Prom 16: Wednesday 27th July at 7.00 p.m. (Dusapin, Fauré, Berlioz, Stravinsky)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Presented by Martin Handley

French connections abound in the first of two proms given by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under Principal Conductor Thierry Fischer.

Berlioz's dramatic Corsaire overture and Fauré's elegant Pavane preface the UK premiere of a new quartet concerto by Pascal Dusapin. Stravinsky's blazing Firebird, premiered in Paris for Diaghilev's Ballet Russes, completes the programme.

Dusapin (b.1955) is one of the leading composers in France today. His new quartet, written for the Arditti Quartet, uses orchestral forces to expand the territory of the soloists. Dusapin explores the relationship between the orchestra and soloists, with musical ideas migrating from the quartet to the orchestral forces behind.

Berlioz: Overture 'Le corsaire'

Fauré: Pavane

Dusapin: String Quartet no.6, 'Hinterland'
('Hapax' for string quartet and orchestra)

Stravinsky: The Firebird (complete ballet)

Arditti Quartet
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Thierry Fischer (conductor

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Can anyone shed further light on the Dusapin: String Quartet no.6, 'Hinterland'?

[Roehre]

Can anyone shed further light on the Dusapin: String Quartet no.6, 'Hinterland'?

for me at this moment it's rather confusing: a string quartet combined with an orchestra, still called a quartet
And what does Hapax mean? Or is this the orchestral work, and is the quartet to be performed later tonight in the Dusapin chamber music programme??

Very confusing I'm afraid

[salymap]

The Radio Times says the Dusapin is a 'new' quartet concerto. As far as I'm concerned it's the only such piece I've come across.

I suppose as Bach wrote for 4 keyboards and orchestra Dusapin somehow keeps the four string players separate from the orchestral texture. Not quite so easy with strings though.We shall soon know.

[mercia]

could Elgar's Introduction & Allegro be called a string quartet concerto?
feel free to ignore that question
I've found a better example - Schoenberg's Concerto for String Quartet

[Chris Newman]

Certainly along with RVW's Thomas Tallis Fantasia it makes moves in that direction. Can't say that Hinterland sounds very original....lots of things very like this were premiered in the late sixties and seventies at the Proms and have crawled away since.

Mr Arditti sounds like a friend of Ariosto "I'm known for not liking conductors..."

[Nick Armstrong]

Don't like to be negative, but I gave M. Dusapin's piece a listen and I thought it was pretty dull to the point of being annoying and worthy of comment.

(Incidentally, is his name so difficult to pronounce? Martin Handley's "Dooze-pan" made me smile - unlike M. Doozepan's composition )

[Chris Newman]

Fine Firebird. Though the many quiet moments were exquisite on the radio my lodger, who heard it with me, dared to say something I have thought since this Prom season began but felt it ungallant to say aloud: "Every time it goes quiet that bloody woman coughs loudly!" But he is right there is a woman there every night...both times I have been there she is somewhere on the right about 10 rows back in the arena. Pass her a cough sweet someone or drop a hint she is spoiling it for everyone.

[Petrushka]

Fine Firebird. Though the many quiet moments were exquisite on the radio my lodger, who heard it with me, dared to say something I have thought since this Prom season began but felt it ungallant to say aloud: "Every time it goes quiet that bloody woman coughs loudly!" But he is right there is a woman there every night...both times I have been there she is somewhere on the right about 10 rows back in the arena. Pass her a cough sweet someone or drop a hint she is spoiling it for everyone.

Yes, I have noticed this on the radio as well and thought the same as your lodger! I will no doubt be hounded off the board for siggesting that most coughers are female and my theory is that they are unwillingly dragged there by partners/husbands.

Tin hat firmly on and diving for cover!

[jayne lee wilson]

Petrushka, I'm not going to hound you off the board. But...

I could say that the trouble with male "coughers" and throat-clearers is that - they're louder.
But of course, if Petrenko is conducting the RLPO here in Liverpool, no-one coughs! (OK, almost no-one; a male student did last season, just below me - and then took a swig from a bottle of mineral water... big sigh.)

Anyway. Very fine Firebird, original unadulterated orchestration too. Stunning dynamics!

[Roehre]

Can't say that Hinterland sounds very original....lots of things very like this were premiered in the late sixties and seventies at the Proms and have crawled away since.

The piece doesn't sound very original. But it isn't a bad piece, though I think that rhythmic, rather minimalistic little pattern with which it starts, outstays its welcome after some 5 minutes or so, lasting nearly 9 before it subsides in that cello cantilene: thoughts came up of thinking of the piece as a kind of Xenakis on a bad day. But IMO it's a better balanced piece than last week's.

Am I the only one who thinks that Berlioz' Corsaire lacked fire?

[Bryn]

And what does Hapax mean?

It's all Greek to me. It means "once". The composer joked that it might indicate that he would never write another work for string quartet augmented by orchestra.

[jayne lee wilson]

Petrushka, you've gone very quiet... did the little woman in the kitchen confiscate your computer?

[jayne lee wilson]

i must say, with Bryn and Roehre, I made little of Hinterland. It seemed to me a rather slight piece. Some years ago I bought a Naive issue with three of his larger-scale orchestral/ electronic works on it which were much more challenging and, yes, impressive. If there were 36 hours in a day, I'd listen to it now and report back! I got more out of the Long Island piece, though I had to be patient in the slower middle section; but it did seem to "work" as a musical narrative.

[Bryn]

Sorry jlw, my "all Greek to me" was but a reference to the word "hapax" (it's also used as the name for a detailed biblical concordance, I understand). However, in the Proms Plus Intro, Dusapin indicated that it was simply as "once" that he was using it. The work did hold my interest, but partly on a "spot the source/influence" basis, I have to admit. I intend to listen again to find if I make more of it.