Prom 13: Sunday 24th July: Verdi Requiem

[Chris Newman]

I agree with you 100 per cent, John. I would prefer to hear live concerts every time with their elements of risk and the expectation of something fresh which happily I got in spades with this performance. Mind you, if this performance came out on CD I think I would be sorely tempted in my piggy bank . I do not think contracting would allow that, sadly.

[Mahlerei]

Bychkov has recorded the Verdi Requiem for Profil. Urmana, Vargas, Furlanetto and Borodina the soloists.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Verdi-Requiem-Giuseppe/dp/B001B223T2/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1311697279&sr=1-1

[bluestateprommer]

According to a Czech news report of Dec 2010 which I am unable to link to here for some reason:

"A year ago he [JB] received an offer to extend his contract but he did not accept it, saying his work with the orchestra was sufficiently long and it fulfilled both parties' expectations. However, he will be returning to the BBC Orchestra as a guest conductor.
Belohlavek will end in his current position in London with the last concert of the BBC Proms festival on September 8, 2012."

This is the link to the article, from the Prague Monitor (not easy to pull down from the paper's own site, FWIW), that EotS was referring to:

http://praguemonitor.com/2010/12/23/b%C4%9Blohl%C3%A1vek-become-czech-philharmonics-chief-conductor-2012

Interesting that no one else has noted this in any of the UK papers that might be inclined to care, such as Geoffrey Norris in the Telegraph (JB's main groupie among the UK critics). The only one who tried to trumpet this article at the time was, as if you needed to guess, Norman Lebrecht on his blog (it didn't catch on, needless to say, given NL's well known sensationalism and sloppiness).

Getting back to Bychkov, while I'll admit that NL is a pretty good interviewer, his penchant for stirring the pot showed at one point in that interview with Bychkov (accessible as a podcast from this page: http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/lebrecht), where NL tried to bait Bychkov into saying something nasty about Karajan. Bychkov didn't take the bait. However, in what one could call another bit of baiting, towards the end of the interview, we get to the point that EotS and IGI address, about Bychkov maybe as a candidate for future chief conductor of the BBC SO. In the interview, at least in a public forum, Bychkov did make clear that he really wasn't interested in any permanent position at this time (the BBC SO or anywhere else), with this quote (you can fast forward to about 42:00 in the podcast, but since I'm silly, I'm going to transcribe that post so you don't have to skip ahead ):

NL: "You're nearing 60. You've given up all your jobs. Would you be available for another job if it was offered?"

SB: "You know, it's a very hypothetical discussion."

NL: "It isn't. There are 2 huge vacancies in the States, Boston and possibly the Met."

SB: "No, no, it doesn't work like that. Life does not work like that. There is no game plan; there is no situation in which I will say 'Yes, I'm available; No, I'm not available', you know. It is not something where you come in and send your curriculum vitae, and you say 'I would like to be considered'. It just doesn't work like that. How it works, I can tell you.

At this stage in my life, for the first time after 40 years, of having been committed to, an institution and, at some point, two institutions, for the first time, I am only responsible to myself and for myself, for my work. It's an extraordinary feeling, absolutely extraordinary. And I see it in the way in which I am received everywhere I go, because I don't control. I am not perceived of controlling or dominating anybody's life. I bring them the music which is dear to me, I give them the very best of myself, and I get back every bit as much as I give, and plenty of affection and plenty of welcome, absolutely everywhere I go, I receive everywhere exactly the same welcome.

And why? And I think I know the answer. I have no luggage."

NL: "You're not a threat."

SB: "I'm not a threat. I only bring, share with them, music. What is important for me, about the pieces I conduct, I share it with them. And they are happy to give back so much. And I get so much, plenty. So the rest of it, minor details."

