Prom 39: Busoni/Beethoven/A.Coleridge-Taylor/Dvořák, Ulster Orch, Piemontesi/Rustioni

[bluestateprommer]

Sunday 18 August 2024
19:30
Royal Albert Hall

Busoni: Comedy Overture (first performance at The Proms)
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, op. 58
[Encore: J. S. Bach: "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme" (trans. Wilhelm Kempff)]

Interval

Avril Coleridge-Taylor: A Sussex Landscape (first performance at The Proms)
Dvořák: Symphony No. 7 in D minor, op. 70

Francesco Piemontesi, piano
Ulster Orchestra
Daniele Rustioni, conductor

https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/emzv9r

https://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/proms/bbc-proms-24/prom-39/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0021xyz

[Prommer]

And to think that the ROH could have had Rustioni...

[bluestateprommer]

A very good first half of this Prom indeed, fresh and straight-up, no fuss and no muss. The Busoni was a total novelty to me, as I'd never heard even a recording of Eine Lustspielouvertüre before. I didn't know about Francesco Piemontesi's health travails until the pre-performance discussion with Petroc. Good to see FP back in action, and he did very, very well indeed.

On Rustioni, I wonder if, barring the collapse of human civilization by 2030, the Metropolitan Opera might be having similar thoughts to what Prommer just alluded to....

[Ein Heldenleben]

A very good first half of this Prom indeed, fresh and straight-up, no fuss and no muss. The Busoni was a total novelty to me, as I'd never heard even a recording of Eine Lustspielouvertüre before. I didn't know about Francesco Piemontesi's health travails until the pre-performance discussion with Petroc. Good to see FP back in action, and he did very, very well indeed.

On Rustioni, I wonder if, barring the collapse of human civilization by 2030, the Metropolitan Opera might be having similar thoughts to what Prommer just alluded to....

The variety of touch Piemontesi gets is amazing . In that final rondo you wouldn’t think fingers would be able to articulate that kind of gradation in those helter skelter semiquavers. It’s extraordinary.

[gurnemanz]

I'm enjoying this Prom but not Petroc's version of the conductor's surname. I'm pretty sure Italians don't pronounce Rustioni as if started with the English word 'rusty'

[johnn10]

I was surprised to hear Petroc say that today is the fist day of a new week at the Proms. Did he not realise that today is Sunday and as per the Proms guide etc that the week starts on Monday ie day 1 of the week.

[edashtav]

Busoni's Comedy Overture sounds to me to have roots in mature Mozart and early Nielsen (Maskarade?). The Mozartian woodwind scoring was delightfully realised by the Ulster Orchestra's wind players and the strings evoked some of Busoni's contemporaries.

Francesco Piedmontese's crystalline touch and sensitivity was an ideal match for Beethoven's G major Concerto. He's not a barn-storming entertainer but like some younger Engish contemporaries such as Ben Grosvenor whom we heard earlier in this Proms season he uses his searching intelligence to communicate music's depth and mysteries to his audiences. My first experience of this work was with Myra Hess as soloist around seventy years ago and something of her intimacy and charisma came across in Beethoven's slow movement.

The finale bounced along with a feeling of joyous freedom. Altogether, this was an affectionate interpretation of Beethoven's fine score.

The encore was J.S. Bach chorale prelude from Bach's Cantata no 140 'Wachet Auf' transcribed by Wilhelm Kempff. It had the ring of a Busoni transcription and more forward motion than Kempff was apt to employ.⁹:irony3:

I was serving food during Avril's Sussex work so I must catch it on SOUNDS.

DVORAK"s academic D minor Symphony is a bête noire for me.

Give me his 6th , 8th , or 9th and I shall cheer and cheer.

[Maclintick]

The variety of touch Piemontesi gets is amazing . In that final rondo you wouldn’t think fingers would be able to articulate that kind of gradation in those helter skelter semiquavers. It’s extraordinary.

Yes, it was very special, wasn't it ? I've heard very many live accounts of this work, but rarely has one confirmed the old cliché that inexhaustible masterpieces are literally that, enabling the most extraordinary performers to transcend human limitations in the way Piemontesi did tonight. Great support from the Ulster Orch & Rustioni, who gave a spirited, full-throated account of Dvořák 7 after the interval. Afraid I wasn't good at appreciating the hopelessly derivative Avril Coleridge-Taylor piece despite Leah Broad's encouragement, as it appeared less a wartime evocation of the Sussex Downs than a dismal re-cycling of Puccinian operatic tropes, esp. unison ff octaves at intensely striving moments. Banal.

[Prommer]

Top stuff! Really no encore? They cut away very quickly....

[bluestateprommer]

The Ulster Orchestra continued on very strong form in the second half. I should give the Avril Coleridge-Taylor work another listen down the line, as it didn't fully grab me on just the one listen. But it sounded as though DR and the UO did their best for it.

Given that this program even withouth FP's encore was already pretty meaty and substantial, it wasn't a surprise that there wasn't an encore after the Dvorak, to address Prommer's point. I'm not sure what would be an appropriate encore, except generally something to turn down the temperature, i.e. something quieter and mellower after Dvorak 7, IMVHO.

[Serial_Apologist]

Afraid I wasn't good at appreciating the hopelessly derivative Avril Coleridge-Taylor piece despite Leah Broad's encouragement, as it appeared less a wartime evocation of the Sussex Downs than a dismal re-cycling of Puccinian operatic tropes, esp. unison ff octaves at intensely striving moments. Banal.

A let-down following the pre-announcement hyperbole. I was hearing re-hashed Sibelius "Swan of Tuonela" harmonies (at least) at the very start of the piece, the rest of which Maclintick has caught the essence of. I'm left thinking that it's no wonder I hadn't previously heard of a well known composer's daughter named Avril Coleridge-Taylor.

[LMcD]

I'm enjoying this Prom but not Petroc's version of the conductor's surname. I'm pretty sure Italians don't pronounce Rustioni as if started with the English word 'rusty'

I checked 2 different pronunciation guides. One offered 'Russ Tie Only' and the other 'Rusty Only'.

[Prommer]

Rooschiony?

[cria]

Caruso

[Sir Velo]

I'm enjoying this Prom but not Petroc's version of the conductor's surname. I'm pretty sure Italians don't pronounce Rustioni as if started with the English word 'rusty'

Rooschiony?

Classic Anglophone mistake to pronounce "io" as an hiatus - eg "ee-oh". In fact the i here would be pronounced as a "y" - hence "yo". So "Roost-yoney" would be closer.