Prom 74 - 6.09.13: Vienna Philharmonic

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

7.30pm – c. 10.00pm
Royal Albert Hall

Bach
Cantata 'Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir', BWV 29 – Sinfonia (arr. A. Guilmant) (5 mins)
- Sinfonia
Bach
Chorale Prelude 'Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr', BWV 662 (8 mins)
Bach
Chorale Prelude 'Komm, Gott Schöpfer, heiliger Geist', BWV 667 (3 mins)
Bach
Chorale Prelude 'Vor deinem Thron tret' ich hiermit', BWV 668 (5 mins)
Bach
Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 543 (10 mins)
INTERVAL
Bruckner
Symphony No. 8 in C minor (1890 version, ed. Nowak) (85 mins)

Klaus Sonnleitner organ
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Lorin Maazel conductor

Lorin Maazel directs Bruckner's mighty Symphony no 8, a work composed as a conscious tribute to the three great Austro-German masters whose legacy Bruckner most admired: Beethoven, Schubert and Wagner.

Before it, music for organ by J S Bach - a reminder both that Bruckner was himself an accomplished organist, and also that he himself gave six recitals on the Albert Hall organ in 1871. Tonight's soloist - the distinguished performer Klaus Sonnleitner - is present-day organist at St Florian's Abbey, Linz, where Bruckner himself was organist almost 160 years ago.

[slarty]

Vienna Philharmonic at the proms 2013

I have just been reading the Intermezzo blogsite and in the part pertaining to the proms he/she? writes

Prom 74: Vienna Philharmonic. Finding out the Vienna Phil are scheduled, then learning that, yet again, Maazel is down to conduct is like finding a fly in your soup, dogshit on your Louboutins and Bryan Hymel standing in for Jonas Kaufmann - all at once.

I could not resist quoting this here. I find it so appealing as a comment.
My feelings exactly.

[pastoralguy]

I have just been reading the Intermezzo blogsite and in the part pertaining to the proms he/she? writes

Prom 74: Vienna Philharmonic. Finding out the Vienna Phil are scheduled, then learning that, yet again, Maazel is down to conduct is like finding a fly in your soup, dogshit on your Louboutins and Bryan Hymel standing in for Jonas Kaufmann - all at once.

I could not resist quoting this here. I find it so appealing as a comment.
My feelings exactly.

.

He's never really been feted here as he is in the States. I suspect he's not the worst but not the best either.

[Stephen Smith]

I too follow Intermezzo. I agree about Maazel - disastrous, in my experience,although he knew how to conduct his own opera, 1984.
I don't, however, subscribe to Intermezzo's disparaging view of Brian Hymel. Perhaps she found him disappointing in some particular context, but I think it very unfair to criticise him in this fashion. Is it just because he is not Jonas Kaufmann? I've only heard Kaufman live once - in Adrian Lecouvrier - and he sounded baritonal to me. In that respect, I probably need to hear him in other roles, as there are plenty who are in thrall to him as a star tenor .

Which leads me to my 2nd thought - Brian Hymel turns up - and he gave a great account of himself in Les Troyens. I'd be happy to advance book for Hymel, but I might wait for day ticket queues when Kaufmann is scheduled.

[pilamenon]

Maazel is down to conduct is like finding a fly in your soup, dogshit on your Louboutins... I could not resist quoting this here. I find it so appealing as a comment.

Far from finding such comments 'appealing', I am rather glad that I don't read Intermezzo, whoever they are. Their comments sound thoroughly nasty and spiteful.

Lorin Maazel may not be many people's first choice conductor, but to compare him to "dogshit" - easy to spit such bile out in the comfort of cyberspace, but would they say that to his face, I wonder?

I enjoyed a live Mahler 1 he did with the NYPO.

[Barbirollians]

Far from finding such comments 'appealing', I am rather glad that I don't read Intermezzo, whoever they are. Their comments sound thoroughly nasty and spiteful.

Lorin Maazel may not be many people's first choice conductor, but to compare him to "dogshit" - easy to spit such bile out in the comfort of cyberspace, but would they say that to his face, I wonder?

I enjoyed a live Mahler 1 he did with the NYPO.

He does get bad reviews nowadays but I have always enjoyed his Mahler 4 recording - very well played as well as his 1960s Sibelius .

