Prom 45 (15.8.12): São Paulo Symphony Orchestra

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Wednesday 15 August at 7.30 p.m.
Royal Albert Hall

Dvorák: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, 'From the New World' (45 mins)
Copland: Fanfare for the Common Man (4 mins)
Joan Tower: Fanfare for the Uncomman Woman (3 mins)
Villa-Lobos: Momoprécoce (28 mins)
Ginastera: Estancia – suite (12 mins)

Nelson Freire piano
São Paulo Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop conductor

Music from both American Hemispheres features tonight. First the masterpiece through which the Bohemian Dvorák, resident in New York, sought to establish an American musical identity, a symphony exuding nostalgia for his own native woods and fields. Later comes Copland's iconic Fanfare and highlights from Ginastera's best-known score. Joan Tower, whose childhood was spent partly in Bolivia, celebrates 'women who take risks and are adventurous', while distinguished Brazilian pianist, Nelson Freire, returns to the Proms to play one of Villa-Lobos's most attractive compositions.

[Lateralthinking1]

Wednesday 15 August at 7.30 p.m.
Royal Albert Hall

Dvorák: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, 'From the New World' (45 mins)
Copland: Fanfare for the Common Man (4 mins)
Joan Tower: Fanfare for the Uncomman Woman (3 mins)
Villa-Lobos: Momoprécoce (28 mins)
Ginastera: Estancia – suite (12 mins)

Nelson Freire piano
São Paulo Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop conductor

Music from both American Hemispheres features tonight. First the masterpiece through which the Bohemian Dvorák, resident in New York, sought to establish an American musical identity, a symphony exuding nostalgia for his own native woods and fields. Later comes Copland's iconic Fanfare and highlights from Ginastera's best-known score. Joan Tower, whose childhood was spent partly in Bolivia, celebrates 'women who take risks and are adventurous', while distinguished Brazilian pianist, Nelson Freire, returns to the Proms to play one of Villa-Lobos's most attractive compositions.

Very much looking forward to this one tonight.

[OldTechie]

Well, that was fun.

[Alison]

Fresh.

[Lateralthinking1]

Fresh.

A triumph!

Oddly, "fresh" was the word I had for the Dvorak. The largo is so familiar that it can easily sound stale but this didn't. A good opener.

I love Copland's FFTCM and they did it very well, although I have heard better. The Joan Tower response (retort?) was fascinating enough.

But then it got really interesting. The Villa-Lobos was absolutely fantastic - I'd never heard it before and was stunned by its intricacy - and the Ginastera was very good indeed. Both were fun. So too the encore.

Have to say that I am not a great fan of a lot of banging and crashing in classical music but there was real panache to it all and tender moments interwoven.

It was also helpful to have some context via Proms Plus.

Is this on BBC2 or not on Saturday? I am getting very confused about the TV coverage.

[prokkyshosty]

I suppose these days the Villa Lobos would be considered dated, but I too thought it was really fantastic. Such cheerful music! It reminded me quite a bit of Milhaud's Carnival d'Aix... and now I read that Villa Lobos and Milhaud were fast friends when the latter visited Brazil in 1918.

And whenever the concert is repeated on TV, it will be worth watching just for Marin Alsop's dancing during Estancia (conducted without score, as well!)

There was a second unannounced encore in the hall only; perhaps someone will be able to fill us in on what it was?

[Nick Armstrong]

Oh dear. I'd better not say much or I'll be called a misery. Back from the hall, and...



... the first encore was great!

(Call me upbeat!)

[prokkyshosty]

But Caliban, with your smiling shostakovian avatar, how could you ever be considered a misery?

[Nick Armstrong]

But Caliban, with your smiling shostakovian avatar, how could you ever be considered a misery?

[rodney_h_d]

.....Is this on BBC2 or not on Saturday? I am getting very confused about the TV coverage.

Yes - at least it is according to the Radio Times Proms Guide!

[jayne lee wilson]

Don't fret Caliban, I'm a misery too...

Whilst I can understand the need to get bums on seats, Dvorak's 9th really needs to be reserved for Classic FM Smooth Classics for a few years.
If we'd had the 5th in Part 1, and a less hackneyed piece of Ginastera in Part 2 (I would suggest Ollantay or Pampeana No.3), this could have been a great concert. The Brazilians played a blinder in Estancia, but they were scoring in open goals.

Never heard Momoprecoce before, but it scarcely seems Villa-Lobos at his best. A few years ago Bridge released a series of South American Orchestral CDs (Odense SO/Jan Wagner), and - not to mention the endlessly inventive Bachianas Brasileiras - the tone-poem Uirapuru stood out. It has one of those all-time, crescendoing, death-and-transfiguration final climaxes which the RAH would prove an apt acoustic home to. But destined to remain a treat only for those who find their way to the CD.

[Pabmusic]

...Dvorak's 9th really needs to be reserved for Classic FM Smooth Classics for a few years...

For how long? Does it get remission? Or parole? Who decides when its banishment ends? And in any case, why does it "really" need to be confined to CFM? Should this "really" be the prescribed fate of popularity?

I do agree that the fifth symphony would be good in concert (especially if you're going to have a symphony in the first half).

[salymap]

I heard the first two movements of the New World before another early night but it did, indeed, sound very good to me. I must catch up on the rest of it when it appears again on R3 or TV. {If my TV is repaired by then}.

[amac4165]

Don't fret Caliban, I'm a misery too...

Whilst I can understand the need to get bums on seats, Dvorak's 9th really needs to be reserved for Classic FM Smooth Classics for a few years.

Another problem is that - being such a "popular" piece the chances are you have heard it played better ! Which indeed was the case last night - the rest of the concert was fun though

[Nick Armstrong]

I heard the first two movements of the New World before another early night but it did, indeed, sound very good to me. I must catch up on the rest of it when it appears again on R3 or TV. {If my TV is repaired by then}.

Funny, saly - after I got home from the concert, I spoke on the phone to my dad (he's almost exactly your vintage, saly ) - he'd listened to the Dvorak, and said he was most unimpressed, he thought it sounded to lack shape and coherence and 'edge' ... it was interesting, because that was exactly the impression I got live. It was "ok"... instrumental entries a bit uncertain, Alsop's 'version' of this piece nothing out of the ordinary (except - yes - perhaps a 'fresher', less soft-focus approach to the Largo movement)...

I thought it was downright shocking in the Villa-Lobos - ensemble all over the place, people not playing 'out' as if they didn't really know it.

Oh well! Hope the BBC Scottish are on form tonight!!!