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

[BBMmk2]

I thoughtnthe Weir was a cheap version of the VW Serenade to Music. The Glag Mass wasnt one of the best I have heard. There were some pretty scrappy playing from the orchestra. The chorus was fine but the best bits was the organis(David Goode) and the orchestral moivement at the end which completely outplayed the previous movements of the Mass.

BG was excellant! Be good to follow this artist. One to watch, despite being nervy at the start but as soon as he was involved with the music, he just got on with what he had to do and more!!!

[bluestateprommer]

Quick impressions, from my spot in the Gallery:

1. Weir: pleasant opener, not super-memorable, but does make a nice curtain-raiser for a concert.
2. Brahms: nice mellow orchestral sound, very straight-no chaser interpretation, cute touch to add the chorus for 'Gaudeamus igitur', the only time I've ever heard the AFS done that way (and probably ever will)
3. Liszt: young BG did very well, almost an anti-Lang Lang in his piano manner, focused on the music and not drawing attention to himself. Cracking performance of the encore also.
4. Janacek: the distance in the Gallery did perhaps blunt the edges of Janacek's writing, and as so often when I listen to Janacek, I get the feeling with the orchestral style that 'yup, I've heard this style before'. But all did well, IMHO, with quite the nice organ blast in the 7th movement. (Does anyone have comparison's of JB's rendition with Boulez's a few years back?)

Fine opener overall, nice to see a good sized crowd in the seats and the Arena reasonably well packed.

[french frank]

David Goode the organist again tonight in the Gothic.

[pilamenon]

Having just listened now to the entire concert, I would agree with Alison that it was a better programme than it might have at first looked.

Like BBM's comment about the opener being a "cheap" version of the Serenade to Music, but I suppose it served its purpose.
Straight into the Brahms overture worked well and it was wonderfully played - my personal highlight of the evening. The choral ending seemed superfluous.

I don't particularly like the Liszt, but it does make a very suitable first night virtuosic showpiece.

as so often when I listen to Janacek, I get the feeling with the orchestral style that 'yup, I've heard this style before'.

Agree with that, especially the brass interjections a la Sinfonietta. It's a stormer of a piece, though not one I'd want to hear too often.

The interval talk on the Mass was very good, and Radio 3 presentation was generally excellent.

[StephenO]

A great start to the season. An enjoyable opener from Judith Weir, a fine account of a fine concerto (oh, yes, it is!) from Benjamin Grosvenor and a memorable Glagolitic Mass, made all the better by the excellent interval talk.

I must admit I groaned inwardly at the prospect of yet another broadcast the Academic Festival Overture as it's been done to death on R3 over the last couple of years but this really was a splendid performance. I loved the choral version - the highlight of the evening IMO.

[Roslynmuse]

Finally catching up. Judith Weir's 'fanfare' struck me as a real oddity. The orchestral opening and some of the Messiaen-like trumpetings were quite effective, but they promised something that wasn't delivered by the choral writing. Not just RVW, but Constant Lambert's Rio Grande came to mind, but the harmony less adroitly handled than by either. What really bothered me was that George Herbert's text:

The stars have us to bed;
Night draws the curtain, which the sun withdraws;
Music and light attend our head

seemed so conventionally set, almost vulgar in comparison with what Herbert was trying to say. Here's a link to the complete poem:

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173633

I was reminded more of the 'music and light' of a Royal Variety performance than the metaphysical poets.

But perhaps that was the intention -

[Tevot]

Re the Weir. It seemed curiously conventional with indeed echoes of RVW and to my admittedly untrained ears John Foulds and John Adams...Nonetheless, I thought it was an excellent and accessible curtain raiser to a most enjoyable opening concert. Perhaps it worked because of its conservative idiom?

Hello there Bryn. Re # 20 and the concert "sounding good" I thought the performances under Jiri B worked well (NB I am not a musician in any capacity - just a humble listener;-) and to my untrained and unprofessional ears* it sounded okay from where I was listening (i.e. in China perched over a laptop connected to an x-mini capsule speaker - we can't get HD on the listen again facility here...) I'm sorry if the sound quality struck you as being poor Bryn - though I hope it didn't spoil your enjoyment too much (crikey I sound like a BBC manager here;-) - though I'm sure that much better audio systems than mine will highlight deficiencies in the recording / relay especially to those who know their onions...and yes the Beeb should indeed sort that out.

Anyway - happy listening everyone

* Fancy... having amateur ears. What is the world coming to ;-) !?

Best wishes,

Tevot

[Tristan Klingsor]

So glad you enjoyed it - I love this work.

As for downloads, there are several that are well worth trying. For something quite close to the version of the music we heard last night, Mackerras on Chandos is a terrific performance of Paul Wingfield's edition of the early version:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Janacek-Glagolitic-Kodaly-Psalmus-Hungaricus/dp/B001MV1B54/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1310818054&sr=1-6

For the piece as Janacek had it published, with some quite extensive revisions, the Mackerras Supraphon recording is also pretty terrific:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Janacek-Glagolitic-Mass/dp/B003EWPUUG/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1310818054&sr=1-7

There are others that are good (including Kubelik and Kempe) but the two I've linked are among my favourite performances of the work, in whatever version.

I'd like to add the Supraphon recording with Karel Ancerl and the Czech Philharmonic to the above list. I think it was a Building A Library recommendation some time ago. Whether or not it was, it has a scintillating performance of Taras Bulba with the same forces as a filler (and that definitely was a Building A Library top recommendation).

[Tevot]

Fiona Maddocks in The Observer has one or two interesting things to say about the First Night and indeed an overview of Proms 1 to 8:

Here's the link:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/jul/24/bbc-proms-capucon-grosvenor-review

Best Wishes,

Tevot

[makropulos]

@ Tristan Klingsor - I'm very glad you've mentioned Ancerl - it's an absolutely superb performance, but I didn't see a download version of it when I looked. Glad it's available that way as well as on CD.

[Elion]

When you write "sounded good", do you mean the performances sounded well done, or that the audio presented those performances well. If the latter, I can but disagree. The dynamics was horribly squashed. The heavy-handed application of dynamic limiting robbed the transients of their impact. I have made and attempt to contact Rupert Brun regarding the live HD Sound version, but the lower data rate on demand iPlayer version has the same dynamic characteristics.

Did anyone here record the Radio 3 DAB, Freeview or Satellite mp2? If so, please PM me as I would like to investigate whether the problem also hit those modes of transmission.

Here's a download url from another group for Grosvenor's Liszt 2 (tracks 1 to 6) and encore (7) in 'proper' sound. (Wav, and not from mp2 or the iPlayer):

https://rcpt.yousendit.com/1191296737/acce8bf59bbd67550499b6e71b13a643

Seems some of you Brits don't fully realise what sort of talent you're on to with Grosvenor, whose Liszt 2 has been causing amazed and enraptured responses amongst musicians, music business pros and other pianists outside the UK. So many new ideas, such a remarkable sense of cohesion in this notoriously disparate work, such beauty, such mastery of touch, of timing of cadences, of colouring on multiple levels...

Elion

[Bryn]

Sorry Elion, your 'proper' sound is just as dynamically compressed as that johnb and I are criticising. What, by the way, did you mean by 'proper' sound? What is supposed to be improper about 320kbps aac-lc compared with what you have posted a link to? If, as I suspect, you mean it was recorded from FM, then it will not be as close to the original as the 320kbps aac-lc offering, with all its dynamic problems, is.

[Bryn]

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.

So makropulos, is the score out yet, and if so have you had a chance to go through it yet? I do hope you can post your views on the various editions here.