Prom 23 (31.7.12): Vaughan Williams, Ireland, Delius & Walton

[Nick Armstrong]

Looks like buses!

Plenty more seats upstairs!! Hold tight please...

[EdgeleyRob]

Looking forward to this one tonight !!

Me too,the Proms start here.

[Nick Armstrong]

Me too,the Proms start here.

Back from the hall... Very enjoyable evening.

Tallis Fantasia - great string sound: I didn't experience what sometimes happens in a first Prom of the summer: a sense of the sound being too small, lost in Prince Albert's enormous bathroom. The sound was really rich and projected well, even when playing quietly. The quartet was really remote and high - one had the impression of hearing a church organ, heard from outside the church, in the distance - or perhaps, a long time ago... Haunting stuff.

The Ireland, it was interesting to read, was a Proms regular almost each year from 1943 into the '50s... One could see why, English elysian visions (after a rather naff start) à la Intimations of Immortality, some sections I'll be glad to hear again.

The Delius is too sickly sweet for me, but notably beautiful playing: especially, breathtaking pianissimo playing, really exceptional

Robust 'Belshazzar' - good percussion, antiphonal brass up on each side (not quite as high as the VW strings) exhilarating - performance a shade careful, measured and occasionally lacking in razor-like precision. But what the hell - it's a good noise to hear in that hall.

Fun, and some beautiful sounds.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Back from the hall... Very enjoyable evening.

Tallis Fantasia - great string sound: I didn't experience what sometimes happens in a first Prom of the summer: a sense of the sound being too small, lost in Prince Albert's enormous bathroom. The sound was really rich and projected well, even when playing quietly. The quartet was really remote and high - one had the impression of hearing a church organ, heard from outside the church, in the distance - or perhaps, a long time ago... Haunting stuff.

The Ireland, it was interesting to read, was a Proms regular almost each year from 1943 into the '50s... One could see why, English elysian visions (after a rather naff start) à la Intimations of Immortality, some sections I'll be glad to hear again.

The Delius is too sickly sweet for me, but notably beautiful playing: especially, breathtaking pianissimo playing, really exceptional

Robust 'Belshazzar' - good percussion, antiphonal brass up on each side (not quite as high as the VW strings) exhilarating - performance a shade careful, measured and occasionally lacking in razor-like precision. But what the hell - it's a good noise to hear in that hall.

Fun, and some beautiful sounds.

Thanks caliban for posting the 'live' critique so quickly. Any comments on Lemalu? Madame LMP was profoundly unimpressed with him in the Ireland, the wobble in particular. My impression was that he sounded as if imitating English baritones pre- or just-postwar: clear, plain and manly but not a lot of individuality. From what I heard of the Walton he seemed maybe a bit stronger there, but a veterinary crisis with small daughter's guinea pig prevented close listening

[Nick Armstrong]

Thanks caliban for posting the 'live' critique so quickly. Any comments on Lemalu? Madame LMP was profoundly unimpressed with him in the Ireland, the wobble in particular. My impression was that he sounded as if imitating English baritones pre- or just-postwar: clear, plain and manly but not a lot of individuality. From what I heard of the Walton he seemed maybe a bit stronger there, but a veterinary crisis with small daughter's guinea pig prevented close listening

I'm with you both. What has happened to his voice? It was awful in the Ireland, indeed. In the Walton, it mattered less - it's more declamatory, somehow - and the 'all manner vessels' section is almost sprechgesang...

I remember listening years ago to one of his earliest recordings (he must have been in his 20s then), with a friend of mine who's a professional singer - it was Lemalu's recording of Sea Fever. Sounded great to me, but my friend was wincing. I asked why. He said that it was that way Lemalu was producing the sounds - all wrong, and if he carried on like that, his voice wouldn't last. So it has proved, alas, it seems

[LeMartinPecheur]

Lemalu's recording of Sea Fever

I bought that disc too - EMI Debut with a very ambitious choice of repertoire (Brahms' 4 Serious Songs on yer first disc for heaven's sake? - Hotter and Kipnis gave their interpretations just a wee bit longer to mature. And then throw in L'horizon chimerique to invite comparison with Panzera, Bernac, Souzay while you're at it...).

Even then it never seemed quite as big and wonderful as it was cracked up to be - sad.

