Prom 61 (29.8.12): Howells & Elgar

[EnemyoftheStoat]

A link to Simon Heffer's article is here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/classicalmusic/7981393/Herbert-Howells-drew-glory-from-a-well-of-grief.html

EOS

[salymap]

Tnought 'Michael' later but have had visitors since then. I'm looking forward to this prom tonight and Friday, probably.

Thanks for all the links.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I first heard Elgar 1 at a Halle Industrial concert in 1966 or '67. The programme notes by Michael Kennedy included musical examples, which I found particularly helpful in understanding the music. I wonder why today's programme notes do not make use of musical quotations.

[Nick Armstrong]

Michael Kendrick Howells died in September 1935 after contracting polio on a family holiday. HH's daughter, Ursula, suggested he should write something in order to deal with his grief. Between 1936 and 1938 he wrote what would become Hymnus Paradisi, using material from an unaccompanied (then unpublished) Requiem written in 1932, three years before Michael's death.

There was a very touching documentary on R3 some years ago - possibly over 10 years ago - about this, which I have on cassette. I'm at work and can't recall the title, nor has a google search thrown up any references. I remember a very moving account of the ghastly train journey to Paddington with the ailing boy, who was whisked into St Mary's (I imagine) but alas too late. Thanks for the reminder. I shall get the tape out when I return from the RAH this evening

[Simon Biazeck]

There was a very touching documentary on R3 some years ago - possibly over 10 years ago - about this, which I have on cassette. I'm at work and can't recall the title, nor has a google search thrown up any references. I remember a very moving account of the ghastly train journey to Paddington with the ailing boy, who was whisked into St Mary's (I imagine) but alas too late. Thanks for the reminder. I shall get the tape out when I return from the RAH this evening

I will be there, in the gods. I've never heard it live, but know it back to front. It should be quite an occasion.

Paul Spicer's book on Howells in the Border Lines series has a chilling account of Michael's illness and death (p.97).

[Serial_Apologist]

There was a very touching documentary on R3 some years ago - possibly over 10 years ago - about this, which I have on cassette. I'm at work and can't recall the title, nor has a google search thrown up any references. I remember a very moving account of the ghastly train journey to Paddington with the ailing boy, who was whisked into St Mary's (I imagine) but alas too late. Thanks for the reminder. I shall get the tape out when I return from the RAH this evening

There is a speech, either by Vaughan Williams or Howells, I have somewhere on a cassette in which one or the other mentions "Hymnus Paradisi", and VW having confessed to Howells cribbing from the work in his own "Hodie". The two composers had then gone through the "Hymnus Paradisi" score, neither being unable to find the supposed "quote".

[BBMmk2]

I just can't wait enough for this Prom tonight!!

[Petrushka]

A terrific Elgar 1! For me, every bar just seemed right. Every Prom season throws up some work that comes as a wonderful discovery and the Howells' Hymnus Paradisi was this year's. My first hearing of the piece but it won't be my last. One of the highlights of the season.

Recording recommendations anyone?

I see that this Prom is on BBC4 on Friday - which clashes with the BPO concert where I will be in attendance and recording at home. Have to see if I can bribe my brother to do the Brabbins. Can someone explain why the BBC divide the potential audience in this self-defeating way?

[AmpH]

Howells' Hymnus Paradisi was this year's. My first hearing of the piece but it won't be my last. One of the highlights of the season.

Recording recommendations anyone?

I would definitely recommend the RLPO / Handley recording on Hyperion

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Hyperion/CDA66488

[Alison]

Will be good to catch up with this prom having missed it on the radio tonight. On the one hand it seems mr brabbins has nothing to prove given all his splendid past performances, while on the other one really wants to hear him put to the test by a really familiar masterwork such as Elgar's First.

[Nick Armstrong]

What a bizarre place the RAH is, acoustically-speaking.

Unusually, I was sitting in the stalls, 4th row back at about 5 o'clock (if the organ and the bust of HW are at 12).

From there, I unfortunately found it impossible to enjoy the Elgar. The strings sounded as if they were playing on the other side of the street. Any counterpoint and (above all) brass punctuation - some of my favourite bits in this piece which I adore - was ruined by the notes coming back from the upper balconies and gallery at around 7 o'clock, reverberating into my left ear about ½ second after they came from the stage - it all sounded smudged, like a badly printed photo. It was impossible to become involved in the performance

The Howells was a completely different matter! Somehow the intimate music and the loud choral sounds both came across fine (perhaps because the loud bits sound blurred anyway) and the performance was very affecting. Miah Persson was perfection including in particular her diction, and Andrew Kennedy was very good too. All the wonderful moments were well and truly nailed: the tenor's "....write..." being joined softly by the chorus (spine-tingling), the harmonies when the choir sings the "nothing" of "therefore I lack nothing" and the "full" of "my cup shall be full"...

