Prom 41: W. A. Mozart, Ensemble Resonanz, C.-J. Kang / Ridout / Minasi

[Ein Heldenleben]

The audience evidently had a good time, but whatever excited them about the Jupiter didn't travel to this listener's living room. I found myself wincing on more than one occasion.
I've fished out and put on a charity shop CD of Giulini and the New Philharmonia Orchestra(K550 and K551) I got recently. It's an ancient recording, and I'm sure is all wrong, but more to my taste.

I bet in that Giulini recording you could hear the strings rather than them being overwhelmed by brass and timps. I suspect they also played in tune as well…
ah they weren’t “ visceral”..

[Maclintick]

The Overture:The Marriage of Figaro". Blazing brass and well-struck timpani to the fore. Accents given great weight. Exaggerated dynamics. Dust was shaken off
, old scores settled, and the audience stirred. I would not want to live with the performance but... once in a while... why not?

Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola is a string of accompanied operatic duets for the two proponents.
It was lost and neglected and its first british performance was delayed over 75 years until 1856.

It's a delightful work which treats the soloists as equals. The soloists in this performance were more traditional and romantic in outlook compared with the energetic, self-assertive Resonanz Ensemble. Most of the rubati came from the soloists whist the ensemble majored on emphasis and insistence. All very interesting. My back straightened and I sat up:the orchestra had replaced NO SMOKING notices with NO SLOUCHING!

An evening devoted to admiration of the emperor's new HIPP clothes had a certain knockabout charm. As you say, Ed, "blazing brass and well-struck timpani to the fore" in the "Marriage of Figaro" curtain-raiser, à la militaristic bang-crashery we've had to endure for many years from the likes of, for instance, JEG. Fortunately, WAM had the sense not to score his Sinfonia Concertante with trumpets and drums, otherwise I'm sure Ensemble Resonanz and Signore Minasi would have likewise wrecked the highlight of the evening. Beautifully-matched and expressive soloists, here.

I may be old-fashioned but I don't think the Jupiter should be played like an extended comic suite, replete with Tom-&-Jerry pratfalls -- disregarding bloopers and lapses in intonation. I enjoyed TS's interval feature but Nicholas Till's contribution wasn't especially illuminating -- for instance, the idea that the instrumental conversations in the piano concertos are essentially operatic was posited by Robbins Landon, Alfred Brendel and others yonks ago, but was presented by the guest as an original insight.

[smittims]

That Decca disc of Giulini and the NPO in K 550/551 was a landmark. The orchestra had been left high and dry by its founder, who refused even to sell them their own library of scores and parts. Giulini was loyal to them when they re-formed themselves as the New Philharmonia and Decca were eager to record them, since they'd been an EMI-only house orchestra up till then.

There's an EMI/ICA DVD of the K550 and some other times. Wonderful to see Giulini in action.

From the comments above I'm not sorry I missed the Prom.

[LMcD]

[QUOTE=Maclintick;n1315679]

I may be old-fashioned but I don't think the Jupiter should be played like an extended comic suite, replete with Tom-&-Jerry pratfalls -- disregarding bloopers and lapses in intonation.

Intriguing as that sounds, I think I'll give it a miss. I'm perfectly happy with my Pinnock and Marriner sets of the late symphonies.

[oddoneout]

That Decca disc of Giulini and the NPO in K 550/551 was a landmark. The orchestra had been left high and dry by its founder, who refused even to sell them their own library of scores and parts. Giulini was loyal to them when they re-formed themselves as the New Philharmonia and Decca were eager to record them, since they'd been an EMI-only house orchestra up till then.

There's an EMI/ICA DVD of the K550 and some other times. Wonderful to see Giulini in action.

From the comments above I'm not sorry I missed the Prom.

Thanks for the extra info. I'm just happy that a 60 year old recording is still available to me.

[Mandryka]

[QUOTE=LMcD;n1315687]

I may be old-fashioned but I don't think the Jupiter should be played like an extended comic suite,

I think it was René Jacobs who started the idea that it's an opera buffa without words.

[Mandryka]

Thanks for the extra info. I'm just happy that a 60 year old recording is still available to me.

I'm even gladder that a 100 year old recording is still available to me. Albert Coates performed one of my fave Jupiters.

[Sir Velo]

I enjoyed the performances immensely. Personally I prefer the bite which gut strings give but the overall balance between wind, strings and percussion was much closer to how Mozart would have expected to hear it. I can't see the point in not having preconceptions challenged at a concert. If the only intention is to have one's expectations and prejudices reinforced then might as well just stay at home and reach for our Bohm or Klemperer CDs!

The Sinfonia Concertante was superbly played, the overtures had the right balance of drama and lyricism, while the symphony convincingly put paid to the canard that this is in some way a valedictory work of an old man looking back on life.

[oliver sudden]

[QUOTE=Mandryka;n1315695]

I think it was René Jacobs who started the idea that it's an opera buffa without words.

That in itself seems perfectly reasonable to me but Le Nozze di Figaro doesn’t have to be played like Looney Tunes.

For what it’s worth I am an enormous fan of Brüggen’s last recording. Incredibly dramatic but not a pratfall in sight.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Currently listening to on Essential Classics

“Ludwig van Beethoven

Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major (1st mvt)

Performer: Ronald Brautigam. Orchestra: Die Kölner Akademie“

on Essential Classics. What a contrast to hear a HIPP band playing with musical sensitivity ; one in which you can hear the superb strings ; one in which ludicrously fast tempi and almost comic dynamic contrasts are not indulged in.

Not to mention the peerless Brautigam .

[edashtav]

Currently listening to on Essential Classics

“Ludwig van Beethoven

Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major (1st mvt)

Performer: Ronald Brautigam. Orchestra: Die Kölner Akademie“

on Essential Classics. What a contrast to hear a HIPP band playing with musical sensitivity ; one in which you can hear the superb strings ; one in which ludicrously fast tempi and almost comic dynamic contrasts are not indulged in.

Not to mention the peerless Brautigam .

Nothing like a morning purgative after the excesses of the night before.

[gurnemanz]

I both enjoyed and was annoyed by this performance in roughly equal measure.

Re conductor's "speech": Where was someone with a long pole with a hook on the end?

[Ein Heldenleben]

Nothing like a morning purgative after the excesses of the night before.

One was vintage champagne the other artificially carbonated .

[richardfinegold]

There seem to be complaints about:
1) short concert duration; and
2) the playing style of the orchestra

Cue up the old joke about a women complaining to friends about the poor food in a restaurant and concluding with “And such small portions!”

Yesterday I noted that HIPP has now been with us for half a century and now longer has shock value. Give me Bruno Walter in the MOF Overture and not some speed demon orchestra desiccating it

[LMcD]

There seem to be complaints about:
1) short concert duration; and
2) the playing style of the orchestra

Cue up the old joke about a women complaining to friends about the poor food in a restaurant and concluding with “And such small portions!”

Yesterday I noted that HIPP has now been with us for half a century and now longer has shock value. Give me Bruno Walter in the MOF Overture and not some speed demon orchestra desiccating it

I just ignore all the HIPP Hype.
I suppose desiccation is less harmful than desecration.