Prom 46 (16.8.12): Vaughan Williams – Symphonies Nos. 4, 5 & 6

[salymap]

Me too. I recorded them on my recently repaired TV hard drive and watched enough to see that Andrew Manze
is a worthy replacement for some of the RVW conductors we have sadly lost in the last few years.

i shall watch/listen with decent intervals between the symphonies, though.

[BBMmk2]

I am so glad that the members on this forum enjoyed this Prom as much as myself and my wife did last night! It certainly was a rare treat to have not one but three RVWS symphonies! Tge BBC SSO have certainly shown what a great advocate Mr Manze is for RVWsusic.

Agree with you entirely Salymap that he is a great successor to the other ones that we have lost.

[Rolmill]

My first Prom of the season, booked with a degree of apprehension: don't know RVW 4 and 6, wasn't sure that the programme would work, not heard the BBCSSO previously, read mixed reports of Manze as a conductor...but it coincided with a trip to London so decided to take a chance.

Wow. I can only join in the chorus of approval. I was transfixed throughout by a combination of startling music, superb playing and authoritative conducting. I'm not sure I have ever enjoyed no.5 more, even on CD - great mix of sweep, conviction, intensity and delicacy, with some lovely playing (especially the horns ). Don't know 4 and 6 well enough to offer sensible critical comments, but I was swept away by both. From my Choir seat I could imagine the last movt of 6 being even quieter throughout, but maybe not in RAH. Thought Manze's conducting was excellent - very clear, but at the same time shaping the contours of the music expressively - and he certainly seems to have achieved a real rapport with the orchestra.

This one shoots very high up my personal all-time great Proms list. Bravo BBCSSO/Manze, I shall certainly be looking out for further instalments next year.

[Suffolkcoastal]

Listening on R3 (forgot it was on BBC4) my stand-out moment tonight was that big slushy strings & harp tune in 6i. I've never felt before that it really fitted in with the rest of the work properly. But tonight it did. Manze seemed to play down the slushiness/ripeness/ English pastoral factor just a teenzy bit and left the passage sounding just a tad uneasy, so that for me it didn't stick out like a sore thumb as it always has before. Hurrah! Just a tiny detail in one magnificent evening.

It should always 'fit in' as its basically the 2nd subject broadened out and in the tonic major.

I was in stalls M so I didn't always get the full benefit of the rich upper strings. The most impressive thing about these performances was how clearly the key elements of the RVW impressive structural writing came out so that you could really follow the argument. Yes that was one of the best performances of the 5th (my favourite work) that I've heard, though perhaps I prefer the tempo of the Passacaglia just a tiny fraction slower. The 4th just needed a little more punchy weight in a few places and the same for the 6th. Still very fine performances of these two symphonies as well. All in all a wonderful concert and with a virtually packed out Hall as well. RVW is undoubtedly one of the very great 20th century symphonists.

[amateur51]

I was there last evening too & can only add my congratulations to all concerned, not least RVW of course. On paper I wasn't sure the programme would work but it proved to be an inspired decision and one which I hope others will follow. It made for a wonderful evening on many levels but hearing an orchestral master en bloc was fascinating.

As others have said Manze certainly knew what he wanted & knew how to get it, and the orchestra was fully committed throughout. My friend had never heard any Vaughan Williams symphonic music before & she was bowled over, off to seek out CDs today she said

In Olympic terms this was 3 golds in a row

[Northender]

I was out last night but had set the recorder. I watched the Fourth before going to bed and found it compelling. I am looking forward to playing the next two today.

I watched the 4th 'live' on BBC4 and have the 5th and 6th on my PVR - clearly, treats in store! How often has a Prom generated such - as far as I can see - unanimous praise among Forum members?

[BBMmk2]

Andrew Manze etc,will they record this cycle?

[Pabmusic]

...On paper I wasn't sure the programme would work but it proved to be an inspired decision and one which I hope others will follow. It made for a wonderful evening on many levels but hearing an orchestral master en bloc was fascinating...

Absolutely agree. I suspect this worked so well because RVW's symphonies are so very different from each other. The fact that the D major symphony makes a suitable 'slow movement' also helps - although the Pastoral would have done well in the same position. I think such an evening would have been less successful with almost any other composer's music.

[amateur51]

I forgot to mention the silence of the audience who seemed to be concentrating like mad and who respected Manze's cue about when the pieces were 'over' - no 'look at me , ma!' idiocy

[Dave2002]

I didn't know what to expect since until relatively recently Manze's work was mostly as a violinist specialising in earlier music. Clearly he has been building up a following in Scandinavian countries, where he seems to now be well known as a conductor. From our circle seats the concert sounded superb, though towards the very end I started to worry that someone's phone might go off - perhaps even mine as I couldn't remember if I'd turned it off (I had) - which could have been a disaster and embarrassing for someone.

If there are repeat performances of any of these by the same orchestra and conductor in the next year or two go for it!
This is perhaps unlikely though, as there was a concert earlier this year with two of the symphonies by these forces.

Perhaps there is more scope for programming VW symphonies in the same concert. This one worked very well. Has it been done before?

Which ones might go together to make up a concert or series of concerts?

[Nick Armstrong]

I forgot to mention the silence of the audience who seemed to be concentrating like mad and who respected Manze's cue about when the pieces were 'over' - no 'look at me , ma!' idiocy

Yes, AM has certainly mastered how to get 15 - 20 seconds of total silence out of the 'EN&T plus associated narcissism' ward that is often the RAH. Nary an applaud between movements either, in contradistinction to the ovation which came after each movement of the Dvorak the night before... Different clas... errrr.. kind of audience, I guess

[Flosshilde]

Good to see that you lot in London & the SEofE have caught up with how good the BBCSSO & Manze are with VW (which we up here knew after their last season). The coming season has nos. 3 & 9, so you can probably look forward to them in next year's Proms.

[Simon B]

Yes, AM has certainly mastered how to get 15 - 20 seconds of total silence out of the 'EN&T plus associated narcissism' ward that is often the RAH. Nary an applaud between movements either, in contradistinction to the ovation which came after each movement of the Dvorak the night before... Different clas... errrr.. kind of audience, I guess

As per the most recent previous all-RVW Prom (BBCSO/Davis in the anniversary year, ending with a 9th that was on a par with last night's 5th) there was the feeling of a gathering of the worshipful company of RVW-o-philes. Rather different from a typical Proms audience these days - maybe it's nostalgia but I'm sure this level of attention and respect was more commonplace 10-15 years ago...

[Bryn]

Good to see that you lot in London & the SEofE have caught up with how good the BBCSSO & Manze are with VW (which we up here knew after their last season). The coming season has nos. 3 & 9, so you can probably look forward to them in next year's Proms.

It's only some of us London and SEofE type what failed to pick up on his way with RVW, Flossie, not all of us.

[Nick Armstrong]

) there was the feeling of a gathering of the worshipful company of RVW-o-philes. Rather different from a typical Proms audience these days.

Yes and some unpleasant, up-tight little-Englander sorts too. I witnessed a couple of them being pretty rude to other audience members before and after the concert...