Prom 52 - 21.08.13: Vir, Sibelius, Bantock & Elgar

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

7.30pm – c. 9.55pm
Royal Albert Hall

Param Vir
Cave of Luminous Mind (20 mins)
BBC Commission, World Premiere
Sibelius
Violin Concerto in D minor (33 mins)
INTERVAL
Bantock
Celtic Symphony (20 mins)
Elgar
'Enigma' Variations (28 mins)

Lisa Batiashvili violin, New Generation Artist
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sakari Oramo conductor

Dedicated to the late Jonathan Harvey, Param Vir?s Cave of Luminous Mind is inspired by the mindfulness of Tibetan Buddhism and the story of Buddhist master Milarepa?s penitential progress on the Diamond Path.

Chief Conductor and Elgar Medalwinner Sakari Oramo directs the BBC Symphony Orchestra in the world premiere of Vir?s work, Elgar?s ?Enigma? Variations and Granville Bantock?s 1940 Celtic Symphony for strings and six harps. Georgian violinist Lisa Batiashvili plays Sibelius?s exhilarating Violin Concerto, a work she recorded in 2008 to rave reviews.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Ah, more Bantock!

[Serial_Apologist]

Ah, more Bantock!

And Param Vir - an Indian-born composer, I think I'm correct in saying, who evidently - like the late Jonathan Harvey, to whom this work is dedicated - transgresses certain fashionable notions among promoters and programmers that to write modern atonal music - in this instance to convey "non-western" spiritual experiences - amounts to some form of cultural imperialism.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

And Param Vir - an Indian-born composer, I think I'm correct in saying, who evidently - like the late Jonathan Harvey, to whom this work is dedicated - transgresses certain fashionable notions among promoters and programmers that to write modern atonal music - in this instance to convey "non-western" spiritual experiences - amounts to some form of cultural imperialism.

[mrbouffant]

I am looking forward to this one. In fact I have upset the missus by insisting on travelling back to London in the middle of our holiday so I can experience it in person! Can't wait for the 6-harp cadenza in the Bantock. Luscious!

[BBMmk2]

I am too! I couldn't believe it when I first saw the proms Prospectus when it came out! yes those six harps! Worth coming back to London just to hear the cadenza!!!

Hearing live would be fantastic!

[ucanseetheend]

nice to hear the Bantock.. The Enigma sounds good on Digital radio like to know the verdict from anyone attending.

[Maclintick]

nice to hear the Bantock.. The Enigma sounds good on Digital radio like to know the verdict from anyone attending.

An enjoyable & well-attended concert much appreciated by an attentive & enthusiastic audience. Sakari Oramo continues to enhance his credentials as an exponent of early twentieth-century British music -- the Bantock possessing the requisite dreaminess & folky fieriness (excellent solo cello contributions from the BBCSO's section principal, Susan Monk) & the Elgar well-paced & idiomatic.

Lisa Batiashvili played superlatively in the Sibelius. How lucky we are to have such an incredible crop of young mostly female violinists -- Hahn, Fischer, Steinbacher, Frang, et al. This was a top-drawer rendition of a concerto which embodies the uniquely expressive qualities of the violin in greater measure than perhaps any in the genre. On a sour note, I would willingly have throttled the punter in the stalls who ruined the rapt conclusion of the slow movement by producing a nasal eructation - an explosive hybrid of sneeze and snort which threatened to topple Sir Henry from his pedestal.

I'd need to hear the Param Vir piece a few more times before being able to comment -
having on first acquaintance found its gestures alternately tedious & hectoring.

[Pianophile]

It was indeed a top-drawer rendition of the Sibelius, as Maclintick said. Lovely to hear the delicious Bantock and a fine account of Enigma. A terrific evening all round.
I agree with Maclintick in that the person who made the disgraceful noise at the close of the Sibelius 2nd movement should have been taken out and shot..as should the person in front of me who was playing with a mobile phone throughout. Rant over.
Wonderful concert!

[pmartel]

My first time hearing Bantock. It was lovely, albeit hearing it through my tv in Canada. I did record the broadcast and must admit the Sibelius was truly electric

[edashtav]

Post 1 : Intoxicated by Param Vir

An enjoyable & well-attended concert much appreciated by an attentive & enthusiastic audience. Sakari Oramo continues to enhance his credentials as an exponent of early twentieth-century British music -- the Bantock possessing the requisite dreaminess & folky fieriness (excellent solo cello contributions from the BBCSO's section principal, Susan Monk) & the Elgar well-paced & idiomatic.

...

I'd need to hear the Param Vir piece a few more times before being able to comment -
having on first acquaintance found its gestures alternately tedious & hectoring.

Param Vir’s Cave of Luminous mind was an exotic confection and not at all what I was expecting: a disciplined work based on a clear harmonic field that would explore inward rather than outward realities. The absence of minor seconds did create, at the macro level, a sonance stage of rare openness and luminosity, but I was shocked to hear so many glissandi that formed, at the micro level, instant pin-pricks of a minor second character. I felt that was "having your cake and eating it".

