Prom 1 - Friday 15th July 2011 at 7.30 p.m.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

BBC PROMS 2011

Live from the Royal Albert Hall, London

Presented by Petroc Trelawny

New British music, Brahms and Liszt and lavish choral works are some of the musical threads which trace their way through the 2011 Proms season and they are all represented in this opening celebration. The performers are the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and a starry line-up of soloists under the baton of Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra Jiri Belohlavek.

A new work by leading British composer Judith Weir provides the opening flourish - a short choral and orchestral fanfare based on the four words of the title: Stars, Night, Music and Light. Brahms and Liszt not only form a witty partnership in rhyming slang they are both in their own ways at the core of European music in the 19th Century and many of their major works appear throughout the season. Tonight's concert includes Brahms's festive overture and Liszt's virtuosic concerto performed by young British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor who makes his Proms debut. After the interval Belohlavek leads orchestra, chorus and soloists in Janacek's extraordinary celebration of Slavic culture.

Judith Weir: Stars, Night, Music and Light (BBC commission; world premiere)
Brahms: Academic Festival Overture
Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major
Janacek: Glagolitic Mass

Benjamin Grosvenor (piano)
Hibla Gerzmava (soprano)
Dagmar Peckova (mezzo-soprano)
Stefan Vinke (tenor)
Jan Martiník (bass)
David Goode (organ)
BBC Singers
BBC Symphony Chorus
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Jiri Belohlavek (conductor)

[Ferretfancy]

Jonathan Grosvenor's new recording of Ravel's Gaspard de la Nuit was on R3 this morning, and was impressive. He certainly has the technique for this famously difficult piece, although as a whole I found it a little underpowered. I shall look forward to his Proms appearance in the Liszt No. 2.

[mercia]

Jonathan Grosvenor's

any relation?

[EnemyoftheStoat]

Jonathan is Benjamin's brother. There was a rather charming interview with them in the 3rd July Sunday Times.

[Ravensbourne]

According to Katie Derham in next week's Radio Times, "There'll be over a thousand musicians on stage ..." for the First Night.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

According to Katie Derham in next week's Radio Times, "There'll be over a thousand musicians on stage ..." for the First Night.

Oh dear. She must be confusing it with the Gothic Prom.

[makropulos]

For me the most interesting thing about this concert is the version of the Glagolitic Mass that's being used - not the 1928 published version, and not the Wingfield edition of a putative earlier version that Charles Mackerras conducted a good deal, but this (from the programme notes):

"Tonight’s performance of the ‘Glagolitic Mass’ is from a new edition prepared by Jiří Zahrádka and Leoš Faltus, reverting to the September 1927 version of Janáček’s score. The composer made numerous amendments to this score prior to the first performance in December 1927: these included some simplification of rhythms, removal of the ‘offstage’ marking for a passage for three clarinets in the Věruju (Credo) and cuts to the Věruju and Svet (Sanctus) movements."

Jiří Zahrádka's new Bärenreiter edition will in fact include this earlier version and the standard published one (which was sanctioned by Janáček). But it's going to be very interesting to hear his version of Janáček's earlier thoughts - first performed (according to Bärenreiter's website) in Vienna this April - which are bound to be rather different from Wingfield's.

[Petrushka]

Views anyone?

[Barbirollians]

A rather underwhelming Prom I thought . Grosvenor was technically excellent but I must admit i did not find it a particularly thrilling Liszt 2 . The programme struck me as a bit odd and I can do without the Glag Mass - I have a feeling it opened the Proms a few years ago too.

[johnb]

A rather underwhelming Prom I thought . Grosvenor was technically excellent but I must admit i did not find it a particularly thrilling Liszt 2 . The programme struck me as a bit odd and I can do without the Glag Mass - I have a feeling it opened the Proms a few years ago too.

I agree about the Liszt but how dare you say that about the Janacek () - it's a truly glorious work!