[Ferretfancy]

Lemalu was noticeably ill at ease in the Ireland, as seen and heard from the Arena, but then the piece is such a terrible turkey, I really can't understand why it was resurrected with that banal poem and the tedious orchestral contribution. For me it would have been much better to have given us other works, Mai-Dun perhaps, or the Forgotten Rite.

The Tallis Fantasia sounded beautiful, with the spacial effects well achieved and fine string sound. The Delius was also very good. Otaka is not Barbirolli, but then, who is ? It's sad that in his last years Beecham didn't make a stereo recording of it.

Belshazzar went very well, I thought, with Lemalu in better voice, but he has acquired a distressing wobble which was less evident in the Walton. I loved the famous extra brass choirs from where we stood, and the chorus were terrific throughout the evening. There have been many fine Feasts at the Proms, and I place this one high on the list. Nice anvil !

[jayne lee wilson]

On Belshazzar I'm with Caliban here, more or less...

... at home the performance came across with great power and brilliance, with a firmly pitched and articulate chorus and splendid brass; but Lemalu's throb was intrusive, though it improved as the performance developed. The big moments - those big, sudden crashes, e.g. the end of "Thus in Babylon" - were smartly despatched, but the longer choral sections, "Praise Ye..." and "Then Sing Aloud", were a little too measured and literal, they needed more snap and bite - more Previn-esque ZING.

But here on a damp, grey, dark evening in Liverpool, THAT moment - when Belshazzar's fate is so brusquely announced - this listener, huddled in a dressing-gown, was quite decidedly -

"SLAIN!!"

[Nick Armstrong]

THAT moment - when Belshazzar's fate is so brusquely announced - this listener, huddled in a dressing-gown, was quite decidedly -

"SLAIN!!"

That was brilliantly done!!

[Pabmusic]

...The Ireland, it was interesting to read, was a Proms regular almost each year from 1943 into the '50s... One could see why, English elysian visions (after a rather naff start) à la Intimations of Immortality, some sections I'll be glad to hear again...

You can understand why the piece, with its left-wing utopianism (and quote from the Internationale) was popular after the war. It was probably the most successful large piece Ireland wrote, the Piano Concerto aside. One consequence (I suspect) was that Ireland felt he should have been made Master of the Queen's Music instead of Bliss. Apparently, Bax (Ireland and Bax had been friends for years) had great sway in nominating his successor, and told Ireland, "I haven't put you forward, old chap, as I know you don't like that sort of thing". For the rest of his life, Ireland would occasionally make it clear that that was not how he viewed it.

[BBMmk2]

Thank you forthat, pabmusic.


This Prom I was eagerl;y waiting to hear. The programme is rather mouth wateri8ng, to say the least. I was rather unwell yesterday though, so have yet to hear this. I also see that ity is to be broadcast on 9th /auguast too! Whcich will be good,sa like EA saysthat they make full use of thye RAH's vast cavernous spaces!

[salymap]

Four works that I heard live a great deal in my long ago youth. I started to record on my TV but that annoying little thingy that floats about on the otherwise blank screen when recording R3 drove me [more] dotty so decided to wait and record the whole concert on BBC4 on the 9th.

I've had a rest from Belshazzar so am looking forward to it. Love the Delius and RVW, when well played but never got to grips with the John Ireland work. I can hear Ernest Chapman tut-tutting in heaven.

[amateur51]

Thanks caliban for posting the 'live' critique so quickly. Any comments on Lemalu? Madame LMP was profoundly unimpressed with him in the Ireland, the wobble in particular. My impression was that he sounded as if imitating English baritones pre- or just-postwar: clear, plain and manly but not a lot of individuality. From what I heard of the Walton he seemed maybe a bit stronger there, but a veterinary crisis with small daughter's guinea pig prevented close listening

I trust that the guinea pig has made it through the night, LMP?

[EdgeleyRob]

I thoroughly enjoyed this concert.
The highlight was RVW Tallis Fantasia for me,stunning.
Enjoyed the Ireland too (see the BBC can programme rare British music).

[LeMartinPecheur]

I trust that the guinea pig has made it through the night, LMP?

Am: sadly, Kilimanjiro the guinea pig ceased roughly on the midnight with (one hopes) no pain, despite a late-night visit to the vet The funeral was today while I was at work: family only.

The big question now is: Did he successfully pass on his genes before he went? We shall keep the world's media fully updated.