Prom 46 - 17.08.13: Dvořák, Verdi, Tchaikovsky & Strauss

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

3.00pm – c. 5.00pm
Royal Albert Hall

Dvořák
Symphony No. 8 in G major (38 mins)
INTERVAL
Verdi
Otello ‒ Willow Song; Ave Maria (14 mins)
Tchaikovsky
Eugene Onegin (17 mins)
Polonaise; Letter Song
Strauss
Emperor Waltz (11 mins)
Strauss
Thunder and Lightening ‒ Polka (3 mins)

Kristīne Opolais soprano, Proms debut artist
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons conductor

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under its Music Director, conductor Andris Nelsons, accompany soprano Kristine Opolais in the Willow Song and Ave Maria from Verdi's Otello, as well as in the Letter Scene from Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. But first, Dvorak's Symphony No. 8; and at the end two orchestral pieces by Johann Strauss II: the Emperor Waltz and the Thunder and Lightning polka

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Some wonderful music...

...in bits.

[salymap]

Some wonderful music...

...in bits.

My thoughts entirely - more Dvorak would have been nice- perhaps 'Song to the Moon'

One of my two favourite Dvorak symphonies though - the other is no 7.

[LaurieWatt]

CBSO/Nelsons Afternoon Prom 17/8/13

I cannot understand why no one has started a thread about this afternoon Prom yesterday - either before, during or since! If I have been completely blind and missed it, could some kind soul please link me up.

I had no time for the J Strauss, particularly, but the Dvorak 8 was one of the most sublime performances that I think I have ever heard, of a work I know extremely well having about nine recordings of it and having played in it in an amateur capacity many times. I also think that the Letter Scene from Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin was about as fine as I have ever heard it. What a voice that girl has. A great concert in a superb broadcast - again- and I transferred it all to CDR and managed to cut out the infuriating clapping between the movements in the symphony....

[Petrushka]

I cannot understand why no one has started a thread about this afternoon Prom yesterday - either before, during or since! If I have been completely blind and missed it, could some kind soul please link me up.

I had no time for the J Strauss, particularly, but the Dvorak 8 was one of the most sublime performances that I think I have ever heard, of a work I know extremely well having about nine recordings of it and having played in it in an amateur capacity many times. I also think that the Letter Scene from Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin was about as fine as I have ever heard it. What a voice that girl has. A great concert in a superb broadcast - again- and I transferred it all to CDR and managed to cut out the infuriating clapping between the movements in the symphony....

As usual. EA started one but you had to scroll down an awful of page to find it. Perhaps a friendly bump up the page the previous day might help those Proms threads that haven't attracted comment since being started?

[amateur51]

I think that EA does a pretty marvellous job keeping these concert pages up. Could the hosts please slide these posts into the official concert pages as they see fit please? (you're welcome to remove this one once you've done)

[Bryn]

Prod

[Zucchini]

We attended the 'preview' of this concert in B'ham Town Hall on Thursday (Symphony Hall is undergoing some refurbishmant prior to the new season). The CBSO was absolutely dazzling throughout last season and this concert was another example of the extraordinary transparency Nelsons achieves. The tempi and dynamics were beautifully sculpted in the Dvorak; his music-making sounds natural and easy - but it isn't! I hadn't heard KO, Mrs Nelsons, before. She has a lovely voice and is clearly a sensitive and intelligent artist and I'd be peased to see her again.

Classicalsource is effusive in praise for yesterday's Prom

http://www.classicalsource.com/db_control/db_prom_review.php?id=11296

I was pleased to see that the brilliant Marie-Christine Zupancic (flute) and Elspeth Dutch (horn) are mentioned.

And The Guardian gave 5 stars for the Birmingham one

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/aug/16/proms-46-cbso-nelsons-review

[bluestateprommer]

Just completed listening to the CBSO Prom from iPlayer, and a fine, enjoyable concert. Since Dvorak 8 is my favorite of his symphonies, I'm always happy to hear a live relay (or delayed live relay, in my case). Very good work from the CBSO, and while one or two tempo nudgings from Nelsons in the finale weren't quite to my taste (one passage in the finale slowed down just a bit too much for me), it's great to hear the orchestra on such good form. Not so great were the smatterings of audience applause between the movements, which especially after the quiet endings of the slow movement and scherzo completely wrecked the mood. (What would be fun to hear one of these days, after the 1st movement of the Dvorak, would be not applause, but a collective gasp after the headlong rushing conclusion.) Excellent work from Kristine Opolais in her Verdi and Tchaikovsky selections also. I was fortunate enough to hear her Magda in La rondine in NYC at the Met earlier this year, so I knew how good she was and is from that. Nice "palate cleansers" with the Johann Strauss II selections, which Petroc did note were a bit back to the Barbirolli 'Viennese Proms' back in the day.

Given the construction of this particular program, with the big work in the first half and shorter selections (albeit very substantial shorter selections, with the Verdi and Tchaikovsky soprano scenas) in the second half, I thought to look up my copy of The Proms: A New History, thinking back to what programs were like when Newman, Wood and Cathcart got Robert Newman's Promenade Concerts started. I found this passage by Leanne Langley:

"A promenade's first part contained its most serious musical elements, while the second had a more popular, miscellany feel - often dance music or vocal numbers; the evening progressed so that a range of expectations could be fulfilled." (p. 41)

Granted again, the Otello and Eugene Onegin scenas are certainly serious, but the general concert structure point is why I mention this quote.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Threads merged as requested.

[BBMmk2]

Some wonderful music...

...in bits.

Thunder and Lightening!! Donner und Blitzen!!