert may have been new, or new-ish fare to them. The John Wilson Proms audience who know his Broadway and Hollywood concerts may not necessarily know who Charles Ives was and John Adams is. This comment is hedging a lot, I know, but hopefully an educated guess in that way.Comment
-
Sitting behind the orchestra last night, it was revealing seeing JW from the front, showing less is more in his gestures.
Virtuoso programme but the Barber the highlight of the night for me with the silence from the audience at the end an essential part of the success of tonight’s performance. To me the Adagio is, like Nimrod, not sad and mournful but noble and deeply felt.Comment
-
Before conducting the Barber at the RAH following the 9/11 attacks, Leonard Slatkin said that it was the USA's Nimrod.Originally posted by jonfan View PostComment
-
Rebecca Franks in today's Times also liked it:
Comment
-
She says the Copland was played with 'spick-and-span efficiency'. I would have thought that was the least we should expect from any half-decent orchestra, but - as Ein Heldenleben has pointed out, virtuosity isn't enough.Originally posted by Pulcinella View PostRebecca Franks in today's Times also liked it:
Comment
-
I loved it too....a really good substantial Prom played magnificently... The atmosphere in the hall was electric as well...a really memorable prom for me.Comment
-
The hype on this concert continues with Georgia Mann on Essential Classics today describing it as “life-changing” - that’s just ridiculous hyperbole. The birth of a child or death of a parent can be described thus but the concert , though good wasn’t as good as several other proms including the LPO’s last night.
Presenters on R3 need to calm down a bit - they’re getting worse than those doing the Olympics and that’s saying something.Comment
Comment