Prom 73: Friday 9th September at 7.30 p.m. (Weber's Der Freischutz)

[Prommer]

Quick thoughts: superb from Wolf Glen scene to the end.

Loved the choir in the huntsmen's chorus - a delight all evening.

Horns off to start with but quickly got into their stride.

Glorious characterisation by the piccolos in the drinking song

Overture mushy with insufficiently crisp and punchy ensemble and a lack of rhythmic spring

Lovely lieder-like inwardness from the Agathe in her two chansons that commanded attention in the hall. Small voices except from Gidon Saks. Andrew Keenedy miscast in the role of Max and alas overrated on this showing.

Interpolation of Invitation to the Dance great, brilliantly played and the best of the night. Mind you, I love Leonore No.3 in Fidelio so what do I know?!

[amac4165]

Excellent concert - far better than expected. Although billed as concert version - but was in fact a costumed semi-staged version.

a thoroughly enjoyable last night of the proms

[Ferretfancy]

The Berlioz recitatives were very skilfully knitted on to the original, and they seemed at times to presage later works such as Friar Laurence's scene at the end of Romeo and juliet, in fact the whole piece might have passed as being by Berlioz himself. All the same, I would still prefer Weber's original, particularly in the Wolf's Glen scene. It certainly sounded spectacular in the hall, and looked fun too, with the Voldemort-like figure of Samiel creeping above Gaspard's head, but the casting of the bullets and the echoed replies sounded very odd in French. Excellent singing throughout, and the orchestra was wonderfully incisive, a fascinating evening, albeit a long stand!

[vinteuil]

... I heard it at home on the radio, and found it compelling - the Berlioz recits really fitted in. I hope Sir JE will be producing a CD of this version....

[Chris Newman]

... I heard it at home on the radio, and found it compelling - the Berlioz recits really fitted in. I hope Sir JE will be producing a CD of this version....

Indeed, I hope so too.

[aeolium]

The Berlioz recitatives were very skilfully knitted on to the original, and they seemed at times to presage later works such as Friar Laurence's scene at the end of Romeo and juliet, in fact the whole piece might have passed as being by Berlioz himself. All the same, I would still prefer Weber's original, particularly in the Wolf's Glen scene. It certainly sounded spectacular in the hall, and looked fun too, with the Voldemort-like figure of Samiel creeping above Gaspard's head, but the casting of the bullets and the echoed replies sounded very odd in French. Excellent singing throughout, and the orchestra was wonderfully incisive, a fascinating evening, albeit a long stand!

Ff, I agree that Berlioz really put his stamp on the work, though I'm not sure all the recitative sequences were that convincing - especially in the 'funeral wreath' scene with Agathe and Ännchen. I thought there was some thrilling playing by the ORR, but to me it really doesn't work in French. The huntsmen's chorus in Act 3 sounded more like a drinking song for the French aristocracy at a chateau, and the interpolation of the Invitation to the Dance simply rendered the atmosphere more like that of a court than located in the forest. The whole thing was shorn of its German character. IMO Gardner should have listened to Berlioz' own opinion about his work and performed it unaltered. An interesting curiosity, but not one I'd want to hear again.

[jillfc]

There was much to enjoy in this evening, particularly for people who were new to Freischutz. A friend who'd never heard the piece before told me at the interval that she'd found the Wolf's Glen scene really frightening. I have to say I didn't: while they made as much of it as they could in the circumstances (and I liked Samiel, though I thought Gollum where Ff thought Voldemort), it simply didn't have that utterly menacing quality that characterises the best performance. And, frankly, how could it - un, deux, trois, quatre etc: it just ain't the same. Nonetheless, I was glad I went - and I have to agree that the 'invitation to the dance' interpolation worked remarkably well.

[Roslynmuse]

I notice the (prolonged and enthusiastic) applause for Invitation to the Dance came some bars before its (the Invitation's) end...

[Chris Newman]

I notice the (prolonged and enthusiastic) applause for Invitation to the Dance came some bars before its (the Invitation's) end...

That always happens even with the piano original. I am sure JEG and the orchestra found that out in Paris.

[Ferretfancy]

The pause before the brief ending of Invitation is one of the most famous traps in music. Another is the Chopin F minor Ballade, which I once heard Rubinstein play as an encore at the Royal Festival Hall. He smiled indulgently at the befurred old ladies in the front row before resuming.

[bluestateprommer]

The pause before the brief ending of Invitation is one of the most famous traps in music.

True enough, and in this context, it actually worked well to allow the audience to release some of the momentary tension, before the actual quiet end of Invitation to the Dance, where it was quite appropriate that the transition back to the main music of the opera went w/o interruptory applause.

I heard this penultimate Prom the hard way, one Act per night, starting several days after the event. This was my first time hearing the opera complete, in any form, German, French or otherwise, and I must say that I enjoyed it very much. Granted, the actor playing Samiel came across to my ears as ridiculously hammy, and Gidon Saks at times wasn't far behind in acting skill, although he sang well, as did the entire cast, IMHUO. Even if the idea of Der Freischutz in French sounds strange, I have to admit to the gut feeling that the period instruments, with their lighter timbre and less heavily "Germanic" sound (to indulge in national stereotypes for a moment), seemed approrpriate in sound to fit with the French, if that makes any sense. Whatever the case, this was certainly a very imaginative way to stage the penultimate night of the Proms. Curious that both last year and this, JEG got the penultimate night, although it sounds as though the audience wasn't nearly as full this year as at last year's Monteverdi Vespers.

[Tony Halstead]

"The gut feeling"

[aeolium]

This was my first time hearing the opera complete, in any form, German, French or otherwise, and I must say that I enjoyed it very much.

I think this was my real objection to the scheduling of the French 1841 version of the opera - however interesting it might be to those who already knew it in its original form, it's not ideal if it's the first experience people have of the opera as it is quite different from the German version. Many people hearing it either at the Proms or on radio would have come away with a false impression of the work. For me, it was a mistake.

But for those new to the work wanting to explore the original, the Carlos Kleiber recording is very good, as is the recording by his father Erich Kleiber.

[Ferretfancy]

bluestateprommer

The Wolf's Glen scene in the hall was certainly a bit hammy, but best quality off the bone, I haven't heard the broadcast, so I don't know how it worked on air, but in the RAH they made good use of the space with the demonic screams in surround sound as it were, and our baddie presiding over a tymp emitting smoke while Samiel crept into the organ loft. I did miss the Eins Zwei Drei of the German original, which was lost in French, but the scene as a whole was impressive.

[Chris Newman]

bluestateprommer

The Wolf's Glen scene in the hall was certainly a bit hammy, but best quality off the bone, I haven't heard the broadcast, so I don't know how it worked on air, but in the RAH they made good use of the space with the demonic screams in surround sound as it were, and our baddie presiding over a tymp emitting smoke while Samiel crept into the organ loft. I did miss the Eins Zwei Drei of the German original, which was lost in French, but the scene as a whole was impressive.

I thought the hammy acting of Samiel in the Wolf's Glen was borrowed straight from Keilberth's famous recording and like bluestateprommer was almost expecting to here the numbers echoing in German. I loved the whole shebang as it came over on the radio.