It's a piece I find it difficult to take in recordings - the huge "wall of sound" choral climaxes that characterise each movement are almost impossible to render in a recording - which was why it was so fabulous to hear it live. (Looking forward to hearing / seeing what the TV relay makes of it - and to hearing the Elgar properly for the first time )

PS the organ pedal note at the end of the Howells was extraordinary - a sort of wheezing, industrial sound. Might have been better off without it...

[Nick Armstrong]

I would definitely recommend the RLPO / Handley recording on Hyperion

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Hyperion/CDA66488

Samples available here: http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/al.asp?al=CDA66488

[Simon B]

The Howells is a powerful (in several senses) and somewhat unique piece. This was as committed a performance (allowing for some not-unanimous ensemble and brass fluffs that don't matter much in the thrust of a live performance) as it's likely to get. I think the RAH organ is starting to develop some leaks and faults already - evident at the very end here as in one or two Proms earlier this season.

The Elgar (heard from a lucky, no actually determinedly acquired by bloody minded persistence) seat in the stalls was very good, but not quite something special. Definitely a real "alive" performance, no mere routine run-through, but could have done with a little more orchestral refinement at times (some slightly off intonation to my possibly mistaken ears). Not quite in the league of Elder/LPO at the RFH earlier this year, but a good listen all the same.

[edashtav]

The Howells was a completely different matter! Somehow the intimate music and the loud choral sounds both came across fine (perhaps because the loud bits sound blurred anyway) and the performance was very affecting. Miah Persson was perfection including in particular her diction, and Andrew Kennedy was very good too. All the wonderful moments were well and truly nailed: the tenor's "....write..." being joined softly by the chorus (spine-tingling), the harmonies when the choir sings the "nothing" of "therefore I lack nothing" and the "full" of "my cup shall be full"...

It's a piece I find it difficult to take in recordings - the huge "wall of sound" choral climaxes that characterise each movement are almost impossible to render in a recording - which was why it was so fabulous to hear it live. (Looking forward to hearing / seeing what the TV relay makes of it - and to hearing the Elgar properly for the first time )

PS the organ pedal note at the end of the Howells was extraordinary - a sort of wheezing, industrial sound. Might have been better off without it...

You've made some very good points about the Howells, Caliban. I heard it only on digital radio but tonight's performance sounded terrific. Of course, you're right: those great climactic waves can only be heard in the flesh, and need the huge space of the RAH to be at their best, but they were well calibrated by the two choirs and Martyn Brabbins. Some of the quicker sections fizzled with rhythmic electricity too, although at one point I was uncomfortable because the older Howells nicked so much from Walton's Belshazzar ! Never mind, the work as a whole pressed so many positive buttons.
Full marks to Simon Heffer for bringing it to the attention of the Beeb!

I was less certain about Brabbins in the Elgar. The up-tempo music was crisp, and energetic and there was plenty of rubato in the slower music, yet I didn't feel that the phrasing was completely idiomatic. I've heard better, but the BBC SO played its heart out and came across more united than in other Proms that I've listened to this summer.

[Keraulophone]

What a bizarre place the RAH is, acoustically-speaking.

Unusually, I was sitting in the stalls, 4th row back at about 5 o'clock (if the organ and the bust of HW are at 12).

PS the organ pedal note at the end of the Howells was extraordinary - a sort of wheezing, industrial sound. Might have been better off without it...

I had no hesitation in driving a 700 mile round trip to be at this Prom, one of my two visits this season. I'd never before heard Hymnus Paradisi live, and agree with Caliban that the 'wall of sound' can only properly be aurally 'disentangled' in a live performance, unless one has the ears of Christopher Robinson (ex-St John's Cambridge).

I also agree that myriad sound reflections in the RAH make seating choice a bit of a lottery. From Stalls G10, at about 10 0'clock, the sound was immediate and clear in both works, both choir and orchestra having greater impact on this pair of ears than from any location previously experienced in this huge barn of a hall. On the other hand, I felt a little too close to get much acoustic glow.

I'm a great admirer of the Tod Handley/RLPO recording, but this performance was equally moving and delivered with tremendous conviction. HH once told Handley 'Dont let them make it sound churchy', and they didn't here. That organ pedal note at the very end sounded as if one or more 32ft stops were causing something (the organ case/woodwork?) to vibrate.

The Elgar 1 was a fine performance that, as in Elgar's own LSO recording, had sufficient momentum, but also the requisite stillness and tenderness in the slow movement.

For me, one of the most memorable and revelatory (in Hymnus) Proms ever.