Prom 61: San Francisco SO/Michael Tilson Thomas (31.08.15)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:30 Monday 31 Aug 2015
Royal Albert Hall


Ives: Decoration Day (New England Holidays Symphony)
Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 2
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, 'Eroica'

Yuja Wang (piano)
San Francisco Symphony
Michael Tilson Thomas (conductor)

Chinese virtuoso Yuja Wang is the soloist in Bartók's Second Piano Concerto - a work the composer intended to pose 'fewer difficulties for the orchestra' and to be 'more pleasing in its thematic material' than his First. Beethoven's emotionally charged 'Eroica' Symphony forms the second half - the ground-breaking symphony that would pave the way for the mighty Romantic works of Mahler and Bruckner. The concert opens with Charles Ives's atmospheric Decoration Day, inspired by his father's marching band.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Trivia question:

Which Mozart symphony slow movement is approximately equal in length to the March Funebre of Beethoven's Eroica Symphony?

[Roehre]

Trivia question:

Which Mozart symphony slow movement is approximately equal in length to the March Funebre of Beethoven's Eroica Symphony?

38 KV504 perhaps?

[pastoralguy]

And how short will Yuga Wang's dress be?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

38 KV504 perhaps?

Depends if the repeats are observed - and who's conducting it. K550 can drag on, too. But I don't know of a recording of either that matches the quarter-hour of many recordings of the Beethoven.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

... except Britten's studio recording with the ECO; all 16mins 19secs of it! (More than twice as long as his Live recording with the LSO, which also has a swifter tempo; closer to the marked Andante.)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Yes - Hogwood takes 14mins for K550, so I'll plump for that as my answer. Provided the repeats that the work demands are observed. The real innovation of the Eroica is that its quarter-hour span doesn't involve repeats in its Sonata structure. Further evidence of course (and there is so much more) that Beethoven knew what he was doing when he did instruct the performers to repeat.

[richardfinegold]

And how short will Yuga Wang's dress be?

It doesn't hurt to have something nice to look at. I've met her--friends of mine in Philadelphia mentored her when she was at Curtis--and she was intelligent and nice as can be (and hopefully her celebrity hasn't changed that). She was wearing jeans and an overlarge t shirt, a far cry from her stage look, but she looked mighty fine in that attire as well.
I don't know why there is all the talk in this thread about Mozart. The Ives and the Bartok are pretty fascinating pieces in their own right, and I think the Eroica is an interesting choice to top it off.
I hope that make a Blu Ray of this one

[cloughie]

... except Britten's studio recording with the ECO; all 16mins 19secs of it! (More than twice as long as his Live recording with the LSO, which also has a swifter tempo; closer to the marked Andante.)

My favourite the Prague by Maag on Decca only manages 14'40".

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

My favourite the Prague by Maag on Decca only manages 14'40".

Yes - if Britten had played the repeats in his LSO performance, that would have been about the time he'd've done it in. (If you see what I mean!)

But we mustn't keep distracting from the Thread topic of what young women might be wearing!

[wenotsoira]

And how short will Yuga Wang's dress be?

Why? Are you hoping for a quick thrill?

[ahinton]

Why? Are you hoping for a quick thrill?

From whom, might you suppose? Lady Yuga or Ms Yuja?

[ahinton]

Yes - if Britten had played the repeats in his LSO performance, that would have been about the time he'd've done it in. (If you see what I mean!)

But we mustn't keep distracting from the Thread topic of what young women might be wearing!

Oh, don't worry about that; people will surely be invited to tweext about it on the following morning's corn-flaky broadcast, as it will be thought to be far more interesting than the muesli that she'll have played (speaking of which programme I wonder why the word "toast" keeps coming to what's left of my mind?)...

[pastoralguy]

Why? Are you hoping for a quick thrill?

Always!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Depends if the repeats are observed - and who's conducting it. K550 can drag on, too. But I don't know of a recording of either that matches the quarter-hour of many recordings of the Beethoven.

It was K550 I was thinking of (with repeats of course, though it's well known to many how I feel about repeats in sonata form movements - especially second half repeats).