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I've him only once, conducting the LSO in Sibelius 1 in Manchester in the laste 1960s. It was an incredible performance. His recordings of the Sibelius and Tchaikovsky symphonies are particularly special, and he's done a fair few rather good New Year's Day concerts. So I don't go along with the unpleasant hate campaign.

[Richard Tarleton]

I think people are missing the main point of this story which is that Intermezzo wears Louboutins

[DracoM]

Well, I can tell you he is nothing like he was in the 1960s. Saw him then, saw him the other month in the idolising NYC, and even the NYC crowd sounded damning with faint praise, I can tell you. It is NOT hate, well - not from me, he's just way.way past his sell-by date.

He retired once from concert podium and then came back. Why the heck the VPO think he's the deal I simply do not know. Do they still think he is the light bulb he was in the 60's? Because, believe me, he's a guttering candle now. And as said above, he never truly had the same status in UK as he had in USA. I feel very sorry for those who bought tickets seeing the VPO name and then saw the conductor's name.

[Richard Tarleton]

I feel very sorry for those who bought tickets seeing the VPO name and then saw the conductor's name.

Well, for me it was VPO and Bruckner 8, so 2 out of 3. I'd rather it had been Haitink, but....

Saw him a few times in the 70s in London, including that infamous Mahler 2 discussed recently. More recently in Cardiff with, er, the VPO....

[Stanfordian]

I've him only once, conducting the LSO in Sibelius 1 in Manchester in the laste 1960s. It was an incredible performance. His recordings of the Sibelius and Tchaikovsky symphonies are particularly special, and he's done a fair few rather good New Year's Day concerts. So I don't go along with the unpleasant hate campaign.

I heard Maazel conduct a quite stunning performance of Mahler's Symphony No.1 ‘Titan’ with an equally fine 'Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen' (Songs of a Wayfarer) at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester in April 2011.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I feel very sorry for those who bought tickets seeing the VPO name and then saw the conductor's name.

I only feel sorry that I didn't get a ticket. The VPO are not going to play Bruckner badly.

[Petrushka]

Far from finding such comments 'appealing', I am rather glad that I don't read Intermezzo, whoever they are. Their comments sound thoroughly nasty and spiteful.

Lorin Maazel may not be many people's first choice conductor, but to compare him to "dogshit" - easy to spit such bile out in the comfort of cyberspace, but would they say that to his face, I wonder?

Very well said, agree 100%. Give fair criticism to Maazel's interpretations by all means, that's anyone's right, but these comments are way beyond the pale.

I also have a ticket for this Prom and I also wish it was Haitink (I heard them do it in 1995 at the RFH) but can't pass up the chance to hear the VPO in Bruckner.

[slarty]

I too follow Intermezzo. I agree about Maazel - disastrous, in my experience,although he knew how to conduct his own opera, 1984.
I don't, however, subscribe to Intermezzo's disparaging view of Brian Hymel. Perhaps she found him disappointing in some particular context, but I think it very unfair to criticise him in this fashion. Is it just because he is not Jonas Kaufmann? I've only heard Kaufman live once - in Adrian Lecouvrier - and he sounded baritonal to me. In that respect, I probably need to hear him in other roles, as there are plenty who are in thrall to him as a star tenor ..

There have been very few tenors of the front rank through the last 120 years that could sing Gounod's Faust and Wagner's Siegmund equally well at the same period of their careers. Add to that Werther, Lohengrin, Don José, Don Carlo, Rodolfo(Boheme) and Parsifal among others.
Astounding! The least interesting role he sang was in the Lecouvreur you mention.
I would class his Wagner singing as outstanding, one needs to hear Melchior to hear his equal. His Verdi singing is also of the top rank. I never thought that I would hear a
better Don Carlo than Vickers, but I have. His Werther leaves me shattered.
I have been going to the opera since the early sixties and listening even longer.
If he decided that he did not want to/ or could not sing Aeneas, so be it.
I will gladly take whatever he does decide to sing - this Thursday in Munich - his first Manrico - next month at Salzburg - a new production of Don Carlo.
Next season at CG - Manon Lescaut.
I would definitely recommend getting a ticket to see this singer any way possible.
You will not see his like too often in a lifetime.
This deserves to be in a different thread.
I will leave it for others to decide.

[Zucchini]

JK can also sing Die Schone Mullerin magnificently. Amazing man!