Prom 36 - 13.08.14: VW/Alwyn Prom, BBC SO, Jansen / Oramo

[mrbouffant]

Review from the Telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/proms/11033964/Prom-36-BBC-Symphony-Orchestra-Sakari-Oramo-review-glowing-and-impassioned.html

Strikes me as a bit lazy to be trotting out the 'filmic' criticism of the Alwyn - has the art of the critic moved on so little since the 1950s?...

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

[QUOTE=mrbouffant;421882

Strikes me as a bit lazy to be trotting out the 'filmic' criticism of the Alwyn - has the art of the critic moved on so little since the 1950s?...[/QUOTE]

I agree. It isn't helpful.

[Bryn]

Nice first post, pureimagination, and you'll have read mine last night and realise that we're ad idem on the music and the morons. Welcome... Vent on, Macduff, and damned be him that first cries 'Hold, enough..'

PS were you in the same area as Simon B and me?

This year I have not felt able to attend a single Prom so far. A persistent cough, which creeps up without warning and quickly evolves into an unstoppable hacking bout, has limited me to FM, DAB, BBC FOUR and the iPlayer.

[Ferretfancy]

Review from the Telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/proms/11033964/Prom-36-BBC-Symphony-Orchestra-Sakari-Oramo-review-glowing-and-impassioned.html

Strikes me as a bit lazy to be trotting out the 'filmic' criticism of the Alwyn - has the art of the critic moved on so little since the 1950s?...

I don't really think that the Telegraph critic was being unfair, since he appeared to have admired the performance while not responding to Alwyn's invention.

I found myself standing there praying for it to end in the absence of any truly memorable ideas. Surely a symphony should have thematic statements that stay in the mind, however complex the development might be. Alwyn was quoted in the past as saying that he had found a completely new way of composing symphonies, and that the future will have justified him, Well, the future had duly arrived, and I'm afraid it hasn't happened.

[Bax-of-Delights]

I don't really think that the Telegraph critic was being unfair, since he appeared to have admired the performance while not responding to Alwyn's invention.

I found myself standing there praying for it to end in the absence of any truly memorable ideas. Surely a symphony should have thematic statements that stay in the mind, however complex the development might be. Alwyn was quoted in the past as saying that he had found a completely new way of composing symphonies, and that the future will have justified him, Well, the future had duly arrived, and I'm afraid it hasn't happened.

We will have to agree to differ Ferret. It worked for me. I sat there utterly entranced.
This reviewer seems to have just regurgitated the original 1950 critic's reception.
I can't believe a full house was purely because of the inclusion of "Lark Ascending".

[maestro267]

Absolutely loved Alwyn's First Symphony! Will definitely get the Naxos recording of it. They've recorded all five of his symphonies.

[Ferretfancy]

We will have to agree to differ Ferret. It worked for me. I sat there utterly entranced.
This reviewer seems to have just regurgitated the original 1950 critic's reception.
I can't believe a full house was purely because of the inclusion of "Lark Ascending".

Like you, I don't believe that the full house was just for The Lark Ascending, and there certainly were a number of my friends in the Arena who came partly to hear the Alwyn, and enjoyed it. Never mind, they can't be expected to be as brilliantly perceptive as me, but were quite civilised about it!

One thing I have noticed this year so far is that there has often been plenty of room in the Arena, and some season ticket holders that I know have opted for a half season pass. I'm not sure if this reflects the feeling that the programming has been a bit patchy, or economic prudence.

[EdgeleyRob]

Absolutely loved Alwyn's First Symphony! Will definitely get the Naxos recording of it. They've recorded all five of his symphonies.

As a big Alwyn fan I'm pleased that one or two forumites were impressed with this symphony.
The Hickox (Chandos) or Alwyn himself (Lyrita) complete sets are well worth the extra outlay IMO.

[Boilk]

Absolutely loved Alwyn's First Symphony! Will definitely get the Naxos recording of it. They've recorded all five of his symphonies.

IMO, Alwyn and the LPO (on Lyrita) can't be beaten on Symphony No.5. His favourite (No.2) is the only one never done at the Proms, which last acknowledged his symphonies in 1982 (No.5).

[Flosshilde]

[COLOR="#0000FF"]We cross posted. See above - glad it's not just me. They want shooting, don't they?

I doubt if they would want it - but I'm sure they'd get it if you could find a way of smuggling a gun into the RAH (with a silencer, of course)

[mrbouffant]

Another review, this time one which is somewhat closer to my own view of the concert:

http://seenandheard-international.com/2014/08/prom-36-oramo-excels-in-vaughan-williams-and-alwyn/

[pureimagination]

Another review, this time one which is somewhat closer to my own view of the concert:

http://seenandheard-international.co...ams-and-alwyn/

'That quiet and silence was not disturbed by audience coughing which was otherwise much in evidence.' from the review. The sustained fade of the last note (I'm not musically technical [or is it technically musical?] enough to know if that has it's own term) and silence at the end of Job was something special. That's what makes a live experience stay in the memory and what makes me want to spend my limited cash to listen to a concert live and in person. I certainly don't go to listen to the audience (except of course the shared response at the end of a performance). The Alwyn Symphony (because I don't know it) will get a further listening.

[Nick Armstrong]

Just restoring this to the 'What's new?' list as a reminder that this exceptional concert gets its repeat from 2pm on R3 today

I hope to absent myself from the office on the eve of the bank holiday weekend and be poised over the equipment for some precise recording of a concert I want to keep, having been there.

[Serial_Apologist]

Just restoring this to the 'What's new?' list as a reminder that this exceptional concert gets its repeat from 2pm on R3 today

I hope to absent myself from the office on the eve of the bank holiday weekend and be poised over the equipment for some precise recording of a concert I want to keep, having been there.

Therefore I will be listening out for a very cultured clap!

[Nick Armstrong]

Therefore I will be listening out for a very cultured clap!

... if you can hear any applause above the noise of uncultured coughing....!