Prom 48 - 22.08.14: Iceland SO, Biss / Volkov

[Veronika]

I went to the concert after I discovered Jon Leifs through last week's CD Review. Like Blotto, I couldn't hear much of the Magma, sitting in the Front Circle as I was, but I thought it sounded interesting (that is actually high praise coming from me, given my attitude towards modern classical music!). I found the Schumann uninspiring, but then I find all Schumann uninspiring, so that's not necessarily a comment on the quality of this performance.

I did enjoy the Leifs pieces immensely and I only wish there had been more than two. I can't put it any better than it fits with the Iceland landscape, and there was warmth and richness to the sound of the orchestra that made the Leifs pieces colourful - as if you were looking at a landscape and finding new details at every moment - and at the same time the warmth put a human dimension to all the grandeur. An observer in the landscape. I thought that that translated into the Beethoven performance as well.

I do hope they are back and with more Leifs's works.

By the way, what *was* the second encore?

[Blotto]

By the way, what *was* the second encore?

It transpires it was Sigvaldi Kaldalóns' Sprengisandur and here's the performance with a lovely big roar from the audience at the end.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p025bkmh

I've never noticed this before. There's a page with links to each piece in the concert with music only and no chat.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04dqhf1/clips

[Veronika]

I've never noticed this before. Here's a page with links to each piece with music only and no chat.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04dqhf1/clips

And that answers the second encore question, too. Thanks.

[Veronika]

It transpires it was Sigvaldi Kaldalóns' Sprengisandur and here's the performance with a lovely big roar from the audience at the end.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p025bkmh

It sent everyone home with a big smile on their face yesterday, too!

[Blotto]

It sent everyone home with a big smile on their face yesterday, too!

It did, didn't it! But there was good will both ways in the hall last night, I felt. Audience and orchestra just enjoyed each other's company.

[Blotto]

I find it very difficult to judge anything in the Albert Hall. I'd say most of the music sounded better in the hall than on iPlayer but funnily the Beethoven finale sounds stronger on the radio than in the hall.

I was eyeing up spare seats from the gallery that would be easy to get to after the interval (and easy to get out of if I was asked to move). Fortunately, the ticket holder didn't turn up. I'd never sat in the stalls before and it was instructive to sit in a recommended position at around 3 o'clock, quite near the orchestra on the basses side. Even though one is over to the far side of them, the sound isn't greatly unbalanced but I wonder if it smoothed the violin string sound a little.

There were several small freak sound effects though where particular instruments - brass and timpani, I think - were echoed. It was as if just an element of the sound was being replayed though, not the whole of it. At one stage, I really seemed to be hearing pre-echo on the percussion! It seems that every piece sounds radically different depending on where you are in the hall and very different again on the radio.

The couple in front of me in the queue were telling a visitor that the gallery sound was the best in the hall and my experience really is that that's rubbish. Seeing people lying down and listening to the Schumann, I really wondered why they'd come because the sound was blurry enough when I was in view of the orchestra or close to the rail. From the floor, behind the wall what would one hear?

[Lento]

It was all too rushed and pushy, the poetry was missing.

Too much Florestan? I thought the finale's complexities were worn lightly. I didn't mind Magma and felt it had sufficient variety for its length, funnily.

[Pianorak]

. . .
I admire Jonathan Biss, but I'm afraid that his performance of the Schumann was seriously misjudged after a rather catastrophic open phrase. . .

I agree, the first movement, right from the opening phrase, sounded rushed - but I thought the rest was fine - and his encore (Der Dichter spricht from Kinderszenen) was just perfect.

[Blotto]

And that answers the second encore question, too. Thanks.

Could you see if there were off-stage timpani in Guyser, Veronika? It sounded from where I was sitting as if there was something upstairs above the trumpets and trombones.

[Veronika]

Could you see if there were off-stage timpani in Guyser, Veronika? It sounded from where I was sitting as if there was something upstairs above the trumpets and trombones.

I think there must have been. I was on the wrong side of the Circle to see, unfortunately, but I felt the vibrations of the floor when the off-stage timpani played and it did sound closer than the rest of the orchestra.

[Veronika]

It did, didn't it! But there was good will both ways in the hall last night, I felt. Audience and orchestra just enjoyed each other's company.

Yep. Especially in the second half.

[Ferretfancy]

The music of both composers seemed very approachable but you'll have heard the Tomasson much more clearly than me, Ff. From upstairs, it was soup.

Listening to it this morning, the first half seems full of snappy rhythm and interesting, enjoyable melody and harmony that didn't make it through Albert's Cave to the gallery. But somewhere after the midway point, the music sort of evaporates and then just hangs around. The performance sounded a little fragmented to my ears, not quite integrated but hearing it properly, I think, there's alot of enjoyable music.

