Prom 55 - 23.08.13: Lutosławski, Shostakovich & Panufnik

[gedsmk]

What a sensational Prom!
... Great encores, and overall, this has to be one of the best Proms of the season.

What were the encores? i was out and missed the whole concert, sadly. Hope to LA some time next week when I have access to broadband.

[teamsaint]

Sensational in the hall and everyone I spoke to in the pub after seemed to agree. Also, his encore was almost unbelievable in the moment. Evidently one of those "you had to be there" things. Overall this concert was a highlight of the season IMO.

Thanks for that Simon, must try to catch this one one LA.

Wish I lived near a pub where DSCH was a normal topic of conversation !! perhaps if One Direction cover few of his tunes.... Suggestions on a postcard.......

[Bryn]

Sensational in the hall and everyone I spoke to in the pub after seemed to agree. Also, his encore was almost unbelievable in the moment. Evidently one of those "you had to be there" things. Overall this concert was a highlight of the season IMO.

I've only just managed to get round to listening to last night's performance. I more than half expected to find myself in agreement with Simon, and fair enough, in the final movement it seemed to gel, but in the first, and to some extent the second, Melnikov did seem to be struggling to get his fingers round the keyboard at times, and to be at odds with Wit over the tempo. I feel that even the composer offered better executed performances than this. I will, however check out his CD of the concertos, hoping this was just an 'off night'.

[edashtav]

Shosta's Torso Symphony & Panufnik Starting the Polish Avant-Garde by the Thames!

Sensational in the hall and everyone I spoke to in the pub after seemed to agree. Also, his encore was almost unbelievable in the moment. Evidently one of those "you had to be there" things. Overall this concert was a highlight of the season IMO.

Yes, Simon, it was close to sensational in the Hall (85% full and not too hot). Full marks to Wit for knowing all but the Piano Concerto so well that he didn't need a score. There's probably no conductor standing who has conducted the Concerto for Orchestra, so often. As Jayne has wisely remarked detail ruled at the expense of animal passion. But... I was thankful to hear for the first time facets of a work unnoticed before. Antoni revealed in the programme notes that he'd never conducted the Shostakovich Piano Concerto before: that piece and the Symphony were "Proms" choices whilst he'd been able to select the Polish works. I think that was obvious in the performance which contained passages that were rushed. I think the fast pace for the first movement may have affected a slightly tense Melnikov. However, the fleet pianist showed that the slow movement is not just a trivial tune but has a wistful profundity. This was the best interpretation of this movement that I've heard. There's an article to be written about short "lighter" piano concertos ( often with a twist of "Youth") by Russian / Soviet Composers: just in the 20th century, there are many examples- we heard one of Glazunov's earlier in the Proms, Prokofiev's first is another, Kabelevsky wrote several and Shostakovitch's 2nd belongs, too. I found much to enjoy in the performance - partly because I've so rarely heard the work live. Melnikov's encore (was it Scriabin?) was divine!

Come on, Jayne, I've got room for another interpretation of Panufnik's powerful Tragic Overture and we must ration how much exposure he gets this year because next year is the centenary of his birth. I've loved the work since the Horenstein LP was first issued. This interpretation didn't quite have that old maestro's grinding power but Panufnik's block scoring made a great impact in the RAH - one section where trumpets and trombones to Wit's right tossed the pregnant motif to the angry horns to his left will remain long in memory. The final chord failed for me- that's partly Panufnik's fault - it's over in a flash, but both here and in the Symphony, Wit, who was an assured and wise guide, just lost control in the ultimate bar - I swear that the orchestra finished the symphony a beat before its conductor! Panufnik remains a fascinating composer - a mixture of traditional means -he was obsessed with motivic development as Brahms - melded with cutting edge contemporary processes.

I hadn't heard Panufnik's (London ?) Lullaby before. It was sensational stuff, the string piece that secretly launched a thousand copies by Penderecki & the young Polish Turks and that led, indirectly, to Ligeti and Xenakis. The conceit is artless in its simplicity: invent a sinuous neo-Polish folk lullaby score it as a solo for the leader, then repeat it around the "inner" circle: leader of the 2nds, violas, celli,... add two harps that seem to acknowledge a beating heart (pre-echoing, I thought, time ticking away in Panufnik's later masterpiece "Autumn Music" ); the magic is provided by 25, or so, separately scored, individual string micro-tonal lines that create a constantly changing swirl of mists and clouds so that the theme now shines, becomes veiled, & almost disappears... This was a brilliant choice. The "post-modern"accompaniment at first stuck in the audience's communal gullet and it croaked, coughed and spluttered in embarrassed incomprehension ( not aided by a noisy intrusive new(?) air-conditioning unit). Then, structural simplicity and keening appeal gripped, engrossed and silenced the crowd... they had been won over. The Warsaw strings are the finest part of the band. That contributed to a wonderful performance. I was deeply moved... shaken.. and stirred.
PLEASE REPEAT THIS SEMINAL PIECE DURING THE PROMS PANUFNIK CENTENARY CONCERTS!

