Prom 4: 18.07.16 - Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and Valery Gergiev

[edashtav]

Ustvolskaya - Symphony no 3

An uncompromising scream for help, Not Waving But Drowning stripped of humour, just unrelieved pain. The piece is monolithic and mainly loud. Perhaps, Gerald Barry has inherited some of Galina’s characteristics. All this makes for uncomfortable listening but hearing the work after recent atrocities in Nice, Turkey and the USA, makes a powerful cathartic experience. Not one I shall want to repeat often, but an emetic or powerful purge is an occasional necessity. Ustvolskaya’s score is antagonistic to ideas of beauty.

TV newscasts wrap us in a comfort blanket, we’re told that the worst images from Nice are too extreme to broadcast: artists such as Goya and composers like Ustvolskaya force us to experience and confront the pain and suffering that surround us. I harbour doubts about Gergiev’s performance with the Munich PO, finding it too lyrical, lacking bite and over-plaintive (there were moments when I heard Max’s Orkney birds) and insufficiently angry and brusque. Full marks, however, go to the stentorian speaker, Alexei Petrenko

What a good choice for the Proms. I was such a stark contrast to the self-indulgent romanticism exhibited by Rachmaninov’s D minor concerto, decently but not superbly played by Behzod Abduraimov from Taskent, which preceded it. The programme started with a “steady as you go” performance of Ravel’s Bolero that came across as a French Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. I’m not competent to discuss Gergiev’s way with the Der Rosenkavalier Suite, a work that has never engaged my attention.

[gradus]

In transit I only heard two thirds of the Rachmaninov but what I heard of the pianist impressed me, he certainly had the power and technique to meet its demands though I like a little more give and take in the slow movement, fine all the same. Perhaps I was already in the mood having been lucky enough this morning to have a wonderful pianist come and run through pieces he is shortly to perform - Scriabin, Medtner and Rachmaninov got the week off to a flier.

[Nick Armstrong]

the pianist impressed me, he certainly had the power and technique to meet its demands though I like a little more give and take in the slow movement, fine all the same. Perhaps I was already in the mood ...

Me too. In the hall from where I was sitting (stalls 5 rows back at about a quarter-to-Gergiev), it was a very fine performance indeed, one of the best I've heard - I thought the pianist combined incredible fingerwork with power and sensitivity as required, and Gergiev was exceptionally good at securing ensemble with the orchestra (not usually a fan of VG but I came away thinking the better of him). Looking forward to hearing the radio broadcast to see how it worked via the microphones.

The rest of the programme left me cold for varying reasons, but the whole thing held the attention of the teenaged French relative I took along for his first ever classical concert. Even he was astonished, though, at the stupidity of people's uncovered coughing which made large sections of the first few moments of Boléro virtually inaudible, even sitting quite close to the orchestra... Neither of us connected with the Ustvolskaya or with the odd 'rags-and-patches' Strauss suite. The Rachmaninov definitely brought out the best in the performers (and the pianist's La Campanella encore was pretty impressive too).

[edashtav]

[ of the concerto] it was a very fine performance indeed, one of the best I've heard - I thought the pianist combined incredible fingerwork with power and sensitivity as required, and Gergiev was exceptionally good at securing ensemble with the orchestra [...]
... Neither of us connected with the Ustvolskaya or with the odd 'rags-and-patches' Strauss suite. The Rachmaninov definitely brought out the best in the performers (and the pianist's La Campanella encore was pretty impressive too).

I've listened to the concerto again in the light of high praise from you and others, caliban. I agree that those passages needing quick fingering were superbly played and that aspect of the pianist's virtuosity was further underlined in his excellent ( and generous) encore. Unlike you, I found the concerto's big, heroic moments a little under-played and that spoiled the performance overall, for such an expansive work needs big climaxes if it is not to be diminished.

[Lento]

Umm, is it over yet...

Surely there a subtler shades of miserable: makes Shost seem a barrel of laughs.

[Serial_Apologist]

Surely there a subtler shades of miserable: makes Shost seem a barrel of laughs.

It's not mento, Lento!

[Serial_Apologist]

the Der Rosenkavalier Suite, a work that has never engaged my attention.

I like the bit Berio slipped into his Sinfona, though.

[bluestateprommer]

Surely there a subtler shades of miserable: makes Shost seem a barrel of laughs.

I wasn't particularly a fan of the Ustvolskaya work either. The repetitions of the text got old pretty fast, for one, and the overall tone too unvarying. Musical screams of pain can work, if done with sufficient variety to grab the attention. This one didn't do it for me in the end. I would think that there must be other music by her worth reviving. Still, as one learns from science, not all experiments work. (Life would be boring if they always did, if more efficient.)

The contrast in extremes in the 2nd half was admittedly much more effective with the Strauss as the last scheduled work, rather than the Ravel, had that been the final work. So I stand corrected on the program order, as planned. Nice job with the Berlioz encore, which put me back in mind of the 2011 encore performance of the same selection by the Philadelphia Orchestra and Dutoit.

Jumping back to the 1st half, in the Rachmaninov (which is not a self-indulgent work at all; long, yes, but that's not the same thing), one touch that Gergiev did, perhaps to forestall the "happy clappers", was to dive almost immediately into the slow movement with barely a pause after the 1st.

[EdgeleyRob]

Surely there a subtler shades of miserable: makes Shost seem a barrel of laughs.

Try listening to Weinberg (16th quartet for example)

[Nick Armstrong]

Jumping back to the 1st half, in the Rachmaninov, one touch that Gergiev did, perhaps to forestall the "happy clappers", was to dive almost immediately into the slow movement with barely a pause after the 1st.

I meant to mention that in my comments above. He received one heartfelt pulse of gratitude from at least one seat in the hall (mine) for that deft touch. It contributed to the sense of a coherent performance.

[Lento]

Try listening to Weinberg (16th quartet for example)

Thanks: much subtler!

[muzzer]

Am watching now and enjoying greatly (but "Valerie" Gergiev?)

[Tetrachord]

I've seen Gergiev (whom I've nick-named 'flutter fingers') at least three times now, the last one in 2015 at the Concertgebouw. I rather like his style.

[Roslynmuse]

I enjoyed the first half of this far more than I expected to - unlike many, I like Boléro very much, but was dreading a Gergiev 'interpretation'. I thought the earlier sections were rather beautifully done, and if anything the ending could have been even more dangerous. Tempo was just right, I felt, and well maintained.

I'm no great fan of Rach 3 (although the last few minutes never fail) but I was hugely impressed by this performance. I thought it was powerful in all the right ways, and the 1st mt cadenza was gripping.

I need to listen to Ustvolskaya again - it made a cumulative impression, and I'd like to hear it again with a map in the mind's ear, so to speak.

I didn't listen to the Strauss - I'd rather hear the opera, and there are plenty of other operas I'd rather hear first!

Like Petrushka, I was impressed with the broadcast sound - by far the best I've heard in recent years.

[ardcarp]

I've seen Gergiev (whom I've nick-named 'flutter fingers') at least three times now, the last one in 2015 at the Concertgebouw. I rather like his style.

I wish I could work out how orchestral players manage to make any sense of it. Obviously they do, so it's my problem.