Prom 50 (20.8.12): Beethoven, Mozart, Delius & Nielsen

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Monday 20 August at 7.30 p.m.
Royal Albert Hall

Beethoven: Egmont – overture (9 mins)
Mozart: Clarinet Concerto in A major (28 mins)
Delius: Eventyr (Once Upon a Time) (16 mins)
Nielsen: Symphony No. 5 (34 mins)

BBC Symphony Orchestra
Osmo Vänskä conductor
Michael Collins basset clarinet

An overture and a symphony by two musical Titans - Beethoven and Nielsen - both celebrating the human capacity for hope in the face of oppression and suffering, frame a lyrical Mozart concerto and a rarely heard tone poem by Delius.

Osmo Vänskä conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra, with soloist Michael Collins who is celebrating his 50th birthday this year. Delius's Eventyr, inspired by a collection of Norwegian folk tales published in 1841, is making only its second appearance at the Proms.

[bluestateprommer]

Super-quick and superficial 1st half report. Beethoven was all right, nothing earth-shatteringly revelatory, but then the Egmont Overture almost always works. Good performance from Michael Collins of the Mozart; one or two moments threatened to scramble, but MC just as readily managed to avoid scrambling. Nice sweet encore, which MC announced from the stage, on "regular" clarinet, of the "Romance" from Gerald Finzi's Five Bagatelles.

[kernelbogey]

Michael Collins explained about the different timbre of the basset clarinet and that it had four extra semitones (compared, presumably, with the b flat instrument). Was he playing from a score that made use of the extra notes or are the low notes the same whichever instrument is being played by the soloist? I assume the latter, but am curious!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Michael Collins explained about the different timbre of the basset clarinet and that it had four extra semitones (compared, presumably, with the b flat instrument). Was he playing from a score that made use of the extra notes or are the low notes the same whichever instrument is being played by the soloist? I assume the latter, but am curious!

Actually, the former, kernel. Mozart's original has several passages that have to be transposed up an octave when played on standard Clarinet.

[kernelbogey]

Thank you, ferney: I thought it sounded different but couldn't be certain (listening on car radio for one thing!).

[Alison]

BBC Symphony Orchestra playing Mozart in the Royal Albert Hall: invariably a shade bland.

[Vile Consort]

But all Mozart is bland! (ducks)

[jayne lee wilson]

Part two - two great performances of two wildly original masterpieces!

Note how Vanska created a distinct orchestral sound-palette for each piece, the Delius warmer and more lush, the Nielsen transparent, spikier. Perhaps I could have done with more sheer weight in the Nielsen - I had to push the volume quite hard to get the impact I wanted - and he always tends to a cool and objective approach to symphonic performance which might rob the winds of some of the demonic character that is a part of their first movement role in Nielsen's tonal drama; but his reading is a very valid one and was marvellously played by the BBCSO.

One always marvels at the intensity of formal integration in Nielsen's 5th - the first movement has an extraordinary range, from a primal, fragmenting, destructive power to a flowing regenerative energy, where all the motivic elements, primitive and civilising, meet in an archetypal final battle; the second movement, an "introduction, 3 fugues and finale" structure is built on a mere handful of notes!

I'm more and more drawn to Delius almost in opposition to my usual tastes, and tonight's Eventyr was a glowingly gorgeous presentation of a strange work - primitive shouts against rhapsodic strings! We should all invite Dionysus into our lives occasionally. Delius yet again (as in Sea Drift) shows himself as almost cussedly original. This performance will certainly inspire me to delve among the Delius on my shelves.

Excellent, spacious balance tonight on AAC, true pianissimos, good (if not outstanding) dynamic range; the orchestra sounded a little small and distanced, which is why a higher volume setting was necessary.
I'd be interested to hear what it sounded like in the hall...