On to the evening's finale: Shostakovich's Torso Symphony, a.k.a. no 6 in B minor. That thought crystallised in my head after reading Pauline Fairclough's superb programme note. She mentioned a bemused Soviet critic describing it after the premiere as a"symphony without a head". We often deride Soviet commentators or dismiss them because they had to cow-tow to the twisted logic of the Soviet regime, but that writer was spot on: this symphony lacks its first movement - the part that sets the scene and lays down the issues. We're plunged into a serious Largo. We don't know why, but we seem to be in a blasted heath, all around is grim devastation. Its few inhabitants have scarcely the will to live. Are they shell-shocked? The movement grinds to almost to a halt: hope is, apparently, snuffed out. Of course, I'm adding a gloss that fits Soviet Russia 25 years after the Revolution, it's zeal and high hopes have been replaced by... desperation, defeated souls & desolation of the spirit. Pauline added, helpfully, Stalin's slogan from the 1930s "Life has become more Joyful" and noted DSCH's fascination with the comedy and satire of Offenbach. Shostakovich added two fast movements - one of biting, Mahlerian satire, the finale, a barnstorming circus romp. All too deep for Stalin's henchmen to understand: perhaps they thought that Comrade Shostakovich had lost his mind - a useful disguise in arbitrary, repressive times.

What of Wit and the WPO's performance? Good, to very good, I thought. Tempi, characterisation and playing were of a high order, with brilliant work from strings and brass. I had my reservation re the woodwind: I wanted to buy the neat piccolo player a better instrument - I shall sound like a shade of hornspieler when suggest that her instrument was not tuned to the leader's "A", and the first oboe during the high tessitura passage in the allegro sounded scrawny,thin, exposed and naked - just like me, a second bass, filling in for a missing tenor line.

Just a word about the first of Wit's two micro encores - the Gavotte from Prokofiev's Classical Symphony. Frankly he hammed it up. Prokofiev does not suggest rits and a tempi. Wit added inappropriate rubati as if he were conducting Strauss at a Vienna New Year's Day Concert. This was score abuse! I can't wait for ferney's reaction!

Overall, a great programme, pretty well played and conducted. A real Proms' Event. My money was well spent. I must gird my loins for DSCH#5, tonight!

[Bryn]

... Just a word about the first of Wit's two micro encores - the Gavotte from Prokofiev's Classical Symphony. Frankly he hammed it up. ...

I know it was describes as the Gavotte form Prokofiev's Classical Symphony, but was it not, rather, that from his Romeo and Juliette? Not quite the same thing, I think.

[Nick Armstrong]

the slow movement is not just a trivial tune but has a wistful profundity. This was the best interpretation of this movement that I've heard.

He does something very special with it on his Harmonia Mundi recording too.

Great review, ed!

We didn't go in the end, not quite enough time to get there sensibly - in the end I had a private recital of Ravel, Brahms, Balakirev , Chopin and Fauré (Nocturne Nº 4 ) on the piano at home...

It was more moving than any external concert could have been!

[PJPJ]

Yes; Wit's NAXOS recording of Lutos' Concerto for Orchestra is with the Polish National Radio Orchestra (and very good it is, too). He recorded his Szymanowski and Penderecki recordings with the Warsaw SO. Sadly, nothing by Panufnik has been recorded on NAXOS by Wit. (In fact, there's very little by Panufnik on NAXOS at all: a missed opportunity, I'd've thought.)

... though possibly because CPO is issuing a Panufnik series with Borowicz, very well worth investigating. They're up to Vol 6, I think.

[PJPJ]

[COLOR="#0000FF"]He does something very special with it on his Harmonia Mundi recording too.

I think it's an impressive release, and those interested in high resolution recordings and who don't have this already may be tempted by Qobuz's offer:

http://www.qobuz.com/album/alexander-melnikov-dmitri-shostakovich-piano-concertos/3149020210420

[Simon B]

I've only just managed to get round to listening to last night's performance. I more than half expected to find myself in agreement with Simon, and fair enough, in the final movement it seemed to gel, but in the first, and to some extent the second, Melnikov did seem to be struggling to get his fingers round the keyboard at times, and to be at odds with Wit over the tempo. I feel that even the composer offered better executed performances than this. I will, however check out his CD of the concertos, hoping this was just an 'off night'.

