Prom 47: Sibelius/Leifs/Hillborg/Beethoven (21.08.15)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:00
Royal Albert Hall

The BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chief Conductor Sakari Oramo, live at the BBC Proms. Sibelius, Beethoven's 7th Symphony, and Jon Leifs's Organ Concerto with soloist Stephen Farr.

Sibelius: Tapiola
Leifs: Organ Concerto
Anders Hillborg: Beast Sampler (UK premiere)
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A major

Stephen Farr (organ)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sakari Oramo (conductor)

There's no denying the potent rhythmic urgency of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. Its giddying, propulsive movement finds contrast in the mysterious stillness of Sibelius's Tapiola, inspired by the spirit of Finland's dusky forests, its wood-sprites and magic secrets. Jón Leifs's Organ Concerto harnesses the full power and scope of the Royal Albert Hall's organ in its massive musical gestures, while Anders Hillborg's Beast Sampler promises to strip away all we know of the symphony orchestra, transforming it into a 'sound animal'.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

http://hillborg.com/works.aspx?PageID=2&CompCatID=7&CompID=107

[Serial_Apologist]

http://hillborg.com/works.aspx?PageI...D=7&CompID=107

A sound or an unsound animal?

[edashtav]

A sound or an unsound animal?

Kent Nagano conducts the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in Anders Hillborg's new piece: Beast Sampler here:

https://vimeo.com/121647823

To me it sounds like a 10 minute, friendly piece of well-organised, noisy, galumphing jungle rumblings. It exploits the sounds that a traditional symphony orchestra can make without adding that vital element: originality.
It could be an ideal work for a subsequent series of the BBC’s “10 Pieces” project “10 Essential Pieces of Onomatopoeia”

[Serial_Apologist]

Kent Nagano conducts the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in Anders Hillborg's new piece: Beast Sampler here:

https://vimeo.com/121647823

To me it sounds like a 10 minute, friendly piece of well-organised, noisy, galumphing jungle rumblings. It exploits the sounds that a traditional symphony orchestra can make without adding that vital element: originality.
It could be an ideal work for a subsequent series of the BBC’s “10 Pieces” project “10 Essential Pieces of Onomatopoeia”

Thanks for that, Ed. This makes me think of those TV ads in which a chorus demonstrates various "extended vocal techniques" to imitate cars revving up, skidding around corners and braking suddenly.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

To me it sounds like a 10 minute, friendly piece of well-organised, noisy, galumphing jungle rumblings. It exploits the sounds that a traditional symphony orchestra can make without adding that vital element: originality.

Well - 12 minutes. I quite enjoyed it on a first hearing - a basic two-part structure (the second, slower section beginning 8 mins in); the second part I felt fizzled out rather, and might have benefited being shorter and from the addition of an extra section to balance out the more energetic first? I liked the way the first section was held together by the recurring material on the flutes from the start, and the way the harmony shifted with each "moment" around this material. I would add that I thought it was a great deal better than most of the "World Premieres" presented at this year's Proms - except that, in most cases, that isn't much of a compliment!

[edashtav]

[...] I would add that I thought it was a great deal better than most of the "World Premieres" presented at this year's Proms - except that, in most cases, that isn't much of a compliment!

A fair point, fhg, it will suit the RAH and I can imagine Sir David Attenborough enjoying the contribution it will make to a lively, heterodox programme.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Tapiola first came to my attention on one of the meanest CD offerings ever from Decca - coupled with the 7th Symphony - Philharmonia/Ashkenazy. Decent performances though.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Tapiola first came to my attention on one of the meanest CD offerings ever from Decca - coupled with the 7th Symphony - Philharmonia/Ashkenazy. Decent performances though.

A logical (if admittedly short-measured, even for those days) coupling: the two works where Sibelius' two areas of greatest mastery (Symphony and Tone poem) meld into each other. I've been haunted by Tapiola ever since I first heard it in the summer of 1976 (Lorin Maazel/VPO) - a magnificent work, cold, grim and tough. No wonder the composer had such devastating doubts about his Eighth Symphony: how could anything follow this?! (But, oh, if only his matches had been damp that day!)

[Serial_Apologist]

A logical (if admittedly short-measured, even for those days) coupling: the two works where Sibelius' two areas of greatest mastery (Symphony and Tone poem) meld into each other. I've been haunted by Tapiola ever since I first heard it in the summer of 1976 (Lorin Maazel/VPO) - a magnificent work, cold, grim and tough. No wonder the composer had such devastating doubts about his Eighth Symphony: how could anything follow this?! (But, oh, if only his matches had been damp that day!)

For me, one of the finest Tapiola performances was given in a broadcast by the BBC Phil under Peter Maxwell Davies, in which the latter also conducted his own Symphony No 2.