[pursuivant]

Not quite the best Nielsen 5

Thank you for a very clearly reasoned description of these performances Jayne Lee Wilson. I might differ only slightly by being less impressed with the Nielsen: my reasons are the same as yours but those defects seemed to worry me to a greater degree. Also one technical matter: on the radio the quality of the side drum was dull - no sting to the snares - more like a tambour and not very well balanced either. Worst of all were those pompous look at me bores: the between movement clappists. Of all works Nielsen 5 needs space to savour the magical ending of the first movement. I know what the correct treatment should have been but taking them outside and shooting them would have caused further disturbance.

[Petrushka]

I find myself pretty much in agreement with JLW - except to say that I had my volume level lower than is my norm!!!

Egmont was ok and the Mozart was, as Alison says, rather blandly accompanied. However, the Nielsen 5 was simply tremendous! Let's hope this appears on a BBCMM CD one day.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

But all Mozart is bland! (ducks)

No it's not.



And don't call me "ducks".

[edashtav]

Part two - two great performances of two wildly original masterpieces!

Note how Vanska created a distinct orchestral sound-palette for each piece, the Delius warmer and more lush, the Nielsen transparent, spikier. Perhaps I could have done with more sheer weight in the Nielsen - I had to push the volume quite hard to get the impact I wanted - and he always tends to a cool and objective approach to symphonic performance which might rob the winds of some of the demonic character that is a part of their first movement role in Nielsen's tonal drama; but his reading is a very valid one and was marvellously played by the BBCSO.


I'm more and more drawn to Delius almost in opposition to my usual tastes, and tonight's Eventyr was a glowingly gorgeous presentation of a strange work - primitive shouts against rhapsodic strings! We should all invite Dionysus into our lives occasionally. Delius yet again (as in Sea Drift) shows himself as almost cussedly original. This performance will certainly inspire me to delve among the Delius on my shelves.

Well said, JLW.

I found time only for Eventyr to which I came with ears conditioned by Tommy Beecham. It was interesting to hear a “foreign” take on Delius; further fascination was offered by hearing the composer in “fast-forward” mode, as opposed to his normal languor. This is mature Delius and reveals the composer in full pagan bib and hedonist tucker. I revelled in it in Osmo Vänskä’s brightly-lit and intense reading. Was I right to be worried by the whoops from the orchestral players, sounding like my idea of a virile rugby pack finding itself surrounded by a bevy of naked, nubile Norwegian gals? But, what do I know of the men in the BBC SO? Surely, the whoops are supposed to be off-stage? Perhaps, they were - but not from my seat beside my radio. A good choice for an anniversary celebration, and more successfully realised than the later Cynara a couple of weeks ago.

[amac4165]

No it's not.



And don't call me "ducks".

oh that's a quacker

great night in the hall - even the Delius was good ! :o

Mozart sounded ok in the hall - for once ! and a great Finzi encore. Slightly disconcerted when Michael Collins started to take the clarinet apart in the first movement

Great performance of the Nielsen ! Snare drum rang out in the hall and really cut through the orchestra - apparently I heard from someone who was at the pre prom talk the drummer is "doing his own thing " pretty much. (never realized that )

amac

[Ferretfancy]

A fine performance of the Mozart, which is a piece that comes as near to perfection as one could wish. The strange shouts in Eventyr ( pre-recorded ) came across very well, but I find the piece less appealing than I once did. Marvellous Nielsen although I was incensed by the applause after that wonderful ending to the first movement. The headlong rush into the second movement is designed to kill the tension at the end of the first, but the coughing sea lions flapped their flippers and wrecked the moment.

[jayne lee wilson]

Bit pedantic of me Ff, but I guess you mean "release" the tension rather than kill it? (I hope so!)

But yes, underlined with red ink poursuivant and Ff, the applause after the first movement can scarcely be dignified as a "misjudgement"! Just awful! Anyone who feels like applauding at this point, or just does it reflexively, hasn't been listening AT ALL. Who does it? Bunch of entitled henrys and henriettas or...?
(I tend to be more relaxed than many about such things, but this...!)