Prom 33: Sir John Eliot Gardiner/ORR (9.08.15)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

20:00
Royal Albert Hall

The Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique and conductor John Eliot Gardiner perform Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C minor and Symphonie fantastique by Berlioz.

Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique

Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique
John Eliot Gardiner (conductor)

Sir John Eliot Gardiner's second appearance of the season showcases the work of the conductor's other period-instrument ensemble - the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, specialists in 19th and 20th-century repertoire. Gardiner's brisk and brilliant take on Beethoven's Fifth Symphony promises to find fresh energy within a familiar work - a classical curtain-raiser to Berlioz's extravagant Symphonie fantastique, the height of Romantic excess, with its quasi-cinematic storytelling and vivid, ghoulish soundscapes.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Another good'n?

[Beef Oven!]

This is one not to be missed!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Another good'n?

Potentially - it's an excellent programme and JEGgers is superb in Berlioz. I find his recordings of the Beethoven Symphonies glaring and limited in expressive scope - much as I do the later NBC Toscanini recordings - but it may be a very different matter in Live concert. And his two recordings of the Missa Solemnis are truly miraculous.

Looking forward to this!

[BBMmk2]

He's recorded he Berlioz with the ORR, hasn't he?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I think it starts at 8.00 p.m., but do check.

[mercia]

I feel compelled to ask - did LvB's orchestras stand to play ? It seems everso slightly perverse to me that we're standing in order to produce a bigger sound but we're playing instruments that make a smaller sound than their modern equivalents (?)

[DracoM]

Well, sorry, but that sounded a pretty scrambled, hell for leather, and not entirely in control Beethoven 5.

[Alison]

Slightly disappointing first movement, I wanted more sheer tension and the trenchant quality found on the fairly recent CD.

More temperament by the time we had reached the finale but still I find myself agreeing with Draco M's comment.

A surprising blurred quality pervaded with lines often unclear.

JEGgers no match for Krivine Imho.

[Roehre]

I feel compelled to ask - did LvB's orchestras stand to play ? ....

No. The musicians were seated, with the possible exception of the double basses.

[maestro267]

You're joking, right? Obviously we were listening to different performances.

The most thrilling performances of both works I've heard in a long long time.

[David-G]

I was standing at the front of the Arena. I agree entirely with maestro - thrilling indeed. The lines sounded very clear to me.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I'm normally a JEG fan, so will try to catch up tomorrow.

[Daniel]

On the iplayer, the Beethoven 5 seemed pretty exciting to me, a touch of the paint still feeling fresh on the canvas about it, I thought. One or two strangely self-conscious dynamic inflections sounded a bit unintegrated on first hearing. But its overall impression of freshness appealed I must say.

[DracoM]

So this thread is now not about JEG's Beethoven, but the 'applause or not between movements' team? There is another thread specifically dedicated to this latter issue.
Grrrr.