Prom 19 - 31.07.14: RLPO, Dam-Jensen / V. Petrenko

[Petrushka]

[Nick Armstrong]

Well....

Wow ferney!! Thanks for such an insightful and detailed review. I'm especially grateful for the references to the score, because whenever I make comments about tempi, I'm conscious that (with the exception of a few symphonies and other pieces of which I have the music) I don't refer to the scores as I don't have access to them. That doesn't prevent this or that 'feeling' right or wrong for me - but is inevitable only part of the story. Really fascinating to read the conclusion to which you've come. Cheers

I shall be listening again.

All this and that stunning Elgar 1 a few days later, too!!

[EdgeleyRob]

Well, having listened to the Elgar three times now, I'll put in my tuppence 'alfpenny and say it was one of the greatest performances of one of the greatest Symphonies ever written. The orchestral playing was superb (a glitch of ensemble at the opening of the Second Movement apart) - soloistic detail was of the demonstration class (the solo violin at figure 33 was perfect, and the sprung rhythms of the Oboe solo at 79 in the Second movement perfectly poised - and that's not to mention the player's near superhuman breath control) and ensembles were magnificently balanced (not least the way the Bassoons emerge from their unison with the Horns at the start of the Coda of the Second Movement). The Brass section was fantastic, the Woodwinds magnificent, the Percussion perfect, and the Strings perhaps even best of all: this was an orchestra at the height of its considerable powers. The range of dynamics was little short of miraculous - and all used to structural effect, too: the first climax of the Second Movement powerful enough, but allowing even greater strength in the second half (tears of joy chez ferney at this point) and the way thematic recurrences between the movements was pointed by similar dynamic colours was greatly impressive.

Tempi. Well, aside from the slowing down towards the end of the Scherzo, there was nothing in Petrenko's pacing that isn't justified by the score. Every piu lento, impetuoso, accelerando and allargando was followed. The Scherzo was taken at both the Presto marking and the metronome Elgar gives (each bar lasting just a little over half a second) - and how the orchestration glitters at this Mendelssohnian, quicksilver pace - and how devastating the drums pound when it's this relentless (and how well Petrenko managed to connect this to that Music's first appearance in the First Movement: the destruction of a Musical "personality" the composer had previously presented. The First Movement had the swagger and sweep of Elgar's own recording (and Boult's first recording with the BBCSO in the '40s) - a real Symphonic Allegro vivace full of genuine symphonic momentum and energy. Truly "noble" - lacking the pomposity of some misguided interpretations of "nobilmente" - with fire in its belly, and vim and vigour in its gait.

So why that slowing-down at the end of the Scherzo? I think what Petrenko had in mind was a preparation for the way he took the Coda of the final Movement (which itself referred back to the bow-barely-touching-the-string ppp that he'd coaxed from his players in earlier points in the Symphony. It didn't quite work, and wasn't necessary, but was the only interpretive failure in a great performance of a great symphony, by a great orchestra, led by someone who, on this performance at least, showed himself clearly to be a great conductor. It was a great privilege to have been alive to hear it.

Post of the year award.