Prom 23 - 3.08.14: BBC SO, Sampson / Rice / Je. Ovenden / Davies / Runnicles

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Sunday, 3 August
8.00 p.m. – c. 10.15 p.m.
Royal Albert Hall

John McLeod: The Sun Dances (London premiere)
Beethoven: Symphony No. 4 in Bb, Op 60

Mozart: Requiem in D minor, K. 626 (completion by Robert D. Levin; first performance of this edition at The Proms)

Carolyn Sampson, soprano
Christine Rice, mezzo-soprano
Jeremy Ovenden, tenor
Neal Davies, bass

National Youth Choir of Scotland
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Donald Runnicles, conductor

In the second of today's Proms the dark majesty of Mozart's Requiem is explored by the youthful voices of the National Youth Choir of Scotland and a quartet of exceptional vocal soloists. The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and chief conductor Donald Runnicles begin their concert with a London Premiere, The Sun Dances by Scottish composer John McLeod, and continue with Beethoven's essay in abstract drama, his Fourth Symphony.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Any thoughts on Levin's completion of the Mozart?

[Richard J.]

Any thoughts on Levin's completion of the Mozart?

I hope it's as good as his very convincing reconstruction of K.297b (the wind Sinfonia Concertante). I'm a Levin fan, and was hugely impressed by Runnicles last year in Tannhäuser, so I have tickets for this one. It will be fascinating to see how his completion compares with the usual Süssmayr version.

[teamsaint]

A Beethoven Symphony, the Mozart Requiem, and no comment at all.

Amazing.

Anyway, I only heard the LVB, but was distinctly underwhelmed. Lots of muddy sound, lack of clarity, all but inaudible timps. Wonder if it was like this in the hall? Seemed just a bit perfunctory, really. Perhaps all the rehearsal time was used on the singers and tonights Mahler.

Finally perked up in the fourth movement, but a far from convincing effort IMO. But there are still worse ways to spend 30 to 40 minutes.

A perfect example of why more adventurous programming would be artistically wise.

[jayne lee wilson]

I'm afraid I was very disappointed with The Sun Dances by John McCloud...

After an initially promising start of staccato brass chords against trem strings, we had a succession of Romantic, rather filmic cliches... the plaintive oboe solo, the Hollywood-style "soaring" theme on the violins which could have been by almost any Romantic composer - except not many would sound as anonymous as this... then a very predictably harmonised climax for the horns...some gurgling "nature" sounds in the winds, more dreamy solos, then some elementary developmental interplay between these building-blocks, the oboe solo returning to finish the piece after a final brassy climax....

Not sure how the Proms planners commission or choose, but the composer was quoted as saying that he hadn't "written down" for this youth-orchestra commission. Well I wonder. It seemed scarcely more than a bland warm-up, an exercise. What was it doing here? With the exception of Simon Holt, most of the new music this year has been pretty weak. Riddled with accessibility...

Broadly share TS's view of the Beethoven 4th; I didn't find clarity a problem, and the BBCSSO played it nicely enough, but it remained largely anonymous, especially in quieter passages where solos often lacked life & character. It was disciplined, with some nice string interplay in the adagio - but rhythms didn't bite enough and there never seemed to be much at stake.
So unlike TS, I felt I'd wasted my time with this one. Why don't you switch off The Prom and go and do something less boring instead...
...but I hope those who stayed on for Mozart were fulfilled.

With LvB though - Thank goodness for HIPPS!

[richardfinegold]

Any thoughts on Levin's completion of the Mozart?

Wasn't that version recorded by Hogwood/AAM?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Wasn't that version recorded by Hogwood/AAM?

Suffering a little from insomnia, I've just been listening to the Requiem. I do vaguely recall that it was the Maunder version that Christopher Hogwood recorded.

The Levin is very convincing, though I think I prefer Duncan Druce overall.

[Bryn]

Wasn't that version recorded by Hogwood/AAM?

Of the small number of recordings of the Levin edition, the SACD with Sir Charles Mackerras conducting (Linn) is probably the best of the bunch.

[amateur51]

At short notice I was given two tickets for this Prom. We were in the seated part just below the Gallery and not quite looking directly over the stage sideways-on but pretty near to that. Not ideal but hey! they were freebies

The opening piece, The Sun Dances by John Macleod, evoked Debussy La Mer but marginally. It was not demanding or over-long, interesting use was made of finger-strumming on the body of the string instruments, and several noises were created that reminded me of the sound of shale being left up on the beach as the tide recedes. Pretentious, moi?! I quite enjoyed it, it was easy to listen to but I'm not sure that I'd recognise it if I were to hear it again.

