Prom 38 - 11.08.13: Free Prom – Beethoven's Ninth Symphony

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

7.30pm – c. 9.45pm
Royal Albert Hall

Vaughan Williams
Toward the Unknown Region (11 mins)
Mark-Anthony Turnage
Frieze (15 mins)
BBC co-commission with the Royal Philharmonic Society and the New York Philharmonic: world premiere
INTERVAL
Beethoven
Symphony No. 9 in D minor, 'Choral' (70 mins)

Ailish Tynan soprano
Jennifer Johnston mezzo-soprano
Toby Spence tenor
Gerald Finley baritone
Codetta
Irish Youth Chamber Choir
National Youth Choir of Great Britain
National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain
Vasily Petrenko conductor

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The work that is likely to stimulate the least amount of discussion from this programme is probably VW's Toward the Unknown Region. However this is one of my favourite choral works, and has been so since my uncle lent me a Malcolm Sargent recording in 1961.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Is anyone else out there?

[Anna]

Is anyone else out there?

Yes! I am! I have a possibly misplaced fondness for Turnage, his Scorched is one of my favourites, I did not enjoy so much his Blood on the Floor (Carpet?) I need to check that cd. The RVW I know not, Beethoven of course .. what can you say? Always welcome on a Sunday evening!

[Bert Coules]

Is it actually free? No admission charge at all?

[BBMmk2]

Yes it is Bert! I love the RVW to EA! I have it on EMI's RVW Edition and that Naxos recording as well. Very strongly recommend this work to anyone, who doesn't know it!

I also have a liking for Turnage's music as well, so be interesting to find out what he has produced with this one!

[Nick Armstrong]

The RVW I know not, Beethoven of course .. what can you say? Always welcome on a Sunday evening!

Always welcome, any time. Like EdgeleyR, though perhaps not as strongly as him, I always feel healed, relaxed, the moment I hear that or other similar RVW....

[BBMmk2]

Yes, indeed, as do I! It always good to hear.

[edashtav]

... I have a possibly misplaced fondness for Turnage, his Scorched is one of my favourites, I did not enjoy so much his Blood on the Floor (Carpet?) I need to check that cd. The RVW I know not, Beethoven of course .. what can you say? Always welcome on a Sunday evening!

I'm fond of Turnage, too, Anna, and love his Blood on the Floor to bits. However, I've had reservations about some of his recent works. What I like about Turnage most is his ability to create what Virgil Thomson called ( in Louisiana Story) "super sadness": a theme, often on saxophone, that defines for me, the agony of loss. I know that I've criticised Jimmy MacMillan recently for going, once again , through his "back numbers", but when Turnage re-invoked that mood in Frieze, this evening, the emotions it stirred remained visceral and strong. Did others notice a more northern tone - echoes of Jean Sibelius filtered by an Orkney net cast by Max. Davies?

TtuR by RVW is a work that I regard as great stuff to sing but not sufficiently digested to form comfortable listening. No doubt,I'm in a minority but I'd put the piece with the Sea Symphony on a shelf labelled "Towards the Known Vaughan Williams".

I come from a town (Bournemouth) that's had an Orchestra for well over 100 years and Beethoven Symphony cycles were almost annual under the strict baton of the great Sir Dan Godfrey. Yet, he never conducted a complete Choral Symphony! Not until the Festival of Britain in 1951 did Bournemouth hear its Choral movement and then that arrived with Elizabeth Schwarzkopf singing soprano! My introduction is to indicate that the Choral is a special piece, perhaps not to be heard too often, but once heard, never to be forgotten. I took my reluctant father to his first complete Choral Symphony when Dad was well into middle age. His resistance stemmed from having heard the incomplete torso and having found the slow movement an ineffective ending. My word - did he enjoy the whole work!

It was the same tonight, the excitement from the players and singers who were, almost certainly, discovering the glories of Beethoven's 9th, was palpable. Petrenko drove them onwards, sometimes quite furiously. Yes there were rough edges, new tempi took time to establish, isolated chords were "splashy" , sometimes things rushed ahead fuelled by corporate rushes of adrenaline. But,...did I enjoy the "attacca" from the adagio into the finale! I loved the manner in which Petrenko pointed the threat of an interruption by the first movement between sections of the "recitative".

Tonight's performance was an "Ode to Joy". A real tonic. These youngsters blew away my years - I experienced with them, once again, the the musical revolution that is the Choral Symphony.

Free Concert! A winner - full marks to all at the BBC who showed such imagination in creating this concept. This is the way to bring youngsters to a life full of the wonders of classical music.

[amac4165]

Is it actually free? No admission charge at all?

yeap and free programme too !

[Ravensbourne]

yeap and free programme too !

One between two if you were lucky!

[amac4165]

One between two if you were lucky!

well i was !

[NHTL]

So agree with edashtav, I thought that it was a refreshing performance. Well done to all concerned.

[rodney_h_d]

The work that is likely to stimulate the least amount of discussion from this programme is probably VW's Toward the Unknown Region. However this is one of my favourite choral works, and has been so since my uncle lent me a Malcolm Sargent recording in 1961.

I took part in a performance at school but can't remember whether I was singing S A 'T' or B. I'm pretty sure I wasn't playing in the 2nd violins in the orchestra although if I did, I would have sung in the chorus for the rehearsals with piano. Either way I'm afraid I haven't really retained any memory of the work :(

[french frank]

I took part in a performance at school but can't remember whether I was singing S A 'T' or B. I'm pretty sure I wasn't playing in the 2nd violins in the orchestra although if I did, I would have sung in the chorus for the rehearsals with piano. Either way I'm afraid I haven't really retained any memory of the work :(

For the moment I thought you were talking about Beethoven's 9th!

Have amended the OP as Toby Spence replaced Andrew Kennedy as the tenor.