I think the Jon Leifs encore was this one, played by the same band. Very Icelandic-seeming, lovely, a little hushed and undemonstrative.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTVqUd7-NcA

I really felt the Leifs pieces were the hit of the night. Guyser seemed the point where the evening became interesting. Hearing the Leifs, the audience seemed grateful and reflected that in their general responses.

PS: It's not something I've ever noticed before, Ff, but do the Prommers usually make a fuss of new orchestras? I thought the welcome they gave and the appreciation they showed throughout the evening was really touching and the orchestra seemed quite visibly to feel it. It probably wasn't a classic performance of the Beethoven but the whole evening was one of honest music-making and, with the Leifs, gifts were brought and gratefully received.

This year's visiting orchestras have certainly received a warm welcome from the Arena. Last night a small group managed to shout an Icelandic welcome, which made the orchestra smile, I don't know if the pronunciation was correct! I absolutely agree with you about honest music making, and especially in the Beethoven.

Season ticket holders and Proms regulars have all waited for quite a while in the queue, plus the best part of an hour meeting friends in the hall, and sharing opinions. It's quite a clubby atmosphere, and the willingness to enjoy whatever is on offer is very palpable, even when there are severe critics from time to time.

[Ferretfancy]

Could you see if there were off-stage timpani in Guyser, Veronika? It sounded from where I was sitting as if there was something upstairs above the trumpets and trombones.

I think they were just off stage at the conductor's right, stationed just outside the platform entrance, at least that's the way they sounded in the Arena.

[Ferretfancy]

I find it very difficult to judge anything in the Albert Hall. I'd say most of the music sounded better in the hall than on iPlayer but funnily the Beethoven finale sounds stronger on the radio than in the hall.

I was eyeing up spare seats from the gallery that would be easy to get to after the interval (and easy to get out of if I was asked to move). Fortunately, the ticket holder didn't turn up. I'd never sat in the stalls before and it was instructive to sit in a recommended position at around 3 o'clock, quite near the orchestra on the basses side. Even though one is over to the far side of them, the sound isn't greatly unbalanced but I wonder if it smoothed the violin string sound a little.

There were several small freak sound effects though where particular instruments - brass and timpani, I think - were echoed. It was as if just an element of the sound was being replayed though, not the whole of it. At one stage, I really seemed to be hearing pre-echo on the percussion! It seems that every piece sounds radically different depending on where you are in the hall and very different again on the radio.

The couple in front of me in the queue were telling a visitor that the gallery sound was the best in the hall and my experience really is that that's rubbish. Seeing people lying down and listening to the Schumann, I really wondered why they'd come because the sound was blurry enough when I was in view of the orchestra or close to the rail. From the floor, behind the wall what would one hear?

Before they installed the ceiling mushrooms some time in the 1960's, if you stood in the Gallery you could at least hear the music with rather less echo than downstairs, and I mean a discrete echo, not just reverberation. Staccato notes on the piano could be heard twice. It's a long time since my teenage Gallery days. To me it's music through the wrong end of a telescope. I also find it difficult to fathom why Arena Prommers rush for the front rail, usually just to get too close to the violins. I find the best place is further back, just in front of where the fountain used to be, this often ideal, although if the trombones are placed to the side they can be too loud, and if there are lots of bodies in front of you the strings get masked a bit.

I suppose the Gallery is a bit better since they removed the gas brackets on the wall, they used to hiss quietly in the slow movements !

[chrisjstanley]

This concert was called Classical Tectonics. For those non-geologists it might evoke nothing much. But, we need little reminding that Iceland sits astride the Mid-Oceanic Ridge where oceanic crust is created causing a range of sometimes spectacular volcanic phenomena.

Magma was full of earthy dissonance, plops of viscous fluid, occasional heaves of larger bodies and the light falling of ash and crash of boulders etc etc. Quite beautiful word-painting. Geysir was similar in some ways but the regularity and usual predictability with these type of hot water eruptions gave rise to some magnificent crescendos and equally reflective periods of quiescence.

The 'tectonics' of the Schumann and Beethoven failed to spark, and there was insufficient contrast. The quiet and reflective moments were fine and you could hear a pin drop or the annoying lady in the box next to me coughing at every opportunity. The loud passages were weak and as someone else has mentioned the strings were thin. The Beethoven was taken too fast and gave rise to the thought that the strings were struggling to keep up. More brass needed I thought and more tympani on or off stage.

I paid 34.50 for one of the worst seats in the house. Loggia Box 24 seat 5. Why do they advertise it as best in house on website back in May when I booked?

Next time I'll stay at home and listen to Radio 3.

Chris S