Saturday Matinee Prom 1: 13th August at 3.00 p.m. (Bennett, Dutilleux, Machonchy)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, one of Britain's most respected and versatile musicians, celebrates his 75th birthday this year and the first of this season's contemporary music matinees pays tribute to his distinctive creative voice and to two of his favourite composers

Sir Richard Rodney Bennett: Dream Dancing
Henri Dutilleux: Les citations
Maconchy: Romanza
Sir Richard Rodney Bennett: Jazz Calendar

Paul Silverthorne (viola)
London Sinfonietta
Nicholas Collon (conductor).

[doversoul1]

Saturday Matinees 13 August

I keep hearing Christopher Cook mentioning Hildegard of Bingen but the programme says

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0137yz3

Sir Richard Rodney Bennett: Dream Dancing
Henri Dutilleux: Les citations
Maconchy: Romanza
Sir Richard Rodney Bennett: Jazz Calendar
Paul Silverthorne (viola)
London Sinfonietta
Nicholas Collon (conductor).

Not even Judith Bingham in sight. And the music played sounds definitely a choir work…???

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I've merged these two threads.

[doversoul1]

Thanks!!
Didn’t go down far enough on the list.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Don't worry. It happens a lot, and it's usually because it has been pushed on to another "page".

But don't the Saturday Matinees look interesting?

[Serial_Apologist]

As long as Mr Rodney Bennett is not doing his singing act I shall be listening. He really does seem a very small figure in the overall narrative these days, doesn't he?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Not so small. I know there are the 2 featured in next Saturday's matinee who like to think they're top dogs, but RRB is right up there with them imo.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Well, the first Saturday Matinee Prom is almost upon us. Well worth a listen, I think.

[Simon]

I'm afraid I gave up after the first two pieces. Irritating noise completely lacking in melody or musicality IMO. I think I'll go back to a mind-cleansing CD of true musical worth - Mendelssohn, perhaps.

[Roehre]

Well, the first Saturday Matinee Prom is almost upon us. Well worth a listen, I think.

It certainly was, and an inventive programmed one as well.

I loved the swinging RRB Jazz Calendar at the very end of the programme, but the Debussy-influenced openings piece Dream Dancing was IMO great too [though presenters should prepeare themselves better before uttering comparisons with works Debussy planned: had Debussy completed the six sonatas he intended, he would have used total other instrumental combinations i.e. oboe/horn/harpsichord for Sonata 4, clarinet/bassoon/trumpet/piano for 5 and piano + unspecified ensemble for 6].

The Dutilleux piece came near to the instrumental colouring of the not-composed Debussy-sonatas as well. why was this a Proms premiere, more than 25 years after its completion?

And that Maconchy loved the viola was immediately clear with this 1979 Romanza, and I only can concur with the observation that that instrument most of the time gets an important part in her quartet output. RVW around every corner I'd say, but coloured with a very personal touch.
Why are listeners and programme makers so afraid of this lovely music?

A very enjoyable matinee, and IMO one of the better Proms sofar in terms of programming as well as performance.

[bluestateprommer]

I'm afraid I gave up after the first two pieces. Irritating noise completely lacking in melody or musicality IMO. I think I'll go back to a mind-cleansing CD of true musical worth - Mendelssohn, perhaps.

Too bad for you, because you missed the two more "user friendly" works in the program, the Maconchy and second RRB work. You still have time for them if you are willing to give them a shot.

This was a terrific concert, all 4 works (which I expressed also on the BBC's comment page on this Prom). I definitely got a sense of the continuation of spirit, if not necessarily vocabulary, in RRB's Dream Dancing of the late Debussy chamber sonatas, even though obviously RRB used much more dissonant spice than Debussy would have done. Same with Dutilleux in Les citations, where the quirky harmonics reminded me of other Dutilleux works, though obviously on a much more intimate scale than something like Tout un monde lointain.

I certainly was not familiar with EM's Romanza, and would hope that more of her music makes it to Proms programs. I forgot to comment on the BBC's thread that they should pair EM's music with her daughter Nicola LeFanu's at a Cadogan Hall chamber-scale Prom, perhaps. RRB's Jazz Calendar is just straight-up, unpretentious fun. I guess that RRB wrote out the whole score and the players didn't improvise, which is an interesting paradox with jazz, where the best of it seems to flow spontaneously and appears to be improvised, even in fully written out numbers. It was also a treat that RRB got some radio time to speak at the concert in the mini-interview.

Why are listeners and programme makers so afraid of this lovely music?

A very enjoyable matinee, and IMO one of the better Proms so far in terms of programming as well as performance.

Well, the answer is pretty obvious, if hard to express, as it begs the "chicken and egg" question. Obviously every composer has to start from the bottom and try to achieve name recognition in her/his lifetime with live performances, and has to keep at it the whole of their careers, through either advocating their own music if they can perform their own works, or find sympathetic musicians who will champion them. It also requires an informed and interested public who is willing to explore unfamilar composers beyond the obvious. I'm one of the few in the latter, but there aren't enough of me.

Agreed that this was a splendid concert in terms of both performances and the program; very much looking forward to checking out the other Saturday Matinees.