Prom 60: Mahler – Symphony No. 1 (30.08.15)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:30
Royal Albert Hall

Live at the BBC Proms: San Francisco Symphony with Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas and pianist Jeremy Denk play music by Mahler, Schoenberg and American maverick Henry Cowell

Schoenberg: Theme and Variations, Op. 43b
Cowell: Piano Concerto
Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D major

Jeremy Denk (piano)
San Francisco Symphony
Michael Tilson Thomas (conductor)

It has been almost a decade since the San Francisco Symphony visited the Proms. The orchestra is joined by its Music Director of more than 20 years, Michael Tilson Thomas, and by American pianist Jeremy Denk in the latter's second concert of the season. Here Denk tackles an American rarity - Henry Cowell's extraordinary Piano Concerto, whose primitive textures require the soloist to pound the piano with fists and forearms. It is paired with Mahler's First Symphony, an ebullient youthful work filled with hints of the mature composer to come, and Schoenberg's imaginative Theme and Variations, heard in the composer's own orchestral arrangement.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=henry+cowell+piano+concerto&qpvt=Henry+Cowell+piano+concerto&FORM=VDRE#view=detail&mid=F0933CE8555959364578F0933CE8555959364578

[Serial_Apologist]

The irony about this selection is that the Schoenberg will probably be heard as the most orthodox piece in the concert!

[Roehre]

The irony about this selection is that the Schoenberg will probably be heard as the most orthodox piece in the concert!

...perhaps even the most conservative work too

Good to hear these variations being performed. Opus 31 is superior, but these [originally for wind band] are a nice intro to a concert like this.

[Serial_Apologist]

...perhaps even the most conservative work too

Good to hear these variations being performed. Opus 31 is superior, but these [originally for wind band] are a nice intro to a concert like this.

I absolutely agree. I understand Schoenberg was himself pleased with what he had achieved in it, while himself adding that it could not be considered among the most important of his works, as it was not twelve-tone!

[Pulcinella]

Bumping this, as I for one am looking forward to hearing the Cowell. Had half an ear listening to the feature on him in yesterday's CDR, which I found interesting. Not sure that I'd heard any of his music before.

PS! Yes I have: the Hymn and Fuguing Tune No 10, ASMF/Marriner.
Thought the name was familiar.
Had as an Argo LP, now as a CD.

[Roehre]

Bumping this, as I for one am looking forward to hearing the Cowell. Had half an ear listening to the feature on him in yesterday's CDR, which I found interesting. Not sure that I'd heard any of his music before.

PS! Yes I have: the Hymn and Fuguing Tune No 10, ASMF/Marriner.
Thought the name was familiar.
Had as an Argo LP, now as a CD.

Still have got that LP, with that Midwest harvesting picture on the front.
My first acquaintance with Ives 3 too, btw.

[Norrette]

Oh dear, not looking forward to the first part of this - perhaps it's the penance I have to pay for the Mahler 1.

[Serial_Apologist]

Oh dear, not looking forward to the first part of this - perhaps it's the penance I have to pay for the Mahler 1.

Well you may be surprised then, Norrette, because the Schoenberg, although a late work, comes within more-or-less the same harmonic world as your Mahler. I would think the Cowell PC to be the odd one out here.

[Norrette]

Well you may be surprised then, Norrette, because the Schoenberg, although a late work, comes within more-or-less the same harmonic world as your Mahler. I would think the Cowell PC to be the odd one out here.

Actually the Cowell wasn't that bad. Shoenberg too. Many empty stalls seats though.

[Alison]

Maximum proficiency in the Mahler and singularly unmoving.

[Norrette]

Brilliant Brass esp lead trumpet. Have heard many versions with sloppy brass which irritates somewhat. Lifted my spirits.

[Tony Halstead]

Brilliant Brass esp lead trumpet. Have heard many versions with sloppy brass which irritates somewhat. Lifted my spirits.

Agreed totally.
An overall great performance, imbued with the real, authentic, Mahler spirit!

[jayne lee wilson]

PROM 60. SFSO/MTT. (RADIO 3 HDs via JRMC. Excellent sound throughout).

