Prom 4: 18.07.16 - Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and Valery Gergiev

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:30 Monday 18 Jul 2016 ON TV
Royal Albert Hall

Maurice Ravel: Boléro
Sergei Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No 3 in D minor
Galina Ustvolskaya: Symphony No 3 'Jesus Messiah, save us!'
Richard Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier Suite

Behzod Abduraimov piano
Munich Philharmonic Orchestra
Valery Gergiev conductor

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07jlzx1

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07jm3n4 (repeat)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

A concert starting with Boléro, rather than as a crowd pleaser at the end. Is this novel?

[bluestateprommer]

A concert starting with Boléro, rather than as a crowd pleaser at the end. Is this novel?

Certainly on this side of the pond, this would be unheard of. Pretty much invariably when I've seen Boléro programmed, it's at the end. But then this makes perfect sense, given the nature of the work. In all honesty, I would have switched the Ravel and Strauss works in this concert, but then no one asked me. This definitely is a rather curious Prom, but points to the Proms programmers for including a work by Ustvolskaya, the wild card in the program, even though I haven't the faintest idea if it's any good. We'll find out in less than a week.

BTW, the artist roster features a reciter, presumably for the Ustvolskaya, one Alexei Petrenko. His name was a recent addition to the Proms listing. (I updated the Forum calendar accordingly - hint, hint .)

[richardfinegold]

Is Gergiev a regular Conductor of this Orchestra, or is this a one time gig?
Somewhat unrelated, but I've been listening to many recordings by the Bavarian Radio Orchestra lately. They get my vote for finest sounding German Orchestra, by a slight node over the Berliners

[bluestateprommer]

Is Gergiev a regular Conductor of this Orchestra, or is this a one time gig?

Gergiev is now principal conductor of the Munich Phil, as of this past season. He's pretty much established himself with the Proms management as a regular annual visitor, even though he obviously no longer holds a UK post (but then, neither do Barenboim or Haitink, other pretty much annual regulars). It's questionable whether the Munich Phil would appear every year, so if Gergiev returns next year, maybe it will be with the Mariinsky.

To qualify, a bit, my earlier comment on putting Boléro at the start, on second thought, maybe there is a logic to it, based on the idea that the orchestra players would be more fatigued by the end. Perhaps having Boléro at the point when the orchestra is freshest in the evening is the idea (and thus presumably less prone to sudden tempo shift or building the continuous crescendo too quickly), unless Gergiev simply wants to be different.

[Simon B]

Starting with Bolero is unusual but not unique - I recall a concert in Leeds not so long back (conducted by the brother of Roger the sometime nemesis of these pages IIRC) that started with the Ravel and ended with something which thoroughly trumped it - Walton's Belshazzar's Feast!

Meanwhile, in preparation for attending this Prom I've been listening to the Ustvolskaya on YouTube.

Given the rest of the program I predict a major outbreak of retired colonels spewing a mighty froth of green ink!

[edashtav]

[...]

Meanwhile, in preparation for attending this Prom I've been listening to the Ustvolskaya on YouTube.

Given the rest of the program I predict a major outbreak of retired colonels spewing a mighty froth of green ink!

I've checked out Ustvolskaya's piece, too and can see that it may offend the defenders of the faith.
I'm very much looking forward to this Prom

What an amazing confection:

A heartless Dance
A self-absorbed Concerto
A bleak Symphony
A sentimental Suite.

[PhilipT]

A concert starting with Boléro, rather than as a crowd pleaser at the end. Is this novel?

Don't forget the BBC Philharmonic's "Farewell Symphony in reverse" trademark performance, usually at the start of the second half, where they walk in in dribs and drabs chatting, talking on their mobile 'phones, carrying shopping and so on, taking their places just as their bit is due to start.

[BBMmk2]

Certainly on this side of the pond, this would be unheard of. Pretty much invariably when I've seen Boléro programmed, it's at the end. But then this makes perfect sense, given the nature of the work. In all honesty, I would have switched the Ravel and Strauss works in this concert, but then no one asked me. This definitely is a rather curious Prom, but points to the Proms programmers for including a work by Ustvolskaya, the wild card in the program, even though I haven't the faintest idea if it's any good. We'll find out in less than a week.

BTW, the artist roster features a reciter, presumably for the Ustvolskaya, one Alexei Petrenko. His name was a recent addition to the Proms listing. (I updated the Forum calendar accordingly - hint, hint .)

Absolutely, this is a weird balance, if not something of an imbalance

[Tony Halstead]

conducted by the brother of Roger the sometime nemesis of these pages IIRC)

Er... is there indeed a conductor whose surname is SCRUTON?

[mercia]

the Ustvolskaya would make a fitting Brexit anthem

[mlb7171]

Someone fire the trombone player!

[ARBurton]

Umm, is it over yet...

[Petrushka]

Regardless of the merits or de-merits of performances so far, I must report that the sound offered on R3 via Freeview is astonishingly good. There is an excellent bass response that I don't usually associate with Prom broadcasts. Full marks for the engineering!

[bluestateprommer]

So far, a good Prom, if not quite scaling the heights of Proms 1 & 2 for me. Boléro is Boléro, as it always is, with VG clocking in between 15-16 minutes or so (may check later), a reasonable pace. Nice of Martin Handley to mention as many of the soloists from the orchestra as possible, not least percussionist Sebastian Förschl on the principal side drum. I must confess that it actually may well have been a good idea to start with the Ravel, so I'll do a mea culpa there. Behzod Abduraimov did fine, if again not necessarily earth-shatteringly great in terms of interpretation, in Rach 3, but then he is but 26 and hopefully has a long future ahead of him. Rather interesting to hear that he now lives in Kansas City, MO, or somewhere near there, because of his residence at Park University:

http://kcur.org/post/watch-pianist-behzod-abduraimov-takes-new-role-park-university#stream/0

Also, he dispatched his encore well. It was charming of him to speak in the pre-recorded talk with MH that BA was hoping to get a ticket to sit in the hall for the 2nd half. If all else fails, he can join the Arena Prommers, of course.