Prom 41 - 16.08.14: Aurora Orchestra / Chantage, Wood / Wishart / Collon

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Saturday, 16 August
10.15 p.m. – c. 11.30 p.m.
Royal Albert Hall

Mozart: Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K 550
Dobrinka Tabakova: Spinning a Yarn (first performance at The Proms)
Benedict Mason: Meld (BBC commission: world premiere)

Alexandra Wood, violin (Proms debut artist)
Stevie Wishart, hurdy-gurdy

Chantage (Proms debut ensemble)
Aurora Orchestra
Nicholas Collon, conductor

Admired by Schumann for its 'Grecian light and grace', Mozart's evergreen Symphony No. 40 combines rhythmic verve and dance-like elegance, streaked with stormy drama. For a performance in Vienna, the composer added parts for two clarinets - an instrument at the time still largely absent from the orchestra. Bulgarian-born Dobrinka Tabakova goes one further in her recent Spinning a Yarn, in which the rustic hurdy-gurdy takes a solo role alongside the violin.

Benedict Mason experiments with much more besides in his BBC commission, Meld - at once an enigma and a spectacle, that confounds what we think of as an orchestra, of a concert, and even of music itself. Prepare to be surprised ?!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I'm rather pleased that the Mozart 40 performance appears to be the second version with clarinets. Many composers shun this (including my absolute favourite - VPO/Furtwangler), but perhaps we'll never know why Mozart composed two versions.

[mercia]

did I hear someone on In Tune say that the orchestra would be in the arena area for this concert ?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

did I hear someone on In Tune say that the orchestra would be in the arena area for this concert ?

An interesting idea, unless you happen to be a prommer.

[Ferretfancy]

did I hear someone on In Tune say that the orchestra would be in the arena area for this concert ?

Prommers were told in advance that both the Arena and the Gallery were to be out of bounds due to the requirements for the performance of Meld. To make up for the inconvenience, seats were to be made available. I didn't stay, so I don't know yet how things were arranged.
This must mean that few bookable seats were sold for this late Prom -unsurprising perhaps.

[Barbirollians]

A serious error putting a late night Prom like this on after LSO/Haitink . Always going to be an after the Lord Mayor's show affair .

[Ferretfancy]

A serious error putting a late night Prom like this on after LSO/Haitink . Always going to be an after the Lord Mayor's show affair .

I agree. After last night's Mahler I just wanted to walk away with the music still resonating in my imagination.

[maestro267]

Meld was absolutely amazing, and I wasn't even at the Hall! Honestly, the new music this year is just so thrilling, perhaps more so than the classics. The modern composer has an endless variety of colours to paint his/her canvas of sound with.

[Orphical]

Do you know if a programme note for Meld is available online?

[bluestateprommer]

A serious error putting a late night Prom like this on after LSO/Haitink . Always going to be an after the Lord Mayor's show affair .

Not necessarily, as this date was probably the most optimal/least inconvenient time that the Aurora Orchestra could be scheduled, and Meld programmed. Having said that, dare I say that overall, this Aurora Orchestra Prom was actually the higher quality of the two that evening? Terrifically spruce playing from the AO in the Mozart, and a very nicely performed (if admittedly not the most memory-sticking) interlude in the form of Dobrinka Tabakova's work, with excellent musicianship from Alexandra Wood and Stevie Wishart. Meld was obviously the main event, and while it is definitely a grab-bag of a work, most of the grab-bag was fine, as sheer sound. Bits of the middle noodled along and didn't quite work, I'll acknowledge. But the playing of the AO musicians, from memory, was amazing. Obviously it would have been so much more interesting to have been in the hall, as just hearing it through iPlayer can't even come close to the surround sound experience.