Prom 44: West–Eastern Divan Orchestra/Barenboim (18.05.15)/Tchaikovsky

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

No, Ferney. I wasn't suggesting something else instead of the Bruckner. I meant instead of the organ pieces.

Ah! I thought you were referring to your Bruckner-sceptisis. My apologies, and may enthusiastic clapping follow all your concerts only after a respectful pause following the very final bars.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Ah! I thought you were referring to your Bruckner-sceptisis. My apologies, and may enthusiastic clapping follow all your concerts only after a respectful pause following the very final bars.

[edashtav]

I am afraid it might disappoint you.
Thought opus 9B shouldn't be underestimated, the lucidity of the original is lost in this score.
I liked what I heard -live, in the 1980s-, it is Schönberg à la Variations op.31 or Brahms-op.25-instrumentation, but I prefer the 15 instruments.

Yes, we got the original:
flute (also piccolo), oboe, English horn, clarinet (D, E♭), clarinet (A, B♭),
bass clarinet (B♭), bassoon, contrabassoon, 2 horns (F), 2 violins, viola, cello, bass

I agree with Roehre,the earlier version is lucid but it's quite "busy" in its scoring. The extra instruments of op.9b can easily result in over-egging the pudding and are so numerous that the title "Chamber Symphony is denied.

I thought the chamber orchestra took time to settle this evening - hardly surprising since they & their instruments didn't arrive at RAH until 6pm - but there was some lovely, lively, supple and rhythmic wind playing towards the end.

Some nice duck in a spiced plum sauce caused me to miss the Triple Concerto, but I was back for the buoyant Tchaikovsky 4th Symphony - a choice that I wouldn't have expected Barenboim to have made. But, his insights came early, once the brass had essayed the "fate" motif , the ensuing Moderato con Anima captured fully its sub-instruction : in movimento di valse. Yes,the playing has a delightful, infectious rhythmic swirl that I hadn't experienced in some earlier interpretations.
Some delightful soft horn playing provided a fine counterpoint and I was pleased that the trumpets were rhythmic and pointed rather than hectoring. I loved the balance between the orchestral sections in this first movement with the violins distinguishing themselves. The whole was shaped with finesse and elegance. Not Tchaikovsky for an all-Tchaikovsky evening but one that showed the composer contributing to the development of symphonic structure.

The andantino never slouched. I was following the piece with a miniature score and time and again I thought – it’s all there in the score. Would that more conductors trusted the composer so implicitly. I loved the exactitude of some string quavers tied over the bar. I was a little underwhelmed when the music reverts to tempo1 and the wind add solo scalic passages – I found their phrasing bland, but I forgave them when they entered subsequently as a choir shaping a descending chordal passage with great felicity. The movement’s fade-out through ppp was delightful and right.

The scherzo was wonderfully pert and well-drilled – like perfectly accoutred toy soldiers. Its restraint was a great foil to the “con fuoco” outburst that announces the finale. Once again, the detail in Tchaikovsky’s score was observed to the letter – resulting in a varied, colourful but integrated movement. A triumph of care & control that compared so well with the wild exhibitions of raw emotion and no holds barred that so often destroy this score.

Encores: Danse Macabre was a well chosen tribute to Sibelius on the day after the BBC orchestras had completed their cycle of symphonies. If I thought the climaxes were a little "full-on" in this piece of salon music - a long.pregnant Brucknerian silence was spot-on. Ruslan & Ludmilla was slightly rushed and a tad ragged. Barenboim's speech was rather too long but the Tango that ended three generous encores was neatly pointed.

[Zucchini]

A 5* review here which apart from hugely admiring the performers and the great man, describes the occasion rather beautifully IMO: https://bachtrack.com/review-prom-44...an-august-2015

I have not yet heard it

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Encores: Danse Macabre was a well chosen tribute to Sibelius

[Darkbloom]

A 5* review here which apart from hugely admiring the performers and the great man, describes the occasion rather beautifully IMO: https://bachtrack.com/review-prom-44...an-august-2015

I have not yet heard it

I think reviewers are contractually obliged to mention WF whenever Barenboim conducts a concert. I don't hear it, personally, and too often his performances can sound very routine and Kapellmeisterish. Where Furtwangler could often start very prosaically, he somehow managed to 'lift off' at some point into another realm. Barenboim is temperamentally incapable of slackening his grip on the orchestra to allow those moments of inspiration that were the hallmark of Furtwangler's best. His style has echoes of Klemperer, for me, of feeling very 'rooted', although he rarely achieves the sense of inevitability that OK managed on his day.

I thought last night's Fourth was a classic example of someone being unable to give his players any room to breathe. His little speech at the end mentioned the fact that the WED followed him totally and without question - I took that to mean that they were so thoroughly terrorised by him that they were frightened to attempt even the slightest sense of musical partnership. Even notorious martinets like Szell and Reiner managed to release something from the orchestra, but Barenboim seems happy to keep them in a straitjacket.

I felt at the end of the performance that Barenboim was saying, 'look, I know this isn't great music, but I have tried to make it respectable by omitting all the crowd-pleasing nonsense and concentrate on symphonic argument'. Fair enough, but I don't find him all that convincing in that style, and last night felt like a rehearsal, there was such a strong sense of the drag being attached to the playing all the time. Even something as effervescent as the Glinka sounded a bit flat.

As for the rest, the Chamber Symphony got lost in the hall and I don't think the players commanded enough sound to get away with it in such a big place. The Triple Concerto sounded very weird, with the lid off the piano giving a very muddy sound (I don't think DB was having his best night at the keyboard either) and the 'cellist sounding very weak from my spot halfway back in the arena. It was interesting to see Braunstein playing along with the orchestra at the start, I don't know if that was in the score (probably not) and was just giving them some encouragement. The whole performance felt like it came and went without making any great impact. Admittedly, this is not a popular work to begin with.

Anyway, just my opinion. I really enjoyed their appearance last year, but felt that this one didn't live up to it.

[edashtav]

Ahem - "timely" might have been better than "well chosen" , fhg.
Poor Sibelius ? (Don't discuss!)

[antongould]

Did I hear Wor Clemmie say the other morning that she had played with West-Eastern Divan??

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Did I hear Wor Clemmie say the other morning that she had played with West-Eastern Divan??

She did. She's a fine violinist.

[Tony Halstead]

She did. She's a fine violinist.

hmmmm... how do you know that she's 'fine'?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

hmmmm... how do you know that she's 'fine'?

She played the Bach double on the BBC4 Stradivarius programme.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

She played the Bach double on the BBC4 Stradivarius programme.

- with Jennifer Pyke.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_nu2hGF0P8

(the pertinent clip is just before 10 mins).

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

A 5* review here which apart from hugely admiring the performers and the great man, describes the occasion rather beautifully IMO: https://bachtrack.com/review-prom-44...an-august-2015

I have not yet heard it

Many thanks, Zucchini! I hope you enjoy catching up with it on iPlayer or - better still - the television broadcast. on Friday.

[antongould]

- with Jennifer Pyke.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_nu2hGF0P8

(the pertinent clip is just before 10 mins).

Now I understand .....

[wenotsoira]

I agree with the negative comments from someone in the hall on the night. The soloists were pretty dire in the Beethoven triple and the chamber symphony needed more time and space and the solos were just not very good.