Prom 38 - 14.08.14: BBC Phil, Elschenbroich / Storgårds

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Thursday, 14 August
7.30 p.m. – c. 10.05 p.m.
Royal Albert Hall

Sibelius: Finlandia
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies: Symphony No. 5
Bridge: Oration

Sibelius: Symphony No. 2 in D

Leonard Elschenbroich, cello
BBC Philharmonic
John Storgårds, conductor

Finnish conductor John Storgårds champions stirring works of his nation's musical hero. Sibelius's musical language is one of the starting points for much of Peter Maxwell Davies's symphonic music and its echoes can be heard in his Fifth Symphony, performed tonight in celebration of his forthcoming eightieth birthday. BBC New Generation Artist Leonard Elschenbroich joins the BBC Philharmonic for "Oration", Frank Bridge's meditation on war, ending with a visionary epilogue.

[Nick Armstrong]

Good northern fare, bit of a classic Programme this somehow. and having heard the BBC Phil the other day in Mahler 5, this should be a treat - epic brass section, above all, to these ears at any rate!

[jayne lee wilson]

Home Concert Hall to Proms Planners: better off without Finlandia!

.... if you must have some Sibelian intro, do the truly great Oceanides instead, or if you want something more reflective, try The Bard or The Dryad (or both) ; but put a lengthy moratorium on bloody Finlandia, for God's sake....

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

All these 5th symphonies being performed.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

(Just bringing this concert back to the top of the pile.)

[pastoralguy]

Home Concert Hall to Proms Planners: better off without Finlandia!

.... if you must have some Sibelian intro, do the truly great Oceanides instead, or if you want something more reflective, try The Bard or The Dryad (or both) ; but put a lengthy moratorium on bloody Finlandia, for God's sake....

Of course, there will be audience members tonight who will be hearing this work for the first time...

[french frank]

Of course, there will be audience members tonight who will be hearing this work for the first time...

And it does seem to me to be a 'good' way to guide them towards the 'new' repertoire in the programme (alternative ways seem to me 'less good' but let's stay on topic).

[jayne lee wilson]

PROM 38, HDs Ratings Part One:

SIBELIUS Finlandia - Sound 9/10, Performance 9/10.
MAXWELL DAVIES 5 - Sound 7/10, Performance 9/10.
BRIDGE Oration - Sound 7/10, Performance 7/10.

Too ambitious: better to partner Max 5 with just one other work. Bridge the wrong choice at this point in the programme.
Max 5 VG - but final climax not quite enough power or momentum. Some level-manipulation - audible boosting of quiet passages.
Detail obscured & coarsened tuttis in the Bridge.

HDs Ratings Part Two:

SIBELIUS 2 - Sound 6/10, performance 5/10.

Especially disappointing considering their recent experience of recording the whole cycle.
Lack of inner tension, rhythm & ensemble often slack, wayward tempi.
"Tempo Andante, ma rubato" - acknowleged, but 2nd movement not held together at all well.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

There's nothing whatever wrong in programming popular works, just as long as that is not all they have on offer.

[Master Jacques]

Too ambitious: better to partner Max 5 with just one other work. Bridge the wrong choice at this point in the programme. Max 5 VG - but final climax not quite enough power or momentum. Some level-manipulation - audible boosting of quiet passages.
Detail obscured & coarsened tuttis in the Bridge.

The volume manipulation may have been done to drown out the egregiously loud whoopings of a small child somewhere out in the corridor.

In the hall, the momentum was certainly built beautifully in Max 5. The audience (and composer) were overwhelmed with emotion at the end. The Bridge was indeed one Too Far after that. Although it is beautifully crafted, the piece's obsessive mood and sombre colouration came across as monochrome and pedestrian after the Max Symphony. The context was the problem. Nothing wrong at all with the excellent soloist, either. At the end, however, my thought was how much more richly Bridge's pupil charted the same "dark to light" in his own, celebrated concertante work for the instrument.

The Sibelius was a mainstream interpretation, without the fresh, focused detail of the Welsh's 5th on Tuesday. But in the hall it was impossible not to be moved by the wonderful skill and full-bodied tone of this, one of the greatest of European orchestras!

[Lento]

The Bridge was indeed one Too Far

I decided the concert was going to be 2BL, so gave the Bridge a miss. I hope it wasn't wobbly!

[Maclintick]

.

The Sibelius was a mainstream interpretation, without the fresh, focused detail of the Welsh's 5th on Tuesday. But in the hall it was impossible not to be moved by the wonderful skill and full-bodied tone of this, one of the greatest of European orchestras!

For me this was streets ahead of the 5th by BBC NOW/Sondergard the other evening, listening at home. From the sure-footed, pulsating warmth of the opening allegretto to the stirring, though admittedly nationalistic & bombastic or triumphant (according to taste) final coda, I found that Storgards and his players delivered a near-ideal performance of this symphony, with tempi exactly-judged & exemplary playing - full-bodied tone indeed, MJ, but with plenty of character & delicacy where called-for in the many important wind passages. Enjoyed the Bridge Oration, though could have done with greater projection from the solo cellist, & will have to catch up with Max's 5th on the I-Player.

[jayne lee wilson]

Tim Ashley's view...
http://www.theguardian.com/music/204/aug/15/prom-38-bbc-philharmonc-storgards-review

The bachtrack Prom 38 review is also worth a look...

http://bachtrack.com/review-prom-38-storgards-bbc-philharmonic-august-2014

[bluestateprommer]

For me, this Prom was a bit of a mixed bag, where I find myself in divergence from other posters here. Finlandia got things off to a good start, as it almost always does. I wasn't that enthralled with PMD's Symphony No. 5, as I found a certain stolidness about the work that also struck me from hearing the Caroline Matilde excerpts by the BBC NOW the Prom before. However, it's good to know that Sir Peter was in the hall and got a very warm reception. Elschenbroich did a very fine job in Frank Bridge's Oration, which honestly was much more interesting listening by comparison, although the concerto is a slightly erratic work in of itself (and I even have a recording that I need to give a listen to again). No one seems to have commented on LE's encore, a movement from a solo cello sonata by Paul Hindemith, which he dispatched very well. (This seems to be the Proms season for solo string sonata encores by Paul Hindemith, after Julia Fischer's blistering encore from the Tonhalle Prom earlier this season.)

Again, I seem to be swimming against the tide in opinion about this Sibelius 2. I found Storgards' interpretation rather lacking in tension (excepting the scherzo, which almost can't help but buzz with energy, as that movement seems almost conductor-proof that way), and slack in ensemble particularly at the end of the slow movement and finale. Of course, given the triumphant ending, it's always a crowd-pleaser, as one can hear from the Prommers' applause at the end, but this one just didn't do it for me. I found TS' BBC NOW rendition of Sibelius 5 from the prior Prom more satisfying, but of that more separately. But overall, JS' work with the Lapland Chamber Orchestra in the PSM showed him on much better form than with the BBC Phil here. Oh well, you can't win them all.