Prom 75 - 12.09.14: Cerha / Beethoven 9, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, etc., Gilbert

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Friday, 12 September
7.30 p.m. – c. 8.55 p.m.
Royal Albert Hall

The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra & Alan Gilbert live at the BBC Proms: Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

Friedrich Cerha: Paraphrase on the Opening of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op.125, 'Choral'

Christina Landshamer (soprano)
Gerhild Romberger (mezzo-soprano)
Steve Davislim (tenor)
Dmitry Belosselskiy (bass)
Members of the Leipzig Opera Chorus
Leipzig Gewandhaus Choir
Leipzig Gewandhaus Childrens Choir
London Symphony Chorus
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
Alan Gilbert (conductor)

A highlight of every season in recent Proms history, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 this year returns to its once-traditional slot on the penultimate night - a symphonic finale before the musical party that is the Last Night.
Giving their second performance 'this summer, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and conductor Alan Gilbert are joined by an international cast of soloists for this audacious musical testament of faith and unity across all nations and creeds. When Mahler later said that a symphony should 'embrace the whole universe', it's hard to imagine he wasn't thinking of Beethoven's mighty 'Choral' Symphony.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Does anyone know the Friedrich Cerha - Paraphrase ?

[Roehre]

Does anyone know the Friedrich Cerha - Paraphrase ?

I don't, but at least it will be for me the reason to listen to the beginning of the broadcast and perhaps Beethoven's first 3 mvts

[Petrushka]

Does anyone know the Friedrich Cerha - Paraphrase ?

Chailly and the Gewandhaus played this same programme in the Barbican in November 2011 at which I was present. Truth to tell, I can't remember anything of the Cerha piece on that one hearing other than its brevity!

I do wonder, though, whether the Leipzigers, fully conversant with Chailly's interpretation of the Beethoven 9 having played it with him many times, will actually give us that without the need for Alan Gilbert to be there at all?

[pastoralguy]

Whilst I think that HIPP had brought a lot of insight into these well known works, I often long for a bit of Klempereian (!!) GRAVITAS in the first movement of the ninth symphony. So often today, IMHO, it sounds trite and 'throwaway'.


Mind you, love the timps in the second movt!

[Barbirollians]

I cannot recall ever being so unmoved by that work and for once it was the soloists and choir that finally introduced some degree of interest after the first three movements . Very disappointing IMO .

[Alison]

A strange and disconcerting lack of pulse informed this performance to my ears.

[Barbirollians]

A strange and disconcerting lack of pulse informed this performance to my ears.

Yes - it seemed to be going nowhere from the very opening bars .

[Petrushka]

The hall audience went wild at the end but I felt strangely unmoved. I've heard some stinkers in my time but it was only the choirs who rescued this from being amongst the worst.

The first three movements scampered along without any feeling whatever. I longed for the gravitas of a Klemperer or a Karajan but it never appeared. HIPP has ruined this symphony but that's the fashion these days and it seems to be what people want.

Not for me.

[Barbirollians]

The hall audience went wild at the end but I felt strangely unmoved. I've heard some stinkers in my time but it was only the choirs who rescued this from being amongst the worst.

The first three movements scampered along without any feeling whatever. I longed for the gravitas of a Klemperer or a Karajan but it never appeared. HIPP has ruined this symphony but that's the fashion these days and it seems to be what people want.

Not for me.

I am not sure that HIPP can be blamed for such a mediocre performance - only recently for example I was thrilled by the HIPP influenced Swedish CO/Dausgaard record

[Barbirollians]

The hall audience went wild at the end but I felt strangely unmoved. I've heard some stinkers in my time but it was only the choirs who rescued this from being amongst the worst.

The first three movements scampered along without any feeling whatever. I longed for the gravitas of a Klemperer or a Karajan but it never appeared. HIPP has ruined this symphony but that's the fashion these days and it seems to be what people want.

Not for me.

I am not sure that HIPP can be blamed for such a mediocre performance - only recently for example I was thrilled by the HIPP influenced Swedish CO/Dausgaard record

[Alison]

I wonder if Kurt Masur ever returns to the orchestra. Now there's someone who would have conveyed far more depth than we heard tonight!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

HIPP has ruined this symphony but that's the fashion these days and it seems to be what people want.

I think that's only an assumption (i.e. what people want) - a bit like saying children don't like classical music.

Fashion is just another word for gullibility.

[Nick Armstrong]

The hall audience went wild at the end but I felt strangely unmoved. I've heard some stinkers in my time but it was only the choirs who rescued this from being amongst the worst.

The first three movements scampered along without any feeling whatever. I longed for the gravitas of a Klemperer or a Karajan but it never appeared. HIPP has ruined this symphony but that's the fashion these days and it seems to be what people want.

Not for me.

I came in just in time to hear the choral & vocal sections of the last movement and I must say I was gripped and moved - the final section I found very exciting! It sounds like (as with the Mahler 3 last night) I heard the best of it by dint of missing most of the first part of the piece!

[makropulos]

HIPP has ruined this symphony but that's the fashion these days and it seems to be what people want.

Not for me.

I don't think HIPP can be blamed in any way for a performance that seemed almost bereft of any memorable interpretative ideas. Whoever these "people" are, it's a fair bet they don't want to hear the work conducted with such dreary lack of interest. It's such a pity Chailly wasn't conducting. This felt to me like a great orchestra wasted. And, as I say, HIPP had nothing to do with it. More a case of just plain dull.