Beethoven symphony no. 4 went at quite a lick throughout and Runnicles got some very clean textures from the various interplays between sections. He knew what he wanted to get & got it.

Mozart Requiem (ed. Levin) showed up the problems of where we were seated. The soloists were largely out of focus and not easy to hear. The choir was sensationally good I thought and the Choir Master was brought on by Runnicles at the end for a deserved bow or two in his twinkly winkle-pickers.

My relationship with this piece stems from 'learning' it from the old CfP recording by Rafael Fruebeck de Burgos, New Philharmonia, Grace Bumbry, Edith Mathis et al, in other words big band, big soloist Mozart. As a result it sounded a tad underpowered at first but I grew to enjoy what I was hearing because the choir was so clear above the orchestra, and particularly the harmonium was wheezing along nicely, leastways I think that's what it was.

An enjoyable evening from a difficult seat in the Royal Albert Hall - nuff said

[Hornspieler]

At short notice I was given two tickets for this Prom. We were in the seated part just below the Gallery and not quite looking directly over the stage sideways-on but pretty near to that. Not ideal but hey! they were freebies

The opening piece, The Sun Dances by John Macleod, evoked Debussy La Mer but marginally. It was not demanding or over-long, interesting use was made of finger-strumming on the body of the string instruments, and several noises were created that reminded me of the sound of shale being left up on the beach as the tide recedes. Pretentious, moi?! I quite enjoyed it, it was easy to listen to but I'm not sure that I'd recognise it if I were to hear it again.

Beethoven symphony no. 4 went at quite a lick throughout and Runnicles got some very clean textures from the various interplays between sections. He knew what he wanted to get & got it.

Mozart Requiem (ed. Levin) showed up the problems of where we were seated. The soloists were largely out of focus and not easy to hear. The choir was sensationally good I thought and the Choir Master was brought on by Runnicles at the end for a deserved bow or two in his twinkly winkle-pickers.

My relationship with this piece stems from 'learning' it from the old CfP recording by Rafael Fruebeck de Burgos, New Philharmonia, Grace Bumbry, Edith Mathis et al, in other words big band, big soloist Mozart. As a result it sounded a tad underpowered at first but I grew to enjoy what I was hearing because the choir was so clear above the orchestra, and particularly the harmonium was wheezing along nicely, leastways I think that's what it was.

An enjoyable evening from a difficult seat in the Royal Albert Hall - nuff said

A very good summary, AMS. Particularly pleasing because you wrote on what you heard without referring to the question of the Requiem's authenticity.
Who cares who wrote it? It is one of the best examples of religious dedication.

HS

[EdgeleyRob]

Well.I've just watched the LvB and Mozart on telly.

This easily pleased listener couldn't find fault with Beethoven 4,fairly bounced along where it was supposed to,and the 2nd movement was gorgeous.

Don't know much about various versions/completions of the Mozart Requiem.
This performance was beautiful and memorable.

Tom Service is very OTT these days.

[bluestateprommer]

From listening to this Prom on iPlayer, my general impression is that it was good and solid, if not necessarily scaling the heights. John McLeod's The Sun Dances was OK, not bad, but nothing great either, at least IMHO, as new music goes. I'm always happy to make time for LvB 4, as it's my favorite of the nine (and apparently the least popular according to the classical public at large, so I heard somewhere once). Definitely a forward-driving performance from Runnicles, with the first movement repeat, and while perhaps it had no great revelations, it was definitely straight, no chaser. Unfortunately, the 'happy clappers' punctuated the pauses between movements I/II and II/III with applause, which Runnicles forestalled after III by more or less diving straight into the finale.

I'm with EdgeleyRob in not being that familiar with the variety of versions of the Mozart Requiem, so that I couldn't really compare closely the Robert Levin version to the standard Sussmayer version, although I have heard the Maunder version in the AAM recording some time way back. From what I can tell, Levin's edits seem quite discreet and subtle, not calling attention to themselves, but perhaps making a greater unity of the work by toning down the obvious parts where Sussmayer's inspiration can't match Mozart's (but then could anyone else have matched it, besides Haydn). Fortunately, the earlier 'happy clappers' kept their hands to themselves during the Mozart, but then applause was rightly generous for the National Youth Choir of Scotland. A good, solid performance from all concerned, even if the Mozart Requiem still isn't (and probably never will be) on my personal top list of works.