Prom 43 - 18.08.14: BBC SO, Orgonášová / Skelton / M. Petrenko / Skride / Gardner

[bluestateprommer]

Last minute soprano sub, Albina Shagimuratova for Luba Orgonášová, for Rachmaninoff (Forum calendar updated). Stravinsky sounded good as a curtain raiser. The Bells just started 30 sec ago.

[Petrushka]

Always tend to feel underwhelmed by The Bells, partly perhaps because it's so darned difficult to follow the words (I was trying to follow the transliteration in the Rattle recording without much success) but more likely because I don't find the music dramatic enough for the poem it sets. Perhaps that's just Rachmaninov's way with it but it still disappoints in my view.

Now if Shostakovich had done it...

[makropulos]

Always tend to feel underwhelmed by The Bells, partly perhaps because it's so darned difficult to follow the words (I was trying to follow the transliteration in the Rattle recording without much success) but more likely because I don't find the music dramatic enough for the poem it sets. Perhaps that's just Rachmaninov's way with it but it still disappoints in my view.

Now if Shostakovich had done it...

Funny how different our reactions are to pieces. The Bells is absolutely my favourite piece of Rachmaninov (and he's a composer I like a lot already), and I love Poe too... The problem is that there are so few really good performances - Kondrashin and Svetlanov's last concert are the only two that really get to the heart of it for me.
Anyhow, I probably ought to listen to this Prom on the iPlayer once it's loaded up!

[jayne lee wilson]

Yes, agree with Makropoulos about The Bells - and wasn't it Rachmaninov's own favourite too?
Besides those Svetlanov/BBCSO and Kondrashin essentials, Ashkenazy's stunning-sounding Decca one from the Concertgebouw gives you almost as much as they do musically, in excellent sound (almost overwhelming dynamics** - engineers were sometimes kids with new digital toys back then)... especially if you can find the original CD....

The lovely coda to the finale always leaves us with questions about the true nature of...consolation...

** in a good way!!

[mrbouffant]

My least enjoyed concert of the season - hard to put a finger on why, perhaps it has something to do with the lady immediately behind me in Circle V who waited to the orchestra to appear, the leader to appear, the conductor to appear and the music to start before reaching into her large bag and rummaging around loudly for a packet of sweets to open noisily.

The 1812 left me cold - the use of choir just added more bombast to an already over-bombastic piece. The use of digital cannon was pathetic. I've been to at least one Prom where cannon were 'fired' from the Gallery, so I wonder why they couldn't replicate that this time around.

On the more positive side, it was a very well attended concert.

[Lento]

Interesting parallels between Bells and b flat pf sonata from Edinburgh today, both composed in Tchaik's digs.

[Serial_Apologist]

The use of digital cannon was pathetic. I've been to at least one Prom where cannon were 'fired' from the Gallery, so I wonder why they couldn't replicate that this time around.

So, a digital cannon is not the same thing as a digital camera, for taking shots with...

[Bryn]

So, a digital cannon is not the same thing as a digital camera, for taking shots with...

[EnemyoftheStoat]

Well, there's no pre-concert announcement that actually forbids cannon-fire.

Mind you, if one were introduced and it proved as successful as that forbidding photography....

[mercia]

just listening to the repeat of this concert, Mr Gardner is very interesting to listen to, talking about the items - he should be given a music-talk series

[bluestateprommer]

Funny how different our reactions are to pieces. The Bells is absolutely my favourite piece of Rachmaninov (and he's a composer I like a lot already), and I love Poe too... The problem is that there are so few really good performances - Kondrashin and Svetlanov's last concert are the only two that really get to the heart of it for me. Anyhow, I probably ought to listen to this Prom on the iPlayer once it's loaded up!

While The Bells isn't my very favorite Rachmaninov opus (that meaningless privilege goes to the Symphonic Dances, FWIW), I definitely have a soft spot for it, and am with makropulos as to how marvelous a work it is, and will admit that it's the main reason I gave this Prom a listen. I thought it went very well, except perhaps the chorus getting a bit overwhelmed on its own in the 3rd movement. The soloists, including the last-minute soprano substitute, all did a terrific job, as did EG leading the proceedings. In fact, he led very well throughout, and Baiba Skride did very well herself in the Stravinsky Violin Concerto. Regarding 1812, if nothing else, I would love to have attended this Prom and had a spot at the center front rail of the Gallery to hear the whole spectacle, OTT-ness and all ;) . (BTW, also FWIW, this was one of the Proms that the US public radio series SymphonyCast chose for this summer's series of selected Proms to US audiences, weeks after the fact.)

It was also fascinating to hear the discussion about the poem, Poe, and Balmont in the interval feature, where it was very salutary to be reminded that Balmont's reworking of Poe's original has precious little to do with the original. Balmont is definitely more explicit about imposing his subtext on the work, starting from "Isn't life nice?" and then going in the final movement into "Life sucks and then you die" (very grunge, that). I was reminded of the one and only time that I've heard The Bells live, which was earlier this year in Philadelphia with Vladimir Jurowski at the helm. He had an actor read the correspond Poe original section at the start, and between the movements, but the program booklet did not provide a translation of the Balmont rendering, nor were translations projected into the hall. Perhaps Jurowski's intent was to emphasize subtly the distance between Poe's original and the Balmont rendition, besides allowing one to focus on the music-making and not the specific text being sung.