Prom 26: Wednesday 3rd August at 7.30 p.m. (French music)

[Tristan Klingsor]

It's different in the sense that Farben freezes a moment rather than pursues a developmental narrative (I should have been a little more precise). I guess Neptune might fall into a similar category. I take your point though.

[bluestateprommer]

abridged Prom 26 on US radio

Since protests against "dumbing down" of classical music radio are legion, one small case of it here, from the American Public Media program SymphonyCast, featured not quite all of Prom 26 with Runnicles and the BBC SSO. While SymphonyCast has presented several Proms concerts from this summer, what they did with Prom 26 was to cut out the Dutilleux Tout un monde lointain, but retain the rest of the concert (Debussy Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, Ravel Bolero and the complete Daphnis et Chloe), and add at the end the Knussen/BBC SO performance of La mer, to make the concert a "Debussy/Ravel" program. Someone at SymphonyCast obviously decided that Dutilleux was "too modern" and "unappealing" for the NPR-crowd here.

Bolero is surely significant as the first piece of music that sustains its argument entirely through the medium of orchestration, timbre and density. The key shift right at the end is a masterstroke of extraordinary genius too.

One reason why it's always key at a performance of Bolero to sit in the balcony, and watch the orchestra "grow" from beginning to end.

[Ventilhorn]

Since protests against "dumbing down" of classical music radio are legion, one small case of it here, from the American Public Media program SymphonyCast, featured not quite all of Prom 26 with Runnicles and the BBC SSO. While SymphonyCast has presented several Proms concerts from this summer, what they did with Prom 26 was to cut out the Dutilleux Tout un monde lointain, but retain the rest of the concert (Debussy Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, Ravel Bolero and the complete Daphnis et Chloe), and add at the end the Knussen/BBC SO performance of La mer, to make the concert a "Debussy/Ravel" program. Someone at SymphonyCast obviously decided that Dutilleux was "too modern" and "unappealing" for the NPR-crowd here.

Hi there, bluestateprommer,

If I had recorded that broadcast for future listening, I too would have taken out the Dutilleux, because, much as I admire his work, it does not belong in the context of French romantic composers of the early 2oth century (I might, perhaps, have retained it to put with some Dusapin, Boulez and, possibly, Milhaud)

I don't think that this is as much a case of "dumbing down" as evening out the programme. The BBC seems to think that its mission in life is to introduce new commissions and modern works into nearly every Prom concert. A commercial broadcasting organisation does not feel such a need - they don't want to risk their listeners switching off before the commercial break.

VH

[amateur51]

Surely the only real problem with Bolero is over exposure. Ravel was apparently disconcerted when in shortened form it became a dance band hit. If you can find a copy, have a listen to the Anima Eterna performance on Zig Zag Territories 060901. They play Ravel on the type of early 20th C. instruments that the composer would have known, and the results are fascinating. The CD includes the Left Hand Piano Concerto played on an Erard Grand from 1905, and a genuinely scary La Valse in which for once you can really hear what's going on in the bass at the outset. The other items are the Rapsodie Espagnole and the Pavane.
I'm certainly not a special pleader for so called authenticity in performance, but there are details in these performances that you don't always hear.

Bit late I'm afraid, but many thanks for this, Ferret. I've often wondered what Ravel had in his mind's ear when composing these pieces & now I can find out

If anyone else is interested, there's a link below with an opportunity to sample each work:

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Zigzag/ZZT060901#listen

[MickyD]

To this I would also urge you to hear the new Stravinsky Firebird CD from another period orchestra, Les Siècles under Francois-Xavier Roth - it was previewed on CD Review not long ago. A live performance which I find absolutely thrilling, with the period wind instruments really making a difference to the textures.

[amateur51]

To this I would also urge you to hear the new Stravinsky Firebird CD from another period orchestra, Les Siècles under Francois-Xavier Roth - it was previewed on CD Review not long ago. A live performance which I find absolutely thrilling, with the period wind instruments really making a difference to the textures.

