Prom 27: Saariaho / W.A. Mozart / R. Strauss, BBC SO, Aalto / Karttunen / Oramo

[bluestateprommer]

Friday 9 August 2024
18:00
Royal Albert Hall

Kaija Saariaho: Mirage (first performance at The Proms)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 9 in E flat major, K. 271 (‘Jeunehomme’ / 'Jenamy')
[Encore: Maurice Ravel: Sonatine - II. Mouvement de minuet]

Interval

Richard Strauss: Eine Alpensinfonie (An Alpine Symphony), op. 64

Silja Aalto, soprano (Proms debut artist)
Anssi Karttunen, cello (Proms debut artist)
Seong-Jin Cho, piano

BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sakari Oramo, conductor

https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/e5vhj5

https://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/proms/bbc-proms-24/prom-27/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0021k0t

[bluestateprommer]

Good start to this Prom with Kaija Saariaho's Mirage (text available here for anyone who needs it, as I did).

Sociological concert audience question, for any Forumites who are at the RAH tonight: I wonder if the Korean audience quotient will be higher than usual, like with the Yunchan Lim appearance a while back.

PS: Good, solid (if not particularly mind-blowing, but admittedly this isn't music that calls for bombast at all) reading of Mozart's K. 271 from Seong-Jin Cho, the BBC SO and Oramo. Andrew McGregor seemed to have addressed my sociological question about the presence of Korean concertgoers. (Presumably more of them will stay for the Richard Strauss than the comparable crowd for Bruckner 1 did.) Nice choice of encore on S-JC's part.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Good start to this Prom with Kaija Saariaho's Mirage (text available here for anyone who needs it, as I did).

Sociological concert audience question, for any Forumites who are at the RAH tonight: I wonder if the Korean audience quotient will be higher than usual, like with the Yunchan Lim appearance a while back.

PS: Good, solid (if not particularly mind-blowing, but admittedly this isn't music that calls for bombast at all) reading of Mozart's K. 271 from Seong-Jin Cho, the BBC SO and Oramo. Andrew McGregor seemed to have addressed my sociological question about the presence of Korean concertgoers. (Presumably more of them will stay for the Richard Strauss than the comparable crowd for Bruckner 1 did.) Nice choice of encore on S-JC's part.

No it’s full of men wearing lederhosen and carrying Alpenstocks at the moment.

[edashtav]

"Malta Daily Chronicle and Garrison Gazette
JULY 1911
island.
STRAUSS'S NEW WORK.
By way of obtaining the atmosphere necessary for his new composition, Richard Strauss has taken up his abode in the Bavarian mountains. His new work is an Alpine symphony in two movements. The first treats of men as admirers of nature, the second of men as melancholy brooders. ln this symphony the rushing of water-falls, mysterious ravines, and the thunder of the hills are described. Strauss has played parts of his Alpine symphony on the piano to private friends, who speak in rapturous terms about it."

The Alpine Symphony had a long gestation from 1899 and there are drafts of a tone poem from that time. The work was shelved and Mahler's (who was born a Jew) death in 1911 caused Strauss to wonder whether German would be stronger without Christianity? The project was revived as described in the Maltese article above and announced to a public desperate to hear something new from the Great Germsn master. Note it was still in two parts. Another pause, or composer's cramp, was succeeded by a period of gushing fertility and the orchestration was so easy that Strauss, surrounded by lush Alpine Meadows and cattle equipped with Mahlerian bells , commented that orchestrating his new Symphony in 22 parts was as 'easy as milking cows'. Before 1915 was out it was printed, premiered and Orchestras in USA were falling over each other whilst competing to give the first American performance (Cincinnati cheated and beat the Philadelphia Orchestra by a cow's head). Did Strauss notice I wonder, in his rush that he'd included a quotation from another work that he was writing: 'Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme'?

What of the performance tonight by the BBC SO under Sakari Oramo? I found it splendid with lovely woodwind solos, well-disciplined brass , kaleidoscopic percussion and thunderous organ pedalwork in the storm. Nothing was left to the imagination! (PERHAPS that sentence suggests the work's weakness but... I'm feeling generous tonight.)

[Darkbloom]

Actually, bsp, there were a lot of empty seats after the interval.

I enjoyed the Mozart. I felt there was more engagement between orchestra and soloist than usual. Often they can feel like they are playing in two separate rooms. The pianist often turned towards the orchestra to watch them play rather than sitting staring at the keyboard until it was his turn.

This was my first time hearing the Alpine Symphony live. Oramo is consistently excellent at what he does. The last time I heard him was several years ago in Bruckner 5 and I can't recall hearing a below par performance from him. The offstage brass was particularly thrilling up in the gallery. Although the cowbells seemed slightly too distant, almost as though someone was stumbling around drunk in one of the boxes and knocking things over.

[smittims]

I liked the Saariaho. Among the 'misses' of this year's Proms premieres,this was a 'hit' for me. .

[Ein Heldenleben]

Actually, bsp, there were a lot of empty seats after the interval.

I enjoyed the Mozart. I felt there was more engagement between orchestra and soloist than usual. Often they can feel like they are playing in two separate rooms. The pianist often turned towards the orchestra to watch them play rather than sitting staring at the keyboard until it was his turn.