A fair response - this does happen, quite often it seems. I have a fleeting recollection of occasional... approximation... notewise in the first movement (which was taken very briskly) but, in the moment, it didn't seem to matter.

Ed hits the nail on the head re my reaction and that of those I spoke to after, with

"This was the best interpretation of this (2nd) movement that I've heard."

That seemed to be what had made the greatest impression on us and, perhaps, those in the hall generally.

It's always fascinating (providing, as here, that no-one is determined to be "right" about it) that such differences in perception of the same thing experienced live and in a recording can occur. I'm reluctant to listen again on the iPlayer, in case I now hear it the same as you!

[Bryn]

Thanks for that, PJPJ, it's now downloading here. I was going to mention the current offer re. the CD at Presto Classical, but the Qobuz high resolution offer beats it.

[edashtav]

DON'T DISTURB! Memories of Live Performances are Precious

A fair response - this does happen, quite often it seems. I have a fleeting recollection of occasional... approximation... notewise in the first movement (which was taken very briskly) but, in the moment, it didn't seem to matter.



It's always fascinating (providing, as here, that no-one is determined to be "right" about it) that such differences in perception of the same thing experienced live and in a recording can occur. I'm reluctant to listen again on the iPlayer, in case I now hear it the same as you!

You've hit on a great truth, Simon... and I shall go further.

One of the seminal performances of my life was Silvestri's amazing account of Enescu's 1st Symphony with the BSO in Brum Town Hall on the night Harold was giving his "White Hot Technocracy " speech nearby in the Bull Ring ( a difficult choice that I got right). For 30 years afterwards I could not bare to hear ANY other version of the Enescu lest it replaced my clear and precious memories of every note from that night. It had made such an impact on me that when I got to my digs on my bike, I'd covered the 25 min journey in under 12mins - despite my chain coming off midway ( it had become over-excited by my frenetic pedalling.)

[Bryn]

Have now noise shaped the Qobus download to 16 bit for ease of burning to CDA format (I'll up-sample the 24 bit files from 44.1 kHz to 48kHz for burning to an audio DVD later.

This studio recording is so much more to my linking, the 2nd Concerto is just superb here, and what an intelligent compilation. The inclusion of the Violin Sonata is so right.

[jayne lee wilson]

Fascinating review Edashtav, thankyou...

I've never personally felt anything to be lacking in DSCH 6, and I wonder if it's the closest he came in a symphony to "pure music", in the classical sense, unencumbered by hidden programmes or meanings. The first few minutes of the Largo - a declarative cry of pain followed swiftly by a tragic climax - carry more weight than you would expect from a slow movement, emotionally and musically. For me this is enough of a "1st movement" in its depth and power. Then it sinks into darkness and stillness....a long night-watch... finally light breaks upon the vigil as those horns come in, mood lightening in a major key, near the close. You could see it as a dawn to dusk piece, and there are plenty of other DSCH vigils to relate it to.

The second movement gets gently under way... life's bustle returns again, becomes a bit too bright and garish and overstimulating, but ends with a lovely shadowy coda in which I don't find anything sharp or sardonic; it seems rather peaceful, beautifully scored too - DSCH just enjoying the pure pleasure of sound? The finale is indeed riotous, inhabited by the crazy, slightly unnerving hysterical joy of clowns tumbling around a circus ring... we've gone from catastrophe and desolation to recovery, creative joy and finally - way too much excitement. It is a way of seeing the world. However you see Shostakovich and what his life did to his creative personality, it would all make perfect sense from the point of view of a manic depressive.

Shostakovich Symphony No. 6 "The Classical"... yes, why not? It offers a very unusual foreground against classical models of allegro-adagio-scherzo-finale, with the first two movements compressed into one (the Largo). The great emotional import of those first few minutes makes it work (I hope not just for me), but think of the opening of Bruckner 7, and how B7 follows two slower movements with two quick ones; or the reverse in Schnittke 5...).

The 6th is a symphony of extremes; whether you "understand" it may even depend upon your own life-experience. It may be divided against itself, but I think it does find a delicate balance - delicate and emotionally fragile.

[Petrushka]

I can't add anything more to the excellent reviews above except to say I greatly enjoyed this Prom. The Lutoslawski Concerto for Orchestra is rapidly becoming one of my favourite pieces and this was a superb outing, worth the price of the concert ticket alone. Seems a long time ago now since I was present at a 1990 Prom performance with the Cleveland Orchestra and Dohnanyi and found it a tough listen.

Great Prom.

[OldTechie]

I think it's an impressive release, and those interested in high resolution recordings and who don't have this already may be tempted by Qobuz's offer:

http://www.qobuz.com/album/alexander.../3149020210420

Thanks for that PJPJ. It's first class in every way.