Prom 28 3.08.13: J. Strauss II, James MacMillan & Beethoven

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

7.30pm – c. 9.30pm
Royal Albert Hall

Strauss
By the Beautiful Blue Danube (10 mins)
James MacMillan
Violin Concerto (25 mins)
INTERVAL
Beethoven
Overture 'Coriolan' (8 mins)
Beethoven
Symphony No. 5 in C minor (33 mins)

Vadim Repin violin
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Donald Runnicles conductor

A renowned interpreter of Austro-German repertoire, Donald Runnicles opens this concert with arguably the most famous waltz in the world - The Blue Danube - and the evening ends with the symphony which has one of the most recognisable openings of all time, Beethoven's Fifth.

James MacMillan's Violin Concerto, which was premiered by Vadim Repin in 2010, is the centrepiece of the concert. The concerto is influenced strongly by Scottish traditional music, as the composer says "Fiddle music has long been under my skin, and in writing a violin concerto it is inevitable that it would rise up to the surface. Its roots are in song and dance, and these most ancient modes of expression and storytelling are at the heart of my new work."

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

But is it the most famous waltz in the world? Discuss.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

But is it the most famous waltz in the world?

Yes.

Discuss.

Yes, it is.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

When I was young, listening to "Children's Favourites", the most famous waltz in the world was Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beaty Waltz.

An there's the so-called Flea Waltz often confused with Chopsticks.

[Barbirollians]

What about the Valse des Fleurs ? That is just as well known a tune as the Blue Danube !

[Petrushka]

But is it the most famous waltz in the world? Discuss.

Look at it this way: can you ever remember a time when you did not know the Blue Danube? The most famous waltz in the world? Most certainly.

[Tapiola]

Look at it this way: can you ever remember a time when you did not know the Blue Danube? The most famous waltz in the world? Most certainly.

Brahms famously wrote for an autograph hunter the first phrase of The Blue Danube, inscribing underneath "alas, not by J Brahms."

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Look at it this way: can you ever remember a time when you did not know the Blue Danube? The most famous waltz in the world? Most certainly.

I can remember exactly when I first became aware of it. My first contact with Johann Strauss II was the Morning Papers Waltz near the end of the Eclipse Piano Tutor. I loved it. But it was almost a year afterwards that I first stumbled upon the Blue Danube at the age of 10, this time in "Golden Hours". My mother moaned "the cats know that one". I didn't really understand why until I heard the later waltzes in the Blue Danube collection, which I still prefer.

[Barbirollians]

I am sure I knew the Nutcracker before the Blue danube- when i was a child just about every dance from the Nutcracker was used for a TV commercial.

[BBMmk2]

Indeed, the most famous waltz but, I will avoid this prom like the plague!

[pilamenon]

Lovely to hear Coriolan back at the Proms.

And then the chance to conduct-along-a-Beethoven-symphony.

I also enjoyed the quirky MacMillan concerto, but I wouldn't be in a hurry to hear that final movement with the German bits again.

[Petrushka]

I also enjoyed the quirky MacMillan concerto, but I wouldn't be in a hurry to hear that final movement with the German bits again.

In an interview with MacMillan on R3 before the performance he said he didn't know really know why the 'German bits' were there. Well, if he doesn't I don't know how anyone else can do. There did seem a touch of regret in his voice as if he'd be happier to revise it without the speech. If so I'd agree with him. That element apart I greatly enjoyed the concerto and hope it finds a place in the repertory.

[Stanley Stewart]

The "we happy few" band of survivors with childhood memories of the 1930s instantly recall our first experience of hearing the Blue Danube in Julien Duvivier's "The Great Waltz" (1938). MGM imported several European performers, Fernand Gravet as the young Johann Strauss, Luise Rainer as his long suffering but faithful wife and Miliza Korjus - the advertising blurb was 'Miliza Korjus - rhymes with gorgeous!'. Rudolf Bing was a contracting agent for MGM and even boasts how he could contract her at a much cheaper rate in his memoir, 5000 Nights at the Opera. I still enjoy my off-air video/DVD recording with her glorious coloratura and those heady sequences of swirling dancers. The Tales from the Vienna Woods sequence and the early morning segment where a dejected Strauss sits on the steps by the Danube and 'hears' the opening bars of his composition are still magical. I'm sure that some will still remember the other 'hit' which played on Family Favourites for a few decades;
"One day when we were young,
that beautiful morning in May,
You told me you loved me..."

[edashtav]

One More Jimmy Mac for the Road, please Barman

I also enjoyed the quirky MacMillan concerto, but I wouldn't be in a hurry to hear that final movement with the German bits again.

If I listen to any more pieces by MacMillan, I shall need to become a Catholic. “Father, forgive me for I’ve enjoyed too many Jimmy Macs.” Yes, Jimmy MacMillan’s music fills me with guilt. Almost always, I enjoy it, yet in a deeply ambivalent manner. Jimmy knows all the tricks of his trade: he scores with the brilliance of a Malcolm Arnold, he creates ersatz melodies with the facility of Serge Prokofiev, he has fun like Max Davies on an awayday in Vegas, and he throws in some Gregorian chants to show that he’s a deep thinker who knows about the mysteries of life and death. In my mind, I hold a loose catalogue of “Jimmyisms”, trademark thumb-prints that he always employs. I tick them off as they come up for review. There was a series of trenchant, luminous “Jimmy” chords with added rhythm that acted almost as a ritornello in the first movement of today’s Violin Concerto. “Arghh,” I thought, “the great-grandson of Veni, Veni Emmanuel, he’s got Evelyn’s eyes.” Were I to add a subtitle to the Violin Concerto, I would use “Joybox” (pace John McCabe!) All the Fun of the Fair… and the Foul! It was like a suite, a great box of indulgent Scottish Candies. Yes, I have a sweet tooth, and once again, I fell for it. But… the guilt that comes from over-indulgence is kicking in … my tummy.

Find me a Priest, I think I’m bewitched. Cast out this Scot, this musical devil, from my brain. I am undone.

[Tony Halstead]

If I listen to any more pieces by MacMillan, I shall need to become a Catholic. “Father, forgive for I’ve enjoyed too many Jimmy Macs.” Yes, Jimmy MacMillan’s music fills me with guilt. Almost always, I enjoy it, yet in a deeply ambivalent manner. Jimmy knows all the tricks of his trade: he scores with the brilliance of a Malcolm Arnold, he creates ersatz melodies with the facility of Serge Prokofiev, he has fun like Max Davies on an awayday, and he throws in some Gregorian chants to show that he’s a deep thinker who knows about the mysteries of life and death. In my mind, I hold a loose catalogue of “Jimmyisms”, trademark thumb-prints that he always employs. I tick them off as the come up for review. There was a series of trenchant, luminous “Jimmy” chords with added rhythm that acted almost as a ritornello in the first movement of today’s Violin Concerto. “Arghh,” I thought, “the great-grandson of Veni, Veni Emmanuel, he’s got Evelyn’s eyes.” Were I to add a subtitle to the Violin Concerto, I would use “Joybox” (pace John McCabe!) All the Fun of the Fair… and the Foul! It was a great box of indulgent Scottish Candies. Yes, I have a sweet tooth, and once again, I fell for it. But… the guilt that comes from over-indulgence is kicking in … my tummy.

Find me a Priest, I think I’m bewitched. Cast out this Scot, this musical devil, from my brain. I am undone.

What a great post, edashtav!