Prom 42 - 14.08.13: Janáček, Beethoven & Tchaikovsky

[Hornspieler]

While that was a genuinely weird comment from SM-P, I strongly suspect that it was off-the-cuff and not planned in advance, and she suddenly thought to say it in the context of the Bournemouth woodwind player who was featured in an interview excerpt before the concert began, the fellow who retired this summer and whose final concert as a Bournemouth SO player this Prom was. His name sadly escapes me, but he mentioned the thrill of being surrounded by all the brass going full blazes during performances of the Janacek, especially as he had relatively little to play in the work, so he could just enjoy the sonic wallow. Besides, one can't assume that everyone listening to the concert had heard the Janacek before, and thus was ready for what was to come. I thought that KK led the Janacek very well indeed, well paced and balanced.

That aside, this was another very good concert, and another indication of the fine work going on in Bournemouth with KK at the helm, which I'll admit is limited to various R3 broadcasts. Fine work from Sunwook Kim, and also in his encore. KK's relatively self-effacing, borderline mellow, approach had the perhaps unintended effect of showing Tchaikovsky 3 as, IMHO, the weakest of the 6, but again that's due to Tchaikovsky and not the interpretation.

That would be Chris Gale, the second bassoon
who was, I believe, in the Bournemouth orchestra for his entire professional career. Certainly I remember talking to him when we were in Rotterdam, playing the Rite of Spring under George Hurst. That would have been 1970 or 1971.

Hornspieler