This was my very belated introduction to PMD's symphonies: I remember being very struck by just how much Maxwell Davies must have been turned around by Sibelius's tone poem and thinking that a younger PMD still under the influence of Darmstadt would have blanched had one predicted to his face that one day....

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

For me, one of the finest Tapiola performances was given in a broadcast by the BBC Phil under Peter Maxwell Davies, in which the latter also conducted his own Symphony No 2.

This was my very belated introduction to PMD's symphonies: I remember being very struck by just how much Maxwell Davies must have been turned around by Sibelius's tone poem and thinking that a younger PMD still under the influence of Darmstadt would have blanched had one predicted to his face that one day....

[wenotsoira]

Well - 12 minutes. I quite enjoyed it on a first hearing - a basic two-part structure (the second, slower section beginning 8 mins in); the second part I felt fizzled out rather, and might have benefited being shorter and from the addition of an extra section to balance out the more energetic first? I liked the way the first section was held together by the recurring material on the flutes from the start, and the way the harmony shifted with each "moment" around this material. I would add that I thought it was a great deal better than most of the "World Premieres" presented at this year's Proms - except that, in most cases, that isn't much of a compliment!

I'm sure you will agree that there was far to much vib?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I'm sure you will agree that there was far to much vib?

I think your even allowing for such a possibility is a first!

[edashtav]

Hell is an Icelandic Organ Concerto

There was much to enjoy about the BBC SO’s performance of Sibelius’s fine tone poem Tapiolaunder the orchestra’s new conductor, Sakari Oramo. The playing was crisp and confident and one “howl” from the strings swept me off my feet just like a squall in a bare landscape. But… for me the emotional temperature was too hot, too red-blooded, and too romantic. I missed some of the glacial elements that, properly projected, can reveal Tapiola as a chilling tone poem, and, possibly, the finest composition that the composer ever wrote. Here, the fish eyes were mere Tapioca – a pleasant, warming pud. What I demand are DEAD fish eyes – that sickening challenge, I first faced when force fed Tapioca in a Primary School’s Canteen c. 1951. But, I’m neither criticising the excellent BBC SO nor its fine conductor, I just like my Sibelius to be delivered like a Forest petrified forever by Perma-Frost.

Jon Leifs' Organ Concerto -what a concatenation of high dissonances! A tour de force that evokes the primaeval forces that turn Iceland into the northern home of the volcano. The performance by the BBC SO with Organist, Stephen Farr was highly energetic, forceful and exceptionally noisy. But, I discovered two missing ingredients: the contrast of quiet, sustained music and sophisticated rhythms. Leifs’ rhythmic patterns were trite, repetitive and, ultimately, rebarbative. They reminded me of similar undeveloped and turgid patterns in late Schumann and the worst scores of Arthur Bliss. What one can’t deny , is that this work suits the Cavern that is the RAH and the Volcano that is its Organ. I’d like to hear some late Leifs to check whether he has more strings to his bow, but this was a boring piece, lacking vital elements. It was right to give it an airing - now put in back on the shelf for 50 years, please!

Anders Hillborg: Beast Sampler is a better piece of music, whilst still being a redundant work that offers too little innovation. In comparison with Leifs' Concerto,Hillborg’s Beast is house-trained – it can even encompass a spectral presence, pp on flutes. No self-respecting Beast could stand for such “faery” pipings. Again, a very good performance.

I failed to return until the last two movements of Beethoven’s 7th Symphony. I loved the third movement, admired the skilful segue into a hectic, forceful, joyful and exhilarating finale. It was terrific – Well Done – real top-drawer music, delivered piping hot. It sounded far more modern, vital and relevant than most of the music heard earlier in the evening.

[Serial_Apologist]

Jon Leifs' Organ Concerto -what a concatenation of high dissonances! A tour de force that evokes the primaeval forces that turn Iceland into the northern home of the volcano. The performance by the BBC SO with Organist, Stephen Farr was highly energetic, forceful and exceptionally noisy. But, I discovered two missing ingredients: the contrast of quiet, sustained music and sophisticated rhythms. Leifs’ rhythmic patterns were trite, repetitive and, ultimately, rebarbative. They reminded me of similar undeveloped and turgid patterns in late Schumann and the worst scores of Arthur Bliss. What one can’t deny , is that this work suits the Cavern that is the RAH and the Volcano that is its Organ. I’d like to hear some late Leifs to check whether he has more strings to his bow, but this was a boring piece, lacking vital elements. It was right to give it an airing - now put in back on the shelf for 50 years, please!

I seem to remember we had a week devoted to Leifs a few years back. His music seemed full of macho bombast to me, a latter-day Orff; and your description seems typical of practically everything I heard, though others on here or the old BBC boards seemed to regard it as expressive of the Icelandic landscape and geology, from what I recall.