Almost the perfect Prom Part One, with the sensational (if superficial) Henry Cowell Piano Concerto an apt foil to the sturdier depths of Schoenberg's Op. 43b (don't forget the b) Variations.
The windband-heavy sound of the latter was launched into the RAH spaces with warmth and brilliance, putting me in mind of Kurt Weill on the one hand and Schoenberg's reinvention of Brahms' Op.25 Piano Quartet on the other. A great entertainment and a great start from MTT.
The Cowell is built up from basic musical elements - I especially liked the almost canonic feel running between the lyrical string lines and the rapid scalic sequences from the piano in the "Polyharmony" movement; then the strings' atmospheres, staccato brass and the soloist's aggressive meanderings in "Tone Cluster" reaching a similar brassy climax to "Polyharmony". The "Counter Rhythm" finale set orchestra and piano off against each other, then gathered its fragments into a crash-bang-wallop end. No, it's not profound, but if you're going to do a showpiece choose a rare one!
(Fists & forearms? Possibly a bit oversold in the promotion...).

MAHLER 1.
The warmly musical, MOR character was clear from the loveliness of the SFSO cellos entering with the wayfarer's song. Big bangs and crashes from drum and cymbal, splendid fanfares at its peak... but where were the birdcalls, the forest creatures, the frosty breaths on the parade ground? Not much dew-on-the-grass or naturlaut here.
The scherzo kicked along well, but oh-so-safe, the winds just too well-behaved. MTT should have imported some of the jazzier edges from Cowell and Schoenberg. The Trio was well-sugared but needed more cream.

More vivid, lugubrious characters from double bass and tuba in The Huntsman's Funeral - yes, this was better, more individual involvement from the players. But I still wanted the wind-ghost-animals to cock their snooks more scornfully at the human pretensions...
The finale... well, it can hardly fail to be physically exciting with brass & orchestra of this much-recorded, well-rehearsed calibre. They know their Mahler, yes, they play him well; but MTT rather overdid the conventional rhetorical gestures, all agog and leaning-into...

I was left, finally, with the feeling that this Mahler was more Pacific Coast than Viennese; more concerto-for-orchestra than that strange surrealistic amalgam of Nature-Poem and Romance that Mahler created.

[Lat-Literal]

PROM 60. SFSO/MTT. (RADIO 3 HDs via JRMC. Excellent sound throughout).

Almost the perfect Prom Part One, with the sensational (if superficial) Henry Cowell Piano Concerto an apt foil to the sturdier depths of Schoenberg's Op. 43b (don't forget the b) Variations.
The windband-heavy sound of the latter was launched into the RAH spaces with warmth and brilliance, putting me in mind of Kurt Weill on the one hand and Schoenberg's reinvention of Brahms' Op.25 Piano Quartet on the other. A great entertainment and a great start from MTT.
The Cowell is built up from basic musical elements - I especially liked the almost canonic feel running between the lyrical string lines and the rapid scalic sequences from the piano in the "Polyharmony" movement; then the strings' atmospheres, staccato brass and the soloist's aggressive meanderings in "Tone Cluster" reaching a similar brassy climax to "Polyharmony". The "Counter Rhythm" finale set orchestra and piano off against each other, then gathered its fragments into a crash-bang-wallop end. No, it's not profound, but if you're going to do a showpiece choose a rare one!
(Fists & forearms? Possibly a bit oversold in the promotion...).

MAHLER 1.
The warmly musical, MOR character was clear from the loveliness of the SFSO cellos entering with the wayfarer's song. Big bangs and crashes from drum and cymbal, splendid fanfares at its peak... but where were the birdcalls, the forest creatures, the frosty breaths on the parade ground? Not much dew-on-the-grass or naturlaut here.
The scherzo kicked along well, but oh-so-safe, the winds just too well-behaved. MTT should have imported some of the jazzier edges from Cowell and Schoenberg. The Trio was well-sugared but needed more cream.

More vivid, lugubrious characters from double bass and tuba in The Huntsman's Funeral - yes, this was better, more individual involvement from the players. But I still wanted the wind-ghost-animals to cock their snooks more scornfully at the human pretensions...
The finale... well, it can hardly fail to be physically exciting with brass & orchestra of this much-recorded, well-rehearsed calibre. They know their Mahler, yes, they play him well; but MTT rather overdid the conventional rhetorical gestures, all agog and leaning-into...

I was left, finally, with the feeling that this Mahler was more Pacific Coast than Viennese; more concerto-for-orchestra than that strange surrealistic amalgam of Nature-Poem and Romance that Mahler created.

I like your writing. My feeling is I would find Mahler more pleasurable if I put the effort in. Actually ditto Sibelius but to a lesser extent. I might give this one a go. While I enjoy an accent on nature, a Pacific Coast approach may be what I need in this instance, being different. More generally, this year's Proms on paper seemed rather disappointing to me compared with that in 2014 and especially 2013. And having read all of the comments on the listings thread, I still don't believe that the BBC have enough clarity on their website.