Prom 30: Saturday 6th August ay 6.30 p.m. (NYO)

[rauschwerk]

Benjamin Grosvenor's encore was The Boogie Woogie Etude by Morton Gould, a favourite encore of Shura Cherkassky.

Just heard this on iPlayer. Incredibly fast, and it's a real tribute to Mr Grosvenor that he makes it sound easy. (I performed this piece once and it nearly killed me, but I was glad to have done it.) I think perhaps he was wise to introduce more light and shade than the composer requires - about three-quarters of the piece is marked fortissimo and the composer requires it to be, "steely and hard throughout".

I really do hate to pick holes in this case, but it seems to me that he shares with Cherkassky a basic misconception of the piece: boogie-woogie surely goes in swingtime, not in straight quavers even though it's printed thus. That's how Michel Legrand played it on his recording.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I really do hate to pick holes in this case, but it seems to me that he shares with Cherkassky a basic misconception of the piece: boogie-woogie surely goes in swingtime, not in straight quavers even though it's printed thus. That's how Michel Legrand played it on his recording.

I believe "straight quavers" is the norm in "boogie", though some players do "swing" them.

[DracoM]

Yes, I laughed over the DJ Switch's stuff with orchestra - dead-pan funny and a youth orchestra would have loved playing straight man to that.

As good a reading of the Britten as I have heard in years too.

[rauschwerk]

I believe "straight quavers" is the norm in "boogie", though some players do "swing" them.

On my Albert Ammons CD (ASV) he plays in swing except in his 1938 trio with Meade Lux Lewis and Pete Johnson.

[EdgeleyRob]

The Britten is my favourite piano concerto and what a performance this was. What was that turntable thingy all about ?

[antongould]

I found the Britten, a piece I didn't really know, wonderful - I listened as I drove the Gould taxi and then again on iplayer. Ferretfancy if you can play the Morton Gould encore my hat stays permanently off to you!

[prokkyshosty]

I thought the Britten and the G. Prokofiev were quite well matched -- lots of brash, youthful music with a healthy dollop of percussion on top of both. Tiebreak goes to Britten of course.

Jurowski made some excellent picks from R&J. We really got most* of the high points of the ballet in just 1 hour of excerpts, so it was quite easy to follow along with the story, while also enjoying the structure of a sort-of four movement symphony. I too noticed the tears from some of the performers at the end, and was moved by it. Right there with you, kids!

*Prokkyshosty, being a Proko-anorak, always misses hearing the two mandolin songs, which are ~always~ left out of any concerts of excerpts.

[BudgieJane]

*Prokkyshosty, being a Proko-anorak, always misses hearing the two mandolin songs, which are ~always~ left out of any concerts of excerpts.

If they can find mandolin players for Mahler, why can't they find them for Prokofiev?

[prokkyshosty]

If they can find mandolin players for Mahler, why can't they find them for Prokofiev?

Precisely!

And if it's a matter of money, well then they should've checked with me, as I would gladly give them some of my US Dollars, which are backed by the full faith and credit of the US Trea--- err, never mind.

[Chris Newman]

If they can find mandolin players for Mahler, why can't they find them for Prokofiev?

If I remember rightly when Simon Rattle did the Mahler 8 with the NYO at the Proms the orchestra had to fly in a lad from Scandinavia to play the mandolin. It is at such moments that one wonders how musical Britain can rely solely upon Hugo D'Alton. Are there no pupils?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

And if it's a matter of money, well then they should've checked with me, as I would gladly give them some of my US Dollars, which are backed by the full faith and credit of the US Trea--- err, never mind.

A bit like Confederate Bonds these days.

[BudgieJane]

If I remember rightly when Simon Rattle did the Mahler 8 with the NYO at the Proms the orchestra had to fly in a lad from Scandinavia to play the mandolin. It is at such moments that one wonders how musical Britain can rely solely upon Hugo D'Alton. Are there no pupils?

Somehow, I think Hugo doesn't qualify to play in the National Youth Orchestra! But, yes, I agree with you, we should be training mandoliers for the future.

[jayne lee wilson]

Yes a brilliant performance of the Britten. I almost played this to death when I got the Britten/Richter disc, so was delighted to find Grosvenor et al waking my delighted responses once more! It isn't recorded very often & seems a shame it isn't done live as often as the Ravel pair, seems just as expressively entertaining.

The Turntable Concerto was also entertaining, I liked some of the deep bass effects... But... I never feel that attempts to bring rock or pop or scratch or urban rhythms into a classical context works very well. The musical material was quite insubstantial, very obviously derivative, and whilst the rhythmic energy was enjoyable it still seemed too much like "rock transposed to the orchestra". I sometimes long for the days when a new piece was so radical (Max Davies Worldes Blis, Birtwistle's Panic) that it got booed out of fear and ignorance.

Trouble with "accessible" modern music is it seems so instantly forgettable - partly because it is so derivative.

[Serial_Apologist]

Yes a brilliant performance of the Britten. I almost played this to death when I got the Britten/Richter disc, so was delighted to find Grosvenor et al waking my delighted responses once more! It isn't recorded very often & seems a shame it isn't done live as often as the Ravel pair, seems just as expressively entertaining.

The Turntable Concerto was also entertaining, I liked some of the deep bass effects... But... I never feel that attempts to bring rock or pop or scratch or urban rhythms into a classical context works very well. The musical material was quite insubstantial, very obviously derivative, and whilst the rhythmic energy was enjoyable it still seemed too much like "rock transposed to the orchestra". I sometimes long for the days when a new piece was so radical (Max Davies Worldes Blis, Birtwistle's Panic) that it got booed out of fear and ignorance.

Trouble with "accessible" modern music is it seems so instantly forgettable - partly because it is so derivative.

Wholeheartedly agree with this entire message.

S-A

[Simon B]

I recall at least one performance of excerpts from R&J which did include the numbers with mandolin. I think this was at the Proms (Bournemouth SO cond. Marin Alsop?) not that many years ago. I could be wrong - it might have been either in Manchester or the Proms with BBCPO cond. Noseda. Or possibly some other combination - vague I know!

On the mandolin parts in Mahler 8, I seem to recall one or more of the rank-and-file violinists playing these parts in at least one pro performance I've been to. I've got a half-memory of reading in the programme that they'd learned the instrument specially for the occasion. This is definitely what happened in one performance of Mahler 8 I played in years ago... Presumably, it's not a huge leap for a violinist (of which I was one a very long time ago before turning to percussion, so I can sort-of see how the finger patterns might be similar or identical). Maybe the Mahler 8 parts are relatively straightforward too, making this a viable option even when professional standard is required.