Prom 56: Bergen PO/Litton (27.08.15)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:30
Royal Albert Hall

Live at BBC Proms: Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra with conductor Andrew Litton perform music by Ørjan Matre and, Mendelssohn (with violinist Alina Ibragimova), Alissa Firsova and Stravinsky.

Ørjan Matre: preSage (world premiere of this version)
Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor
Alissa Firsova: Bergen's Bonfire
Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring

Alina Ibragimova (violin)
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
Andrew Litton (conductor)

Is there a better-known or better-loved violin concerto than Mendelssohn's? Following her two solo Late Night Proms and Proms Saturday Matinee appearance with Apollo's Fire, violinist Alina Ibragimova returns to perform this inventive and charming work with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. The orchestra also presents music by the young Norwegian Ørjan Matre and a new work inspired by Norse mythology by Russian-British composer Alissa Firsova. This season's series of three Stravinsky ballets written for the Ballets Russes reaches a tumultuous climax with The Rite of Spring, as ferocious and exhilarating a musical assault now as it was at its notorious Paris premiere over a century ago.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Mendelssohn wisely linked the movements of his E minor Violin Concerto.

Just for once it would be good to hear the D minor concerto instead.

[mrbouffant]

Anyone off to this one tonight?... I try so hard to like The Rite, but it leaves me a bit cold...

[Serial_Apologist]

Is there a better-known or better-loved violin concerto than Mendelssohn's?

Yes.

(Well, if you're going to ask daft rhetorical questions, you're going to get daft rhetorical answers!)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Yes.

(Well, if you're going to ask daft rhetorical questions, you're going to get daft rhetorical answers!)

Don't shoot the messenger!

[Serial_Apologist]

Don't shoot the messenger!

I think I shot the deputy.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I think I shot the deputy.

Tell Bob Marley - he's been trying to convince people about this for years!

[bluestateprommer]

Ørjan Matre preSage just finished; it does manage to finish on the right side of not quoting obviously Stravinsky's work. It doesn't have the narrative drive of the Stravinsky, but then few works do. Nice to hear the warm reception for the composer. Mendelssohn about to start....

PS: Very happy audience reaction to Alina Ibragimova's performance of the Felix Mendelssohn concerto just now. Very strong and pretty straight-up rendition, in overall ethos with her JS Bach Late Night Proms, except for the slight nudge in one or two places. Litton and the Bergen PO were also on strong form, as in the Matre.

PPS: Likewise, AI just brought the house down with her solo encore (wisely, not Bach) of Ysaye ('Ballade' from the solo Sonata No. 3). I admit to a bit of trepidation as she was nearing the end, but she made it through fine :) .

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

What superb violin playing. I look forward to hearing her playing Bach with such beauty of sound.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

A lively Rite, if slightly less amazing than Penny Gore suggests in her constant descriptions of every itchy nose in the auditorium.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

What superb violin playing. I look forward to hearing her playing Bach with such beauty of sound.

Why do you want Bach to sound like Mendelssohn? (Any more than Mendelssohn should sound like Bach?)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Why do you want Bach to sound like Mendelssohn? (Any more than Mendelssohn should sound like Bach?)

I don't want Bach to sound like Mendelssohn. Neither do I want to paddle my nearly completed canoe while wearing handcuffs.

[Barbirollians]

Why do you want Bach to sound like Mendelssohn? (Any more than Mendelssohn should sound like Bach?)

Not really what EA is saying fhgl - why shouldn't Bach sound beautiful . Alina's playing of the great Partita on BBC was characterised by extraordinary beauty of sound but which was placed entirely at the service of the music and not romanticised at all

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Neither do I want to paddle my nearly completed canoe while wearing handcuffs.

What you get up to in your private life has nothing to do with me!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Not really what EA is saying fhgl - why shouldn't Bach sound beautiful . Alina's playing of the great Partita on BBC was characterised by extraordinary beauty of sound but which was placed entirely at the service of the music and not romanticised at all

It was, indeed - but Alpie has expressed his reservations about her performances of Bach elsewhere, and seemed in his comment that I quoted, to be suggesting that he was wishing that she employed the same tonal expression that she exhibited in her Mendelssohn when she played Bach (rather than one more appropriate to Bach). Something to do with using an outboard motor on a canoe or some such!