Prom 29: 6.08.16 National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain

[Rolmill]

So few comments about these youngsters? I really enjoyed all three pieces, thought the orchestra were terrific and surprisingly for me, really enjoyed the Gravitational Waves. Would like to have been there.

I was there last night with two eldest daughters, we all enjoyed the concert very much.

Split opinion on Gravitational Waves: two of us liked the theatricality, one daughter didn't get much out of it (reading the composer's programme note in advance was helpful); it may be that you had to be there.

Also Sprach was very well played, with brave trumpet playing, nice solos throughout (although we were too far away from the leader to hear hers as clearly as I would have liked), powerful climaxes, full-bodied and cohesive string playing, and delicacy when required. Same applies to the Holst, although I felt Neptune suffered from some tired-sounding tuning in the upper woodwind and trumpets.

I'm afraid I don't really 'get' Colin Matthews' Pluto, which seems seriously anti-climactic. His programme note shows his awareness of the pitfalls very well, but unfortunately IMO he fails to avoid them in practice.

This was the first time I had seen Ed Gardner and I was impressed with his control of the orchestra, very clear beat and attention to phrasing and structure.

it may have been our location (Rausing Circle, just over the stage above the double-basses), but the doubled woodwinds and brass occasionally seemed to overpower the upper strings. But overall, I thought it was an excellent concert - (mostly) great music, well conducted and well played.

[Nick Armstrong]

So few comments about these youngsters? I really enjoyed all three pieces, thought the orchestra were terrific and surprisingly for me, really enjoyed the Gravitational Waves. Would like to have been there.

I was there and we had a great time, sitting 2nd row stalls alongside the front rail of the arena. The Strauss was a little thick with double forces everywhere; and I don't get the 'Pluto' afterthought by Mr Matthews, who was sitting behind us and took his bow. But Planets was absolutely terrific, some great solo work (my personal highlight was a wonderful solo in - which movement? - by one of the two tenor tubas / euphonia) and real sonic impact throughout. However the organ glissando was inaudible


Rolmill - cross-posted! We were split too about the first piece. I found it just a style exercise, didn't get much out of it. Agreed about Gardner - first time I've seen him live, top drawer.

[Simon B]