I'll be honest that I would have thought Bychkov also to be a logical candidate for BBC SO chief conductor after JB (assuming that JB is really going to step down in 2012), for reasons that others have articulated here about his relationship with the orchestra. There's another practical reason why, in principle, appointing Bychkov would make sense, because Bychkov has a teaching position at the RAM in London, so it would be logistically convenient for all parties involved. However, after hearing Bychkov's statement from that interview, I guess that he wants to enjoy being "free as a bird" in terms of where he wants to conduct, when he wants to, with the invitations that he receives (which I'm guessing are plentiful enough). One possible compromise might be to offer Bychkov the post of BBC SO principal guest conductor for a few seasons, if he really doesn't want the chief conductorship there (or anywhere), since David Robertson is vacating that BBC SO post after this season.

Of course, after the Muti debacle at La Scala a few years ago, Muti said much the same thing about not being tied down ('married', I suppose) to an orchestra or other music institution, and being able to guest-conduct anywhere he wanted. Then Chicago came along a few years later. Who knows then what may happen with Bychkov down the line, then?

BTW, did hear the iPlayer archive of the Verdi Requiem with Bychkov conducting; fine work all around, granted that the Verdi isn't my favorite work. I will say that in past times that I've heard the work, by the last time of the appearance of the "Dies irae" explosion, I sort of go "fine, fine, I get it already!", but not on this occasion, for what that's worth.

[Prommer]

I am really sorry, but Bychkov could get much better than the BBCSO... He has great relationships now with many orchestras.... The ROH orchestra were ovating each time he came back to the pit when he conducted Lohengrin there!

[makropulos]

For anyone who missed it, this performance of the Verdi Requiem is on BBC Four at the moment (nice camera shot of the cimbasso a few minutes ago).
Anyhow, an admirable rival attraction to the Glyndebourne Turn of the Screw...

[Prommer]

Hard to pinpoint what Bychkov has, but it is marvellous. An integrity, a preparedness and a communicative spirit that to me recalls C.Kleiber. He also has real affinity with both Wagner and Verdi, so the next job ought to be Covent Garden I would think, rather than the BBCSO!

[Nick Armstrong]

Absolutely intolerable mezzo!!

Exemplifying why by and large I steer away from opera houses, sadly You can pay 100s of £££ and be trapped in the building with that horrible noise

PS Back with enormous gratitude to the Britten relay via The Guardian - exemplifying why I do go to certain opera performances!!

[BBMmk2]

Quite agree Caliban! Rather like the soprano! the tenor! Oh! He soooo effortless in his singing!

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Absolutely intolerable mezzo!!

She improved as the performance went on - the Agnus Dei just now was lovely. A pity, though, that Sonia Ganassi had to cancel...

Rather like the soprano!

Agreed. Lovely singer and a lovely person too.

[Nick Armstrong]

Give me Miah Persson in Turn of the Screw any day or night of the week!!

[Prommer]

And FF is a star... Not sure if he was not well, just employing Method skills throughout...or very devout given some of the gestures.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

And FF is a star... Not sure if he was not well, just employing Method skills throughout...or very devout given some of the gestures.

Very much the latter, so I'm told...

[makropulos]

Well I found that incredibly moving. Aside from a few reservations about the mezzo and the tenor soloists, there was an extraordinary concentration about the whole performance - I very much agree with Prommer's comments about Bychkov (who just gets better and better) and the fabulous Furlanetto. Poplavskaya was tremendously involving too.

[Alf-Prufrock]

In some of his early scores Verdi certainly wrote his lower brass part for a cimbasso, though I do not know if he did so in the Requiem. However, I have been a long-time advocate of the cimbasso. It has such a distinctive sound in the bass - well, a trombone-like sound at least. Tubby the tuba it ain't. Just listen to the clarity it gave the brass this evening. Impact, crispness, punch.

I suppose it should only be employed in Italian works of the nineteenth century (do others know of its use outside Italy?) But I would welcome it in large areas of repertoire.

[David Underdown]

However, I have been a long-time advocate of the cimbasso. It has such a distinctive sound in the bass - well, a trombone-like sound at least. Tubby the tuba it ain't. Just listen to the clarity it gave the brass this evening. Impact, crispness, punch.

It's basically a valved contrabass trombone, so it's not really surprising that's what it sounds like! I have, I think, seen it argued that Verdi would actually have expected valve trombones in general, would certainly make some of the Dies Irae passages easier to play