Many thanks, MickyD - according to Amazon it's not released until 24 October but it's on my list

Extra extra: Just found it on Spotify and I'm really enjoying it in spite of Spotify's low volume setting - wonderful sonorities

[MickyD]

Many thanks, MickyD - according to Amazon it's not released until 24 October but it's on my list

Extra extra: Just found it on Spotify and I'm really enjoying it in spite of Spotify's low volume setting - wonderful sonorities

If you can't wait that long, do as I did, amateur, and order it on French Amazon...it's been available on there for a while. You also get a good bonus with "Les Orientales", a collection of other composers' dance works which were collected together originally as a preface to The Firebird. Les Siècles have been releasing some interesting stuff - the Saint Saens organ symphony, Chabrier, Gounod and there is also a disc of the Poulenc Organ Concerto which I am tempted to order. Recordings are first-rate.

[bluestateprommer]

Hi there, bluestateprommer,

If I had recorded that broadcast for future listening, I too would have taken out the Dutilleux, because, much as I admire his work, it does not belong in the context of French romantic composers of the early 2oth century (I might, perhaps, have retained it to put with some Dusapin, Boulez and, possibly, Milhaud)

I don't think that this is as much a case of "dumbing down" as evening out the programme. The BBC seems to think that its mission in life is to introduce new commissions and modern works into nearly every Prom concert. A commercial broadcasting organisation does not feel such a need - they don't want to risk their listeners switching off before the commercial break.

For VH, thanks for the reply. I guess my irk-ness at what SymphonyCast did was biased by the fact that I knew what the original program had been, and that SC should have respected the original program as presented (although Lynn Harrell was present in the broadcast in the form of the weekly "encore contest", after La mer). I actually liked the inclusion of the Dutilleux concerto in the midst of that program, so we obviously agree to disagree there. Knowing US classical radio as I do, it is a case here of "dumbing down" for the US audience.

I should also have been clear about SymphonyCast, in that it is part of the "public radio" US network (National Public Radio and such), which tries to be non-commercial radio except for underwriting announcements on the hour or half hour. Commercial classical radio in the USA is few and far between.

(As a sidebar, the Proms management missed a trick in not programming at least one of the Dutilleux symphonies for this past season, as either 1 or 2 would have been welcome at The Proms in his 95th b-day year. Would have been preferable to have both, of course.)

[HighlandDougie]

"If you can't wait that long, do as I did, amateur, and order it on French Amazon.."

Thanks for the recommendation, MickyD. Duly ordered (and it's not very expensive, at least by comparison with the usual price of CDs here in sunny France).

[MickyD]

You're right, HighlandDougie - prices for this locally based publisher Actes Suds' recordings are quite reasonable. Where are you exactly in French France by the way?

[HighlandDougie]

I'm in the Alpes Maritimes, north of Nice and on the edge of the Mercantour National Park. Very scenic but not so remote that I can't get to the coast for concerts/opera (off to hear Jean-Efflam Bavouzet in Monte Carlo on Sunday, for instance).

The Firebird arrived yesterday and was the 'launch CD' for my new Naimuniti (which also arrived yesterday). What a thrilling performance (and recording). As you said, the sonorities Roth achieves with his orchestra are well worth hearing in their own right but with the bonus of the fine performance and exceptionally full-ranged recording. Great 'fill-up', too. I fell an exploration of their other CDs coming on

[MickyD]

Hi Dougie,

So pleased you share my enthusiasm for that disc. The Saint Saens Organ Symphony CD has similar sonic qualities, it being recorded by the same label. I gather there is also a Symphonie Fantastique, too. Their CD of Chabrier and Gounod is pleasing, but I don't think the recording is as pleasing, it has a much closer acoustic. I will soon get hold of their Poulenc Organ Concerto, as I feel it must be worth a listen. By the way, what a nice part of the country you are in!

[bluestateprommer]

One last comment I forgot in my earlier post about the SymphonyCast "dumbing down" of this Prom for US audiences when they took out the Dutilleux, namely that an orchestra friend had attended this concert in person in London, and when I told her what had happened for the SymphonyCast presentation, her face dropped and she said:

"Why did they do that? That was the best part!"