Prom 68 - 2.09.13: Tchaikovsky, Szymanowski & Rachmaninov

[amac4165]

What was the encore?

i heard the Rachmaninov with the Philadelphia Orchestra a few years ago - lovely sound, but wish they'd been conducted by someone with a bit more drive than Dutoit. Petrenko was pretty good tonight, as was the orchestra, though I think it took them a while to warm up.

in the hall it certainly seemed that they were on firmer ground in the second half.

encore apparently Geirr Tveitt - 100 Songs of Hardanger (which of the 100 it was - they did not say)

[jayne lee wilson]

[QUOTE=LaurieWatt;327325]

WOW! Well, so much for the Proms fizzling out this year...

What a wonderful Tchaikovsky 1st.

Yes, Jayne but the strings were having a real old scramble to keep up in the last movement. The only other down side for me was an over slow and rather slack second movement. The rest was terrific and again a wonderful broadcast.

Surprised you found the adagio slow, Laurie... didn't have the stopwatch on it tonight (!), Petrenko didn't strike me as obviously malingering, but Svetlanov ranges from 9'47 (Tokyo 1990) to 13'43 (Moscow 1993). Litton makes it to 11'47, Dorati a typically bracing 9'48.... one way or another they all work (the later Svetlanov perhaps not "a library choice"...).

[Hornspieler]

Surprised you found the adagio slow, Laurie... didn't have the stopwatch on it tonight (!), Petrenko didn't strike me as obviously malingering, but Svetlanov ranges from 9'47 (Tokyo 1990) to 13'43 (Moscow 1993). Litton makes it to 11'47, Dorati a typically bracing 9'48.... one way or another they all work (the later Svetlanov perhaps not "a library choice"...).

I just thought it was a great concert.

I still have my BBC Stopwatch (they didn't ask for it back when I left in 1978) but it hangs on the wall above my computer and there it will remain.

HS

[Alison]

You're back then HS. Good.

[salymap]

You're back then HS. Good.

Oh has he been away ? Yes welcome back, your posts are needed.

[LaurieWatt]

[QUOTE=jayne lee wilson;327426]

Surprised you found the adagio slow, Laurie... didn't have the stopwatch on it tonight (!), Petrenko didn't strike me as obviously malingering, but Svetlanov ranges from 9'47 (Tokyo 1990) to 13'43 (Moscow 1993). Litton makes it to 11'47, Dorati a typically bracing 9'48.... one way or another they all work (the later Svetlanov perhaps not "a library choice"...).

I am sure that you are right, Jayne, it just felt that way to me; but once he got going I loved his energy in the outer movements despite my criticism of the slightly ragged ensemble in the strings in the last movement - and I should say that the concluding four unison horns at the end of the adagio were really great, with the sound building wonderfully through that passage. Many conductors make the mistake of having them play ff throughout which is completely wrong.

[Tony Halstead]

Oh has he been away ? Yes welcome back, your posts are needed.

Seconded!

[Nachtigall]

I was in the Hall last night – and damned hot it was too at the back of the side stalls. Petrenko looked ashen-faced and exhausted at the end of the concert, but performances of all three pieces were superb, the Tchaikovsky particularly lovely, dynamic when it needed to be and lingering and poetic elsewhere. Just one point I would raise – and this issue has been discussed before, I'm sure – and that concerns the final chord of the Rachmaninov and the role of the Tam-Tam. I missed the reverberating sound of the Tam-Tam at the end of last night's performance. Petrenko finished with his left arm upraised for several seconds as if indicating that he wished the sound to continue resonating, but I couldn't even see a large Tam-Tam in the percussion section! My score of the Symphonic Dances is clearly marked laisser vibrer over the dotted crotchet of the Tam-Tam, all other instruments playing quavers. I wonder if anyone else noticed this.

[LaurieWatt]

I was in the Hall last night – and damned hot it was too at the back of the side stalls. Petrenko looked ashen-faced and exhausted at the end of the concert, but performances of all three pieces were superb, the Tchaikovsky particularly lovely, dynamic when it needed to be and lingering and poetic elsewhere. Just one point I would raise – and this issue has been discussed before, I'm sure – and that concerns the final chord of the Rachmaninov and the role of the Tam-Tam. I missed the reverberating sound of the Tam-Tam at the end of last night's performance. Petrenko finished with his left arm upraised for several seconds as if indicating that he wished the sound to continue resonating, but I couldn't even see a large Tam-Tam in the percussion section! My score of the Symphonic Dances is clearly marked laisser vibrer over the dotted crotchet of the Tam-Tam, all other instruments playing quavers. I wonder if anyone else noticed this.

Yes, I did, shame on him. It was a big dark tam-tam which hardly 'spoke' and he would no doubt say that it laissez-vibré'd - yes, for the exact three quavers of the rest of the orchestra! I did not think a lot of what he did with the Symphonic Dances anyway so I will not be keeping that one!

[Madame Suggia]

I was in the second row of the arena last night and I thought the concert was superb!
Yes, you're right Nichtgall we didn't hear the reverberating Tam-Tam as the applause cut in too soon. I'm used to the utterly wonderful Kondrashin recording and was looking forward to hearing that reverb.

One thing did spoil the evening was a very elderly gentleman who's a regular prommer pushing in to be near the front then grabbing his bag and leaving the moment the Rachmaninov finished not adding to any applause. He did miss a superb encore though :)

Does anyone know what the encore was?

[Zucchini]

Classical source says: "...one of Geirr Tveitt’s Hardanger Tunes (there are a hundred in his collection)"

How did you find Baiba? Classical Source describes her as "sensational" and that she gave "a fabulous performance"

[Hornspieler]

Yes, I did, shame on him. It was a big dark tam-tam which hardly 'spoke' and he would no doubt say that it laissez-vibré'd - yes, for the exact three quavers of the rest of the orchestra! I did not think a lot of what he did with the Symphonic Dances anyway so I will not be keeping that one!

But you will be comparing last night's performance with the LPO broadcast last year, Laurie.

No contest! I don't expect ever to hear a better, more exciting performance than the LPO gave on that occasion, but the Oslo players, despite the heat (probably more uncomfortable to a group of Scandinavian players than for we Brits) acquitted themselves very well, I thought.

Probably the most demanding work that Rachmaninoff ever wrote and (IMHO) his best.




HS

[jean]

Very interesting introduction - Vasily says that after working for so long with the RLPO, he has got the sound he wants in Russian music from them; but the Oslo orchestra, despite being geographically closer to Russia, don't instinctively align themselves with that tradition.

(If he was leaving us for them, I'd be very jealous - but he's going to b chief conductor of both orchestras, so I'm not.)

[Sir Velo]

the Oslo orchestra, despite being geographically closer to Russia, don't instinctively align themselves with that tradition.

Not really so surprising. Norway, being owned by Denmark until the 19th century which, in turn, was always culturally more influenced by the Germanic speaking peoples in Europe.

[jean]

Not surprising - but Vasily thought it worth mentioning, so I repeated what he said.

It occurred to me when I was in Poland (which is even closer to Russia than Sweden) that the Polish choral tradition owed nothing to the Russian, but that's more a matter of religion than politics.

But I digress.