The colours, the smells, the noise and clatter of modern India were all in the score. It was larger than life and depicted in clashing primary colours. I had a vision of a huge cave full of those highly decorated lorries that ply from northern India across the borders to countries such as Afghanistan; with their throttles fully opened by drivers high on numinous thoughts, these large vehicles acted like elephantine dodgem cars with horns a-blaring and their full-beam headlights etching the bejewelled outlines of fellow careering pantechnicons. By golly, this music was “full on” and played by the BBC SO under Oramo for all its worth. It was great fun. Was it any good? Time will tell.

[edashtav]

POST 2: Batiashvili Puts the Stays into Sibelius's Collar

[...]

Lisa Batiashvili played superlatively in the Sibelius. How lucky we are to have such an incredible crop of young mostly female violinists -- Hahn, Fischer, Steinbacher, Frang, et al. This was a top-drawer rendition of a concerto which embodies the uniquely expressive qualities of the violin in greater measure than perhaps any in the genre. [...}
.

Yes, MacLintick, you've listed a bevvy of fine, female, fiddlers.

For my money, Lisa Batiashvili heads this field. What do I like about her? The clear definition of her playing, certainly. Some violinists produce music that's like one of my shirts after its been in the washing machine. You can see it's a shirt but its form lacks crispness, it's ill-defined. Better fiddlers in your list ensure that they iron the shirt so that it has shape, symmetry, (where needed) sharp edges, but otherwise remains smooth and elegant. Lisa goes one further, she remembers the collar stiffeners that were removed during laundry. She puts them back giving the whole a great neck-line.

As you may have gathered , I loved her Sibelius. She knew the score backwards, projected it with great flair and received backing to die for from the BBC SO under Sakari Oramo. My doubts about the new Chief Conductor after the First Night of the Proms were banished and replaced by pure admiration.

[Nick Armstrong]

I have upset the missus by insisting on travelling back to London in the middle of our holiday so I can experience it in person! Can't wait for the 6-harp cadenza in the Bantock. Luscious!

I am agog to know whether the experience was sufficient to compensate for the outrage of mrsbouffant.....

the punter in the stalls who ruined the rapt conclusion of the slow movement by producing a nasal eructation - an explosive hybrid of sneeze and snort which threatened to topple Sir Henry from his pedestal.

the person who made the disgraceful noise at the close of the Sibelius 2nd movement should have been taken out and shot..as should the person in front of me who was playing with a mobile phone throughout.

These comments made me relive homicidal urges I have experienced in the Hall, due to echoing expectorations which too often have spoilt key moments of concerts

I've recounted in the past how on a number of occasions I've been in there with a gun and ammunition (due to the regulations imposed on a music-loving veterinarian friend with whom I went to a number of Proms, and who wasn't allowed to leave his 'equipment' unattended in his car).

The temptation to await each barking bronchitic round the back of the RAH afterwards and deploy said handgun was strong....

[edashtav]

POST 3 Bantock Returns to His Scottish Roots Having Masticated the World & its Music

It was indeed a top-drawer rendition of the Sibelius, as Maclintick said. Lovely to hear the delicious Bantock and a fine account of Enigma. A terrific evening all round.
[ ... rant ...]
Wonderful concert!

Ooh, Sir Granville Bantock, British music's best blotting paper. the great enthusiast. He only needed to hear a piece once, whether it was penned by Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Richard Strauss, Wagner, or Sibelius and his fertlile imagination wouldn't rest until he'd created "The Bantock Version".

Everything was grist to Sir Granville's mill, British poetry, Persian tales, Chinese stories, Greek Tragedies, the Bible, the Orient, Egypt - the world was in fact his oyster, no not his oyster but an enormous bed of oysters for Bantock was a gourmand, not a gourmet. His multifarious appetites were insatiable. Retirement was no time to rest - let's travel the world - nothing like being appointed a Music Examiner to reach ( for free) the places normally visited only by the intrepid.

What of his music? It's got everything, hasn't it? And ... just as you've rumbled the old wizard (who was a dab hand at scoring), he'll make a dream of a transition into a new mood that completely blunts your critical weapons. I find that "less is more". Tiny pieces like the "Sea Reivers" are terrific, everything happens at electrifying pace and before you've settled to fireside "influence spotting", he's wound the whole piece up. TERRIFIC.

The Celtic symphony is one of Bantocks's more concentrated, consistent scores. It belongs firmly in the ranks of those great 20th century British string orchestra pieces (EE, RVW, AB(l),BB, MT & SM). It creates and sustains moods, is unusually unluxuriant (open 5ths abound) and employs 6 harps with awe-inspiring restraint!

A great performance by Sakari Oramo and the BBC SO. As I wrote earlier of Lisa Batiashvili, Oramo doesn't allow music to sag, nothing's soggy, everything is tensioned, supple, and shapely.

Just the work for the RAH and the PROMS. Well done, everybody!

[HighlandDougie]

Another masterful deconstruction by Edashtav - I'm riveted by the Bantock - transporting me from the bright sunlight of the Alpes Maritimes to the Hebridean mists - I feel a few, "Och, aye the noos", coming on. What a great concert - Sakari Oramo might be the best Elgar conductor around at the moment (along with Vasily Petrenko). Very good sound, too. More like this, please.