Prom 51 - 20.08.13: Tippett, Britten & Sibelius

[edashtav]

Elgar's 2nd - One of Holst's 2 Greatest British Symphonies

I was in the hall, close to the back of the 2nd violins for the Elgar Symphony. Interesting that Harding had the violins at the front on either side, old-style, which meant the antiphonal effects of the 1st movement came over well. Good on him.
Hear,hear

As for The Spirit of Delight... well, she DID come tonight, though Master Harding I felt rather relied on the sheer brilliance of the LSO to get him through the Elgar in one piece. I've never before felt that the S.of D. perhaps hangs around for a little too long in the FIRST movement, but I did tonight, splendid though the big moments were. The slow movement came off magnificently, the rest (as too often) was an anticlimax. Superlative work from 1st clarinet (Andrew Marriner) and 1st oboe (Gordon Hunt).

I beg to disagree a tad : I savoured the the Spirit of Delight in the first movement more fully than before.

It's hard to imagine Les Ills done better, though. Bostridge was in great voice (really resonant in the hall) and for once superbly cast - given the mix of affected poetry, exquisite yet bold music, and all in French so one didn't have to worry about his horrid way of randomly wrenching poetic syllables! The orchestral support was virtuosic. Harding was superbly precise. This was exactly how the work needs to be.

Agreed, Bostridge was in fine fettle. A mature, fully-characterised performance.

Ah... but the Tippett Double Concerto (at least the slow movement and finale) made me cry. The incomparable 1st cellist (Rebecca Gilliver) was responsible for much of that emotion. What wonderful playing, and what a moving work...

Me,too ! Simply, one of my favourite scores.

(Sincere apologies to Master Jacques for mangling his fine report whilst interpolating my comments)

I listened to the Bank Holiday Repeat and enjoyed this concert immensely.

Whilst listening to the Elgar and seeing in my mind a panoply of Edwardian England disappearing into the mists of time and war, the face of Gustav Holst hovered. Suddenly I remembered what he had said so proudly at the 1927 Holst Festival in his home town of Cheltenham that the two greatest British symphonies had been written by composers born within 20 miles, or so, of Cheltenham.

There are no marks to be gained if you identify one of those works as EE's 2nd, but what other symphony by which composer did Holst nominate in his top 2 British symphonies?

Answers on a post, please!

[Alison]

Certainly a performance of the Second symphony to have one marvelling again at its sheer depth and originality. Definitely something to preserve in the archives. Initial doubts have given way to a suspicion that (I) was actually quite wonderfully paced.

[bluestateprommer]

I rather like his voice, but he's better at small-scale works with piano. He has the intelligence to sing Britten, but not always the poetic expressiveness. it sounded a bit contrived on the radio, though obviously the demands of the RAH and the demands of radio are very different. His French didn't sound as good as I'd expect from him, either.

Super piece, though! I always enjoy it.

I thought that IB's rendition of Les Illuminations was definitely the highlight of this Prom. I can certainly see where his manner might seem a touch OTT, but somehow for me, it worked here. Harding and the LSO strings were definitely with Bostridge all the way, and definitely "on".

Regarding the rest of the concert, it was good, and in the last two movements of Elgar 2, very good, but I wonder if that is more the LSO than Harding, as I couldn't tell that Harding brought all that much as an interpreter to those 3 works. In the Tippett, admittedly, there are overwritten and over-complex moments in each, but still, the Concerto for Double String Orchestra perhaps remains the best introduction to Tippett for newcomers. Parts of the first two movements of Elgar 2 were a bit slow for my taste, perhaps DH trying to milk "profundity" out of the moment, rather than getting on with it. However, I found the pacing in the last two movements much better judged on Harding's part. He does get points for antiphonal violins, as others have noted here.

Somewhat off-topic, but from some of the blistering comments below the Guardian review of this Prom, about Harding's reported arrogance toward orchestras below the review, I sincerely hope that the LSO do not vote him as their next principal conductor:

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/aug/21/prom-51-lso-harding-review

My hope is reinforced by my opinion that I didn't think that he particularly scaled the heights in the Mahler CO Prom earlier in the season, where he was OK, straightforward, though not particularly great.