Prom 24 - 4.08.14: BBC SSO, Runnicles

[Petrushka]

Very little comment on either of the Runnicles concerts. Perhaps most decided, like me, to give them a miss? Any listeners?

[Oliver]

A full house which surprised me for an early concert. Unfortunately (for me at least) it was particularly stifling in the Circle and this clouded my judgement perhaps. I thought Runnicles had the measure of the work; tempi were well-judged and he kept the last few pages moving- some performances are too slow- and he secured real pianissimos. I found the Scherzo a little tame.
I was disappointed with the BBCSO's string section. And surprised; I've been most impressed with this orchestra over the last few years. There seemed to be a lack of bloom and , in the Adagio, depth of sound. It sounded rather thin, though this may be due to my seating position. I'll be interested to hear its BBC3 repeat; I often find the broadcast revealing very different aspects to a performance. . The woodwinds were excellent though....I loved the E flat clarinet's perky contribution to the 3rd movement.

[Lento]

Mahler 9 seemed to fly by: I take it this is a good thing.

[Flosshilde]

Very little comment on either of the Runnicles concerts. Perhaps most decided, like me, to give them a miss? Any listeners?

You really shouldn't let your prejudices cloud your judgement.

[Alison]

You really shouldn't let your prejudices cloud your judgement.

Most of us guilty of that one!

[Flosshilde]

True - even me



(although I have tried to enjoy Mozart - several times)

[bluestateprommer]

In general, from hearing this VW / Mahler Prom (curious coupling, this, linked mainly by historical proximity, of course), I got the same overall impression of Runnicles as an conductor that seemed of a piece with the BBC SSO Prom the day before, namely that he's pretty much a no fuss, no muss interpreter, perhaps not mining the greatest depths or trying to "force" any sort of "profundity" on the works, but giving solid, straightforward performances that show the BBC SSO to be in fine shape indeed. I admit that I can see Oliver's point about the strings not having a particularly full sound, in the manner of the rich Continental sound of the Concertgebouw or the Gewandhaus, but then not every orchestra is so fortunate. Perhaps the 1st movement of Mahler 9 flowed a bit too easily, with the crashing timpani at the "Mit hochster gewalt" moment not slamming home as hard as Bernstein 1979 perhaps. But in the remaining movements, I was used to Runnicles' "straight, no chaser" approached, and thought that the pacing generally went well. Unfortunately, the same problem of the 'happy clappers' irked the mood with applause between each of the movements. Unlike LvB 4 the night before, Runnicles couldn't stop that in this case.

I dug up a quote from Runnicles in BBC Music Magazine, in an interview with James Naughtie, that might shed some light on his approach here:

"When I think about the great interpreters of Mahler, I remember growing up with the recordings of Bernard Haitink. Some people thought they were not flashy enough, that maybe they had to be more showy and apocalyptic. But I go back to them again and again because they are so beautiful. Maybe one reason is that they do only that which is on the page."

[kernelbogey]

I just caught up with this concert on iPlayer last night and thought the Mahler a bit more than a workmanlike performance. As has been mentioned above, the woodwind were excellent in the middle movements - anguished screeching of the clarinet - and the rather metronomic laendler had an appealing air of village band from Steirmark on a Sunday afternoon in July!

It was difficult for me to judge the adagio fairly - fending off insomnia at 3 am - but my sense was that the audience were restive on a hot early evening, and the quiet passages at the end were marred by coughs etc. To repeat myself from above, Runnicles was a more than averagely eloquent conductor-interviewee, with his lovely remark about not having words to describe the finale - 'that's why we have music'.

this VW / Mahler Prom (curious coupling, this, linked mainly by historical proximity, of course),

In the intro to the VW from Christopher Cook and Runnicles's soundbite both works were described by Runnicles as ‘polar opposites’ written in approximately the same year - 1908/09; a nostalgia in both, perhaps for the past in the VW; in Mahler’s case, ‘nostalgia for life’. This Prom was performed on the one hundredth anniversary of the outbreak of WWI.

VW, when researching for the English Hymnal came across Thomas Tallis’s Third Psalter Tune[?] for Matthew Parker’s The Whole Psalter [?]in the 1560s. The Tallis theme here called ‘When rising from the bed of death’.

Was this part of the link between the two pieces that mystifies BSP?

[Tevot]

Hello there,

I listened to the concert earlier today - and again I find myself largely in agreement with BSP's comments - #22 above. The Mahler certainly held my attention and indeed I thought the Andante worked very well indeed. Perhaps the applause between movements reflected the audience's appreciation of fine playing? A pity about the bout of coughing towards the end of the Adagio though... Also very much enjoyed the Tallis Fantasia in the first half of the concert.

Best Wishes,

Tevot