Prom 4 - 14.07.13: Les Siècles – The Rite of Spring

[Alison]

A couple of rather effective luftpausen in the Rite: not sure how authentic.

[ardcarp]

Wow. That was quite something!

[amcluesent]

Enjoyed that a lot. Shame about the coughing during the opening solo - surely affected?

[Barbirollians]

The instrumental timbres were fascinating but M.Roth is not M.Monteux.

[Tony Halstead]

The instrumental timbres were fascinating but M.Roth is not M.Monteux.

hmmm.. and amen to that!
M. Roth's 'Danse sacrale' was rather spectacularly 'together' - which is something that the great M. Pierre Monteux never quite achieved in any of his recordings!

[Tony Halstead]

A couple of rather effective luftpausen in the Rite: not sure how authentic.

NOT authentic and not really convincing IMHO

[Petrushka]

NOT authentic and not really convincing IMHO

Agreed. And distinctly off-putting. The bass drum came across as rather puny in part 1 of the Rite but made its presence felt to better effect in part 2.

[Madame Suggia]

Loved it!

Dramatic use of silences.

[Nick Armstrong]

Wow. That was quite something!

It was! Le Sacre was bloody marvellous in the hall!!!

(More anon)

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

It was! Le Sacre was bloody marvellous in the hall!!!

It sure was! A fantastic performance. Three players stood out for me - the wonderfully sinuous playing of the alto flute, the tiny female percussionist who verily attacked her bass drum with gusto and the male contrabassoonist, who drew some fabulous 'buzzy' sounds from his instrument. François-Xavier Roth held his forces together admirably - a pulsating reading.

I liked the programme a lot. The Rameau and Lully were very fine - a touch too polite, perhaps - but the Coppélia excerpts were deliciously fun and Spanish flair in El Cid.

Good to see Caliban briefly beforehand.

[mercia]

I didn't quite catch what SMP said about the edition of Rite being played except that Boosey & Hawkes had given special permission to use it. wikipedia says there's a B&H 16333 and a B&H 19441, I guess it was one of those (?) - she said we would notice some differences to any Rite we had heard before (or words to that effect).

I expect there's some information in the programme notes, which I can't see grrrrr

[cloughie]

Rather impersonal delivery of the Lully and Rameau selection, I thought. The HDs webstream sound was spacious, clear and present, revealing some nice instrumental colours... pretty, but oh so polite! I was wishing they'd sauce it up a little. Not much dynamic subtlety or variety either, climaxes aside. And that staff thumping on the platform seemed a bit of an intrusive miscalculation against the smallish orchestral forces. In the Rameau, nothing very horse-frightening about the Air pour les Sauvages...

More power & fuller sonority in the Delibes pieces, but still a lack of much lilt or charm...
Massenet - with a grandstand finish, the orchestra FINALLY sound like they're enjoying themselves. More individuality in solos too. And not before time...
I guess this sort of programme might be fun in the hall, but a sequence of short movements, especially given the rather po-faced delivery earlier, can try one's patience at home. "So, to your pleasures", etc...

Well,jlw, did you bite the bullet and re Rite your music listening history. If yes, did you enjoy the experience or do you now need counselling?

[LaurieWatt]

NOT authentic and not really convincing IMHO

...and what about the missing authentic vibrato on horns and trumpets, particularly the horns? The result was very unFrench although I enjoyed the performance immensely and, listened to via my Internet radio, the sound quality and dynamic range of the broadcast was extremely impressive.

[Tony Halstead]

Thankfully, in 1913 the sort of French horn vibrato which eventually came to be heard in the old Paris Conservatoire orchestra in the 1940s through to the 1960s and even the early 1970s had not yet emerged as part and parcel of 'French style'. The leading player in the early 1900s until the 1930s, E. Vuillermoz, is known to have eschewed vibrato and this can clearly be heard on some of his lovely recordings with piano accompaniment, where his tone is rich, full, darker-hued than his successor Lucien Thevet, and without even a hint of 'wobble'.

[LaurieWatt]

Thankfully, in 1913 the sort of French horn vibrato which eventually came to be heard in the old Paris Conservatoire orchestra in the 1940s through to the 1960s and even the early 1970s had not yet emerged as part and parcel of 'French style'. The leading player in the early 1900s until the 1930s, E. Vuillermoz, is known to have eschewed vibrato and this can clearly be heard on some of his lovely recordings with piano accompaniment, where his tone is rich, full, darker-hued than his successor Lucien Thevet, and without even a hint of 'wobble'.

Thank you for that, err, W; fascinating! I had no idea it was such a recent phenomenon.
L
P.s. I had thought the vibrato was a legacy of hunting horn days!