Prom 49: Dvořák / Suk, Czech Philharmonic, Kobekina / Hrůša

[Darkbloom]

There’s no need to take a drink of water in an hour long performance . It’s possible to go much longer without rehydration unless you’re walking running etc.

Water induced coughing fits excepted.I read a research paper once where psychologists argued that people largely cough at the theatre or concert hall because they are bored. It’s amazing how few people cough when singers like Ermonela Jaho or Angela Gheorghiu are singing.

Ordinarily, yes, I think people make a bit of a fetish about hydration these days and it's become a sign of virtue to keep swigging from a bottle of water, but sometimes the RAH gets very hot and if you're in the Arena you might not realise you have a problem with dehydration until it's too late and you hit the deck. That's happened more than once this season. Personally, I think they should ban people talking alcohol into the Arena because it dehydrates you too much.

I definitely agree about the correlation between coughing and boredom. It seems like an unconscious physical reflex that people have when a performance isn't holding their attention, and I've noticed it too many times to count these days.

[Historian]

I enjoyed this concert in the hall much more than Ed over the airwaves. There's no doubt that Anastasia Kobekina is a bit of a wayward character but she can certainly play that cello.
Perhaps Asrael is a touch overlong but I love it nonetheless and the Czech Philharmonic brought their own love and distinctive aural palette to the work, one of the last of the great European orchestras to retain their unique sound. There were some thrilling moments in this performance, especially those thwacks on the bass drum towards the end of the first movement. The player didn't hold back and as I was sitting with the percussion pretty close by it made a big impact.

Very much enjoyed Ms. Kobekina's performance, undoubtedly a very charismatic player. Not everyone agrees but it's good to have different approaches to listen to. I found myself much more involved with Azrael hearing it live and the ending makes me forgive any longeurs earlier on.

Agree that the orchestra is very characterful, wonderful woodwind playing in both works for example. The big drum certainly made an impact (sorry) as did another percussionist with some virtuoso tambourine playing in the encore.

All in all very glad I went (but see next post).

[Historian]

More generally, the level of coughing in the hall is becoming intolerable. It may not come across on the radio so much but in the hall it's insane. One elderly lady sitting in front of me was persistently making a noise opening a bottle of water but in one of Asrael's quieter passages a swig of water went down the wrong way and she had an appalling coughing fit. Why can't people just sit still and listen? It's not hard.

People don't seem to try to cover up/suppress their coughing. At times it almost seems that the perpetrator is waiting for a quiet passage (wonderful pianissimo playing from the Czech PO which I should have mentioned above) although I realise that I am being uncharitable.

Could have sworn that someone dropped their mobile phone (or a similar heavy object) at the start of each work (certainly came from the same part of the hall. If one chooses to carry a metal water bottle, with its undoubted superiority to disposable plastic bottles, then please don't knock/kick it over because that also seems to have become a regular feature of Proms. Perhaps they should also re-run the phone announcement before the second half because at least one went off during Azrael.

[mathias broucek]

I too was there and the summaries by Petrushka and Historian are good.

The audience was badly behaved, I agree. The audience for the BCJ St John Passion was very quiet by comparison. Interestingly, they were not quite as noisy for the spellbinding transition into C major in the finale which fits with the boredom theory...

[Historian]

I too was there and the summaries by Petrushka and Historian are good.

The audience was badly behaved, I agree. The audience for the BCJ St John Passion was very quiet by comparison. Interestingly, they were not quite as noisy for the spellbinding transition into C major in the finale which fits with the boredom theory...

Thank you. Having attended both, your comparison of the 'background noise' is spot on.

[Norrette]

Yes, it was an evening of noises off. Bangs & phones. I'll confess I did cough once, into both hands I might add, as I suffer from dry throat, thankfully it wasn't during the quieter moments. Hence the need for water.

It was a surprisingly well-attended prom, not my usual fare, but I found the Suk, good in parts, but I felt no progression in it. But I'm no expert.

The Dvorak was fine, but I'm forever spoilt by hearing it first ever, by Lyn Harrell in the Festival Hall. Nothing's come close to that for me.

[Darkbloom]

People don't seem to try to cover up/suppress their coughing. At times it almost seems that the perpetrator is waiting for a quiet passage (wonderful pianissimo playing from the Czech PO which I should have mentioned above) although I realise that I am being uncharitable.

