Prom 57 (26.8.12): Wagner, Berg, R. Strauss & Ravel

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Sunday 26 August at 7.30 p.m.
Royal Albert Hall

Wagner: Parsifal – Prelude (Act 3) and Good Friday Music (20 mins)
Berg: Violin Concerto (25 mins)
R. Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier – suite (22 mins)
Ravel: La valse (12 mins)

Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester
Daniele Gatti conductor
Frank Peter Zimmermann violin

A programme of four works which in different ways reach out beyond the sound-world of late Romanticism. Wagner's ultra-chromatic opera Parsifal pushes the boundaries of traditional tonality, while Berg's heartfelt Violin Concerto leaves normal tonality altogether. Richard Strauss's Suite from Der Rosenkavalier injects the Viennese Waltz with luscious harmonies to conjure up a fantasy of the past, and Ravel's ominously prescient La Valse seems to predict the dissolution of European culture after the First World War.

The Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester is one of the great youth orchestras of the world and they make a welcome return with the Italian conductor Daniele Gatti who brings this programme fresh from a tour of the summer festivals of Salzburg, Lucerne and Edinburgh. They are joined in the Berg Violin Concerto by the German violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann who plays a Stradivarius once owned by the great Fritz Kreisler.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Something of a youth orchestra feste this season.

[Alison]

A passable if not outstanding Prom. Just the nagging suspicion that the once promising Mr Gatti has been overtaken by the likes of Petrenko, Mena and Jurowski. A sort of breezy brittleness characterised the performances. I like all the works individually but felt they made for an unsatisfying concert programme. The Rosenkavalier suite seems to be cropping up more these days.

[Petrushka]

A curious programme with nothing meaty enough to get the teeth into, not really the kind I'd expect from a visiting orchestra such as the GMYO. Agree with Alison that this eas unsatisfying. If I'd been in the hall I'd have been craving more than operatic orchestral 'bleeding chunks', a Berg VC that didn't seem to fit in and the ubiquitous La Valse.

A disappointing Prom on the whole.

[Extra Vaganza]

A curious programme with nothing meaty enough to get the teeth into, not really the kind I'd expect from a visiting orchestra such as the GMYO. Agree with Alison that this eas unsatisfying. If I'd been in the hall I'd have been craving more than operatic orchestral 'bleeding chunks', a Berg VC that didn't seem to fit in and the ubiquitous La Valse.

A disappointing Prom on the whole.

.... and what has been, for me so far, a disappointing Prom Season. Wallace and Grommit, Ivor Novello, Gilbert and Sullivan - and far too many youth orchestras.
Money must be tighter than we think.

Eva

[amateur51]

.... and what has been, for me so far, a disappointing Prom Season.

Eva

Isn't perception a funny thing - there I was, thinking that this has been a stunning Proms season both in terms of performances and repertoire. Funny old world

[Northender]

I tend to agree with Eva on the whole. It seems to me that the Proms are trying to be all things to all men (and women), one consequence of which is a number of concerts in which there are so many items that performers simply aren't required, and certainly don't get the chance, to achieve anything out of the ordinary. (And we STILL have the latest appearance by the shamefully underexposed John Wilson to look forward to....)
Still, there's always the Vaughan Williams 'triple' to remember and watch again (and again).

[Alison]

How long until John Wilson conducts the Last Night ?

[amateur51]

I tend to agree with Eva on the whole. It seems to me that the Proms are trying to be all things to all men (and women), one consequence of which is a number of concerts in which there are so many items that performers simply aren't required, and certainly don't get the chance, to achieve anything out of the ordinary. (And we STILL have the latest appearance by the shamefully underexposed John Wilson to look forward to....)
Still, there's always the Vaughan Williams 'triple' to remember and watch again (and again).

Isn't it the case that with the use of Cadogan Hall for chamber/song recitals there are now more concerts in the season that ever?

[VodkaDilc]

How long until John Wilson conducts the Last Night ?

Complete with Rule Britannia sung with fake American accents?

Seriously, it's quite likely within the next couple of years. Bye bye BBCSO; welcome JW's Mates' Band.

[VodkaDilc]

A curious programme with nothing meaty enough to get the teeth into, not really the kind I'd expect from a visiting orchestra such as the GMYO. Agree with Alison that this eas unsatisfying. If I'd been in the hall I'd have been craving more than operatic orchestral 'bleeding chunks', a Berg VC that didn't seem to fit in and the ubiquitous La Valse.

A disappointing Prom on the whole.

I wasn't there, so I can't judge, but isn't Berg's Concerto sufficiently meaty?

[Alison]

A Brahms symphony in the second half would have been ideal.

[David Underdown]

Even without considering chamber proms/Saturday matinees at Cadogan there are more concerts than there used to be. The Last Night is Prom 76, in 1997 it was 73 (and 2 of those were Blue Peter Proms, there are no repeats this year). In the scheme of things Sunday concerts are pretty new (Westminster council licensing were not keen on Sunday concerts), but I haven't been able to track down when they started (the archive is being very slow today)

[Volti Subito]

I tend to agree with Eva on the whole. It seems to me that the Proms are trying to be all things to all men (and women), one consequence of which is a number of concerts in which there are so many items that performers simply aren't required, and certainly don't get the chance, to achieve anything out of the ordinary. (And we STILL have the latest appearance by the shamefully underexposed John Wilson to look forward to....)
Still, there's always the Vaughan Williams 'triple' to remember and watch again (and again).

Hear, hear!

Take out the Vaughan Williams (about which I think everybody agrees) and what else has been truly memorable? And there's only the Vienna orchestra to come.

I'm looking forward to mid September and proper orchestral concerts played by our own orchestras. (Hallé, RSNO, CBSO, RLPO, and BSO included)

Let's spend a bit of money looking after our own under-rewarded musicians.

Volti S

[VodkaDilc]

Hear, hear!

Take out the Vaughan Williams (about which I think everybody agrees) and what else has been truly memorable? And there's only the Vienna orchestra to come.

Volti S

Berlin this week?!