Prom 7 - 23.07.14: BBC SO, Connolly / Faust / Bělohlávek

[amateur51]

I enjoyed the Shostakovich but I tend to agree with some of the reservations re lack of tightness & spine-chilling effect.

However it occurs to me that after rehearsing and delivering a world-premiere and a stunning performance of an earlier 20th century masterpiece with a world-class soloist,a taut, thrilling Shostakovich symphony no.10 might have been beyond most orchestras, particularly in that heat.

[Ferretfancy]

Prom 7 BBC SO / Connolly / Faust / Belohlavek

Last night's Prom began from the grave, as it were, with Gnosis by John Tavener, a world premiere. Sarah Connolly sang beautifully as always with alto flute soloist Michael Cox and the strings of the BBC SO.

I'm afraid that Tavener is not for me, but it seemed harmless enough at 12 minutes.

Isabelle Faust played one of my favourite Bartok works, the 2nd Violin Concerto. She doesn't have a very forceful tone, but played accurately. I just wish that she found more under the surface, the quieter moments surely deserve more melancholic expression than we heard last night.

The concert ended with an excellent performance of the Shostakovich Tenth, with most expressive playing, particularly in the many passages with clarinet and bassoon, in fat all the woodwinds were in fine form on a very hot night.

[Lento]

The 3rd mvt of the Bartok outstays its welcome for me, especially that falling 4th! I presume we heard the original version and not the shorter alternative?

[bluestateprommer]

I might be in the minority on this Prom, but I thought that this was a very fine Prom indeed, with JB making what appears to be a welcome return to his old orchestra, and the BBC SO and sounding on terrific form for him. I think that with Oramo as chief conductor, and JB and Sir Andrew Davis as co-conductors laureate, as well as Bychkov as de facto principal guest conductor, this should be a golden age for the ensemble in terms of affiliated conducting talent. That aside, on to the main business here:

The new Taverner piece started off OK, kind of typical in his idiom, but then for me took a horribly wrong turn with the Mozart quotation. JT fell into the trap so common with composers who quote other famous works, namely that listeners will remember the musical quote and not his/her own work surrounding it. He made it even worse by aping the Mozart instrumentation so closely. If JT had made the Mozart quote more subtle / less blatant, I could have lived with that. But it put a damper on the proceedings there. No complaints about Michael Cox & the BBC SO strings there.

I have to admit that Bartok's VC # 2 is one of those works that I've never internalized for myself, even after trying to listen to it on recordings (and once live) for years. It's not because it's a bad work, far from it, or that I dislike it, but that I literally "don't get it". I'm not sure what happened here, but this performance from Isabelle Faust with JB and the BBC SO has come the closest ever to making me "get it", although I don't admit to being there yet. I thought that they all did very, very well. In terms of comments here about her tone sometimes being harsh, I suspect that she adopts that "rough" tone because she feels that it fits the passage in question, if this article about her is anything to go by:

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/sep/15/isabelle-faust-violin-musical-sleuth-interview

In DSCH 10, I'll admit that my image of JB as a mild-mannered, refined gent who doesn't push buttons had biased in advance what I was expecting for his interpretation of the symphony. To some extent, his straight, no-nonsense interpretation was just that, but for me, it came across as something more, perhaps precisely because JB didn't impose an obvious agenda, or pull phrasing out of place, or anything like that. I liked the sense of cumulative power that built up over the whole span. JB got a big sound when he wanted it, and refined things down when smaller scale volumes demanded it. I thought the orchestra was on cracking form here. (Granted, it's long past time to give DSCH 10 a break from The Proms, because it's been on the roster in 16 of the past 20 Proms seasons.)

As I said, I suspect that I'm in the minority, but I'm thinking that this is one of the most underrated Proms so far this season.

[Tevot]

I have to admit that Bartok's VC # 2 is one of those works that I've never internalized for myself, even after trying to listen to it on recordings (and once live) for years. It's not because it's a bad work, far from it, or that I dislike it, but that I literally "don't get it". I'm not sure what happened here, but this performance from Isabelle Faust with JB and the BBC SO has come the closest ever to making me "get it".

My sentiments and experience of the Bartok too after just having listened to it on Listen Again