Prom 6 (18.7.12): Lam, Rachmaninov & Prokofiev

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Prom 6 was my first one of the season too, which also saw my reviewing debut for Classical Source:

http://www.classicalsource.com/db_control/db_prom_review.php?id=10313

I also attended the late night Prom, meaning a very late return home at 2am (not helped by SWTrains' decision to stage engineering works en route). Review just submitted, so hopefully online this afternoon.

[amateur51]

Prom 6 was my first one of the season too, which also saw my reviewing debut for Classical Source:

http://www.classicalsource.com/db_control/db_prom_review.php?id=10313

I also attended the late night Prom, meaning a very late return home at 2am (not helped by SWTrains' decision to stage engineering works en route). Review just submitted, so hopefully online this afternoon.

Many thanks IGI - they're fortunate to have you

[antongould]

Cheers to BoD for another wonderful review - I remember Peter Ustinov on Private Passions saying that he felt there was a misguided view that Prokofiev was percussive and little else.........I have only owned 1 and 4 up to now, perhaps a wider stock is called for!

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Many thanks IGI - they're fortunate to have you

You're very kind and a gentleman to boot, Ammy!

[Simon B]

Cheers to BoD for another wonderful review - I remember Peter Ustinov on Private Passions saying that he felt there was a misguided view that Prokofiev was percussive and little else...!

I always find this view (i.e. that which Ustinov was attempting to counter) incomprehensible. It must be a personal thing, but to my ears much of Prokofiev's music is packed with melodies, and "good" (whatever that means) ones to boot.

The 6th symphony is a case in point. To me, a successful performance turns to a good degree on that aching melody given principally to the trumpet in the slow movement - reticent trumpeters need not apply, if anything a bit of Russian blare is called for at times. Likewise, the whole finale up to the point of that crushingly warped, distorted coda sounds to me to be essentially built around a melody, albeit with some stabbing percussive interjections...

On the basis of the comments above, I regret deciding against going to this now. I thought it unlikely to be on a par with the Jurowski/LPO at the RFH in January as Belohlavek (excellent in some rep, e.g. Martinu) doesn't really seem to do anger... Oramo is an unknown quantity to me in Prokofiev, so I must catch up on the iPlayer. Thanks to the reviewers above...

[Ferretfancy]

I was a bit too close to the piano for the Rachmaninov. It's one problem in the Arena that from a generally good vantage point the orchestra can get buried behind the soloist. I enjoyed the performance more than some of the friends around me, but incidentally a tuner did come on and partially dismantle the keyboard before the Prom began, sliding out a whole section of the instrument before re-assembling it.

I think that Prokofiev's Sixth is his best symphony and one of his finest works, and it got a fine performance, not quite as splendid as the Jurowski I heard a while back but excellent. I do wish that the BBC SO strings were a bit stronger, but maybe the bodies standing in front of me soak up their sound.

The Lam piece made a pleasant impression -a tonal new work, whatever next? I caught a ghost of the opening of Daphnis in there somewhere.

[3rd Viennese School]

I listened to the Prokofiev. I always do when Prokofiev 6 is on Radio 3 as it doesnt get played much live! I agree its his best symphony.

Always enjoy this one- not sure about the screams at the start and near the end of mvt 2- could have been more defined? Im sure the second scream is different- a higher pitch.

Notice they went straight into the gallop finale cowboy s film style- not waiting for more clapping!

The ending. This must be the one ending to a symphony which is played totally different and at different speeds by people.
In this concert they opted for extra slow then suddenly fast for the final chords!


Missed the Lam- so will hear it on the repeat.

3VS

[Nick Armstrong]

I also attended the late night Prom, meaning a very late return home at 2am (not helped by SWTrains' decision to stage engineering works en route). Review just submitted, so hopefully online this afternoon.

Please do post a link, IGI - cf: my reaction in the relevant thread to the radio broadcast which I recorded and have now listened to twice. Fun but...

V keen to know how it grabbed you.

[PJPJ]

Looks like I missed the right half of this concert . I agree that is was a very fine performance of the Prokofiev - Oramo is a major catch for the BBC symphony - their best principal conductor in a very long time - since Kempe I should say.

Since Belohlavek, I should say....

[Barbirollians]

Belohlavek is very good in some repertoire and pretty limited in some others to my ears.

[jayne lee wilson]

Fascinated by the difficulties some have with Prokofiev, and not just the 6th...

I sometimes think of Prokofiev 5,6 and 7 as a trilogy - the 5th is the struggle for an affirmation, the 6th the tragic truth, and the 7th the sad reflection upon what might have been, or once was (the cheerful "alternative" ending should NEVER be played). If you compare the main finale themes of 5 and 6, you're aware immediately of how much more nervous, even jittery, the 6th's is, especially played fairly quickly (as Oramo did). But I think it's a misunderstanding to expect it to be more sardonic in DSCH's vein, it needs to seem jaunty for the stark tragedy of the ending to offer its contrast... "it's not the despair I can't stand, it's the hope" - those agonised yearnings in the slow movements of 5 and 6 - and never has hope been more completely crushed than here.

The best way to hear them would be Rozhdestvensky on the latest Melodiya remaster (Mel cd 10 01797), but availability may be in doubt;I picked mine up from an Amazon seller in Helsinki when it was it was out of stock at the distributor in GB. Try MDT or the excellent Presto..**.
Best modern cycle is the Kitajenko/Gurzenich-Orchester Koln (Phoenix 135), tempi can be a little measured (more than a little compared to Rozh!) but he always tightens the screw, with brilliance and controlled power, into the climaxes - these interpretations are wonderfully thought-through, and in state-of-the-art sound.

**EDIT - aha! it does appear to be available via Amazon & Presto again at a good price - so get in there quick!

[HighlandDougie]

Fascinated by the difficulties some have with Prokofiev, and not just the 6th...
**EDIT - aha! it does appear to be available via Amazon & Presto again at a good price - so get in there quick!

JLW, deeply indebted for this good news, as, having tried to buy it a couple of months ago from MDT, was disappointed when they told me that they couldn't get hold of it. Duly ordered via Amazon Marketplace. It's the cycle I grew up with (on LP) so will be very happy to have it on CD.

[pilamenon]

the 7th the sad reflection upon what might have been, or once was (the cheerful "alternative" ending should NEVER be played)

That would be a shame. I first got to know the symphony with the cheeky, jaunty ending, and prefer it by some distance. If Prokofiev was leant on to include it, he did so with a wry smile.

[jayne lee wilson]

That would be a shame. I first got to know the symphony with the cheeky, jaunty ending, and prefer it by some distance. If Prokofiev was leant on to include it, he did so with a wry smile.

Ah, the curse of familiarity!
Do you know the Rozhdestvensky? No Zhdanov decree of forced jollity for Rozh. After the final reminiscence of the "hymn to happiness" theme from the first movement, the tragic weight of utterance, the sheer conclusiveness of those last, baleful brass chords suggest a darkness far deeper than they dare to exhibit. ANY music after that is a betrayal, let alone that appalling, trivializing addition.

Some recordings - e.g. the 1957 Martinon/Paris Conservatoire one on Testament - give you the superfluous coda on a separate track. Listening to it again now, it seems even worse than I remembered.

Pilamenon - play the original for forty days and forty nights...

[Ferretfancy]

How I agree about the end of 7! That dying fall is perfect without the ridiculous race for the exits at the end.