This was my first time hearing the Alpine Symphony live. Oramo is consistently excellent at what he does. The last time I heard him was several years ago in Bruckner 5 and I can't recall hearing a below par performance from him. The offstage brass was particularly thrilling up in the gallery. Although the cowbells seemed slightly too distant, almost as though someone was stumbling around drunk in one of the boxes and knocking things over.

Extraordinary to get a ticket to the Proms - hear an ok modern piece, a fairly run of the mill concerto and then miss a good performance of a fairly infrequently performed masterpiece that a lot of very talented people have gone to a lot of trouble to get right . Esp the magnificent trumpets !

[Pulcinella]

Are we all waiting for our eponymous member to give his verdict?

It's not a piece I know at all well enough to comment on, but I certainly found parts of it thrilling and the sound terrific.
Happy to be shot down, but a bit of it (are they spattered raindrops at the start of the storm?) reminded me of the very beginning of Gurrelieder!

[edashtav]

Extraordinary to get a ticket to the Proms - hear an ok modern piece, a fairly run of the mill concerto and then miss a good performance of a fairly infrequently performed masterpiece that a lot of very talented people have gone to a lot of trouble to get right . Esp the magnificent trumpets !

Yes , indeed!

[oliver sudden]

Happy to be shot down, but a bit of it (are they spattered raindrops at the start of the storm?) reminded me of the very beginning of Gurrelieder!

I hadn’t thought of that but you’re right! Although if he cribbed that from somewhere it would probably be the beginning of the storm in the William Tell overture…

It’s certainly one of my favourite things, as long as the conductor shares my view that the piece is only just getting into its swing when the pictures stop. If the conductor doesn’t know what to do once everyone’s got off the mountain it’s a tiresome thing.

[silvestrione]

It sounded from Oramo's ill-judged comments on the Mozart ('something we all know well, so we can relax with it, between the other two more demanding works'!) as though it was going to be a very missable, shallow affair, but it wasn't, for me, once the pianist got into his stride (I didn't like his initial entry). I was not there, but I sensed a growing collaborative feel, as he drew the orchestra into his own ambience, his rapt absorption.

As for the Strauss, I'd not heard it before, and had not intended to listen(!), but had not noticed the very early start time, so it was playing when I switched on, and it was just stunning.

[richardfinegold]

Where is Alpie?
I didn’t get the part in Edash post about Mahler dying and Strauss therefore concluding that Christianity was doomed(?). And what does any of that have to do with the Alpine Symphony?

I know that there was fierce competition for the American premier, but in 1915 there was considerable anti German sentiment in the US as Germany was seen as the aggressor in WWI. I wonder if any of that affected Strauss over here

[Darkbloom]

Extraordinary to get a ticket to the Proms - hear an ok modern piece, a fairly run of the mill concerto and then miss a good performance of a fairly infrequently performed masterpiece that a lot of very talented people have gone to a lot of trouble to get right . Esp the magnificent trumpets !

The stewards were telling us this was a sold-out concert, so I was amazed to see the number of empty seats after the interval. It wasn't just a handful here and there, there were conspicuously large blocks of unoccupied spaces throughout the hall. When this happened last week I attributed it to people not wanting to hear early Bruckner, but to turn down the opportunity of hearing the Strauss seems ridiculous to me. There were clearly quite a few people who weren't frequent concert attendees, as we had the hesitant bursts of applause between movements during the Mozart.

[bluestateprommer]

Actually, bsp, there were a lot of empty seats after the interval.

Got it, thanks for the confirmation. For those who left early, presumably satisfied with having seen S-JC that evening, obviously their loss to have missed the Strauss. But I guess that as long as the RAH and The Proms sold tickets, what each individual audience member does is up to him/her from that point on.

This was my first time hearing the Alpine Symphony live. Oramo is consistently excellent at what he does. The last time I heard him was several years ago in Bruckner 5 and I can't recall hearing a below par performance from him. The offstage brass was particularly thrilling up in the gallery. Although the cowbells seemed slightly too distant, almost as though someone was stumbling around drunk in one of the boxes and knocking things over.

Indeed, a fine reading of the Strauss, where I surmised that the off-stage brass were in the Gallery, from the sound balance. I hope that the newbies who did stay realized what a sonic treat they got in the second half. Your interpretation of the cowbells stumbling about is a new one to me, and actually sounds like a great way to interpret that passage .

[Darkbloom]

It sounded from Oramo's ill-judged comments on the Mozart ('something we all know well, so we can relax with it, between the other two more demanding works'!) as though it was going to be a very missable, shallow affair, but it wasn't, for me, once the pianist got into his stride (I didn't like his initial entry). I was not there, but I sensed a growing collaborative feel, as he drew the orchestra into his own ambience, his rapt absorption.

As for the Strauss, I'd not heard it before, and had not intended to listen(!), but had not noticed the very early start time, so it was playing when I switched on, and it was just stunning.

Well, I was there and I completely agree with you about that performance. It felt like a collaboration in a way that the Emperor concerto the other night didn't. He would lean back when he wasn't playing and pointedly turn towards the orchestra and listen, something I don't see all that often. He also carefully wiped the keyboard down with a cloth before he started playing - a Gouldian touch that was much appreciated.