[Chris Newman]

I was out but just caught the Janacek when I got home. I thought it was very exciting: unaware of # 7 I wondered where some bits disappeared. John Chimes (principal timpanist deserves a medal for his input as does David Goode on the organ: so refreshing to hear the Varhany (organ Postlude) not being rushed. Hibla Gerzmava, the soprano, Dagmar Peckova, contralto and Jan Martinik were glorious even if the latter two have little to do. I always feel sorry for the tenor who has to burst every gasket over and over again when the alto only gets about 4 bars to sing. Stefan Vinke rose to the occasion. It is a role where you'll never get a beautiful voice (think how many recordings John Mitchinson must have made!!). Vinke reminds me (looks and voice) of a very very loud version of Gerald English (remember him. Retired in Australia now). Gerzmava was a gorgeous sound. I would love to hear her as Jenufa or Rusalka. The chorus I thought were excellent. The sound the orchestra made bodes well for this season of Proms. I can forgive the skid (not really a car crash) in the excitement of the final orchestral Intrada.

Just read Barbirollian's gloomy view of the Glagolitic. Hmmmm!! It is one of my favourite choral works. It is far better than many of those gloomy requiem masses. It makes me want to get up and be religious, a very rare event!!!!

[makropulos]

Largely agree with you about this, Chris. And it's been one of my favourite choral works since I was 13.
The version used was fascinating - above all for the reason you mention, which was the missing bits - some really surprising ones, I must say. Fascinating, especially as Belohlavek was a bit more animated than he had been in the first half, so the performance as a whole was quite muscular. Agree very much about timps, organ, and the choir. The soprano was worryingly under the note a few times, but clearly has a lovely voice. The contralto has just eight bars to sing, so not a lot to go on, but Peckova did fine. The tenor was robustly slavonic and I thought he was just right, and I loved what the bass had to do (even if it he was missing a couple of phrases in the Benedictus that later made it into the work when Janacek revised it).

First half - well, I thought Benjamin Grosvenor was nimble, sensitive, agile, sensitive - really lovely playing. The Brahms was a typical Belohlavek effort (head buried in the score for much of it, to no very illuminating effect), though the orchestra played well enough and it was fun - if not exactly correct - to have the choir joining in at the end. The new piece by Judith Weir was extremely short (3 minutes or so) and was billed as a choral fanfare. I must say I thought it was rather good and a nice little curtain-raiser.

So, not an epic Prom perhaps, but the interest for me was all in the Janacek, and that was well done, and really intriguing. It'll be interesting to see the new edition when it's published in the autumn (and I'm delighted to see that it will include both this early version and Janacek's own revision).

[Bryn]

For me the most interesting thing about this concert is the version of the Glagolitic Mass that's being used - not the 1928 published version, and not the Wingfield edition of a putative earlier version that Charles Mackerras conducted a good deal, but this (from the programme notes):

"Tonight’s performance of the ‘Glagolitic Mass’ is from a new edition prepared by Jiří Zahrádka and Leoš Faltus, reverting to the September 1927 version of Janáček’s score. The composer made numerous amendments to this score prior to the first performance in December 1927: these included some simplification of rhythms, removal of the ‘offstage’ marking for a passage for three clarinets in the Věruju (Credo) and cuts to the Věruju and Svet (Sanctus) movements."

Jiří Zahrádka's new Bärenreiter edition will in fact include this earlier version and the standard published one (which was sanctioned by Janáček). But it's going to be very interesting to hear his version of Janáček's earlier thoughts - first performed (according to Bärenreiter's website) in Vienna this April - which are bound to be rather different from Wingfield's.

Thanks for that, makropulos. I wondered where the opening intrada went. Thank goodness I managed to record the TV version (only in standard vision, not HD). The incompetent engineering of the so-called HD Sound stream quite ruined it. I failed to grab the DAB mp2, but will certainly schedule it for the afternoon repeat to check if that is also heavily limited/clipped.

[Barbirollians]

Sorry - just a musical blind spot for me . It is not that i don't like Janacek - Katya and Jenufa are two of my favourite operas.

[makropulos]

Bryn - I'm glad I recorded the regular TV version too - the sound was quite decent on that, I thought.
The opening/closing Intrada was a surprising omission since the evidence of the programme sheet for the premiere gives a movement list with it at both the start and finish (which is what Paul Wingfield's edition does - the version Mackerras usually conducted once it existed). However, Jiri Zahradka is a *very* serious Janacek scholar - his new editions of Vixen and Broucek are absolutely superb - so he must have his reasons. The other differences are really intriguing, and I certainly want to see the critical commentary on the new edition once it appears.