I know if often feels like that but, of course, there could be plenty of coughing happening during the tuttis, it's just that we wouldn't hear them then. In the quiet passages even the slightest extraneous noise is noticeable. I forget which concert it was this season, but there was a particular moment when the orchestra paused, and at the exact same moment a phone started ringing. Again, there were probably other occasions when it happened and nobody heard it, but it was remarkable how it seemed to choose that particular spot to cause maximum annoyance.

[Historian]

I know if often feels like that but, of course, there could be plenty of coughing happening during the tuttis, it's just that we wouldn't hear them then. In the quiet passages even the slightest extraneous noise is noticeable.

Good point.

[Maclintick]

Good summaries by other FoR3 members who were in the hall, where the live acoustic blurred the occasional lapses in ensemble during the concerto, but compromised the audibility of the soloist from where I was sitting. Personally, I enjoyed Ms Kobakina’s mercurial style, though my preference is for a more direct approach à la Rostropovich or Harrell, of blessed memory, as Norrette recalls.

I hadn’t heard Suk’s Asrael before, and found it intermittently engaging in a late-romantic idiom shared with the Schoenberg of Pelleas and Gurrelieder - also fleetingly reminiscent of contemporaries Scriabin, Glière, & the odd pre-echo of Hindemith in a fugato passage. I couldn’t really discern the structure on a first hearing, but was struck by 3 appearances of a high unison f trill G in the woodwind, held over several bars, which I assume serve as some kind of signal or signpost - oh, & of course the fateful bass-drum thwacks commented on by Petrushka.

Not really disturbed by noises from the capacity audience, & gratified that popcorn has been banished from the entrance foyers ( at least from Door 9 ).
Mirabile dictu, in an age of internationalised homogeneity, that the Czech Phil has preserved its essential character.

[mathias broucek]

Mirabile dictu, in an age of internationalised homogeneity, that the Czech Phil has preserved its essential character.

Agreed. Also, was the tuning different (sharp?)? My ear is nothing special but I registered surprise when the oboe played the a....

[Pulcinella]

Agreed. Also, was the tuning different (sharp?)? My ear is nothing special but I registered surprise when the oboe played the a....

See comment (probably in tonight's concert thread) wondering about use of the RAH organ in the Glagolitic Mass.

[Serial_Apologist]

I definitely agree about the correlation between coughing and boredom. It seems like an unconscious physical reflex that people have when a performance isn't holding their attention, and I've noticed it too many times to count these days.

It's unfortunate if coughing has come back to mar concerts in this way - I had not been alone in generally noting a reduction of this with the marked decline in smoking among the general population.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Agreed. Also, was the tuning different (sharp?)? My ear is nothing special but I registered surprise when the oboe played the a....

Intrigued I checked. Difficult to hear under Tom S ‘s intro but within a few beats it’s pretty well the A on my relatively recently tuned Yamaha so it’s around standard 440.

[mathias broucek]

Intrigued I checked. Difficult to hear under Tom S ‘s intro but within a few beats it’s pretty well the A on my relatively recently tuned Yamaha so it’s around standard 440.

Thanks for checking. Blame my ears!

[pastoralguy]

The Dvorak ‘cello concerto is one of my absolute favourite pieces. However, I’ve heard some disappointing performances in the last couple of years which have made hearing it live a gamble.

I heard it in Glasgow at the City Halls with the BBC Scottish under Andrew Manze. Alas, it turned into a flute and clarinet concerto with ‘cello obligato. The wind players should have known better but Manze appeared oblivious.

And then one of the most disappointing concerts ever! Alicia Weilerstein with a second rate Asian orchestra and a fourth rate Asian conductor who really ought not to have been playing at the Edinburgh Festival. The orchestra was way too loud and the conductor didn’t follow the soloist at all which meant the wonderful Ms. Weilerstein was trapped in a straight jacket.

And then recently with the RSNO and a young conductor called Tabitha Berglund, ( no relation to Paavo!), who as a ‘cellist herself should have known not to use the orchestra’s full string section. The ‘cellist, Torleif Tedun, was working incredibly hard but, alas, couldn’t be heard!

We’ve got tickets to hear Steven Isserlis with the SCO next month so, hopefully, he won’t be drowned out. My all time favourite performance is Isserlis on the Berliner Philharmoniker’s site which is absolutely fantastic. Alas, his Hyperion recording under the dreadfully overrated Danial Harding is spoiled by uninspired and wooden conducting.