Prom 36: Boulez/Ravel/Stravinsky (12.08.15)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

18:30
Royal Albert Hall

The BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Francois-Xavier Roth with Boulez and Stravinsky. Marc-André Hamelin plays Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand.

Pierre Boulez: Figures - Doubles - Prismes
Ravel (arr. Boulez): Frontispice
Ravel: Piano Concerto for the Left Hand
Stravinsky: L'oiseau de feu

Marc-André Hamelin (piano)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
François-Xavier Roth (conductor)

Textures and colours are to the fore in this concert with a French accent. Our triptych of Stravinsky ballets continues with The Firebird - the work that seized the ears of Paris's elite with its urgent rhythms and evocative Russian folk melodies. We celebrate Boulez's 90th-birthday year with his first work for full orchestra, a sophisticated experiment in colours and timbres. Marc-André Hamelin joins the BBC SO for Ravel's jazz-influenced Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, commissioned by the one-armed pianist Paul Wittgenstein.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Apparently the Boulez occupies the entire (short) first half. For logistic reason perhaps?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Apparently the Boulez occupies the entire (short) first half. For logistic reason perhaps?

Yes - the work requires an orchestra consisting of six different chamber ensembles, each placed in a seating arrangement very different from the single, more usual one required for the other works on the programme.

[Serial_Apologist]

Yes - the work requires an orchestra consisting of six different chamber ensembles, each placed in a seating arrangement very different from the single, more usual one required for the other works on the programme.

Well I never knew that!

This was the work that suddenly made Boulez' music seem not so difficult for me, as I could hear where his music fitted into the French tradition. I do hope others will open their ears and give it a chance too.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Frontispice is interesting in that it was originally written for 5 hands on 2 pianos, yet was just about playable on one piano. Not often performed as it's very short and there isn't much demand for 3 pianist music.

[Beef Oven!]

Difficult one this. For me, the Boulez is a can't miss. But I really don't fancy The Firebird. I think I've been to too many concerts featuring it down the years. I like the suite, though.

Something inside me says that it's a crime for one to walk out and go home when an orchestra is playing and one has a ticket.

I guess I have the rest of the day to make my mind up.

[Beef Oven!]

Difficult one this. For me, the Boulez is a can't miss. But I really don't fancy The Firebird. I think I've been to too many concerts featuring it down the years. I like the suite, though.

Something inside me says that it's a crime for one to walk out and go home when an orchestra is playing and one has a ticket.

I guess I have the rest of the day to make my mind up.

Update: I shall go.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Update: I shall go.

I don't think you'll regret it - F-X Roth is usually pretty damn good.

[Tony Halstead]

I don't think you'll regret it - F-X Roth is usually pretty damn good.

Yes a much much better conductor than that narcissistic compatriot of his who 'conducted' some 'authentic' Händel in the Proms a couple of years ago, and whose name I seem to have forgotten.

[Serial_Apologist]

Yes a much much better conductor than that narcissistic compatriot of his who 'conducted' some 'authentic' Händel in the Proms a couple of years ago, and whose name I seem to have forgotten.

Seems to have incurred your Roth!

[Tony Halstead]

[Bryn]

Yes a much much better conductor than that narcissistic compatriot of his who 'conducted' some 'authentic' Händel in the Proms a couple of years ago, and whose name I seem to have forgotten.

The name you seem to have forgotten is Herve Niquet.

[bluestateprommer]

Yet another BSP memory lapse and late iPlayering-in, so that I missed the first part with the Boulez work. After the interval, the Boulez arrangement of Ravel's Frontispice sounded more like Boulez than Ravel (well, duh) in terms of orchestral sonority. Definitely a curiosity. Some uncharacteristic slips in MA-H's rendition of the opening solo in the Ravel Concerto in D, although this is a work that I'm always thrilled to hear ("happy" doesn't seem the right choice of word for such a dark and intense piece). Pretty rip-roaring account of The Firebird (I heard one audience member start to applaud at the one moment just after the end of the Infernal Dance), where F-XR seemed to throw caution to the wind at the end and seemed to let the brass go all out. The BBC SO did seem again on strong form, as seems characteristic all this summer.

[gedsmk]

The name you seem to have forgotten is Herve Niquet.

I am sure he is a simply lovely human being but his female only version of the Vivaldi Gloria at the Wigmore was not something I'd pay to hear again (even if the reviews gave five stars).

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Frontispice is interesting in that it was originally written for 5 hands on 2 pianos, yet was just about playable on one piano. Not often performed as it's very short and there isn't much demand for 3 pianist music.

Well, that was very short and the orchestration wasn't very Ravelian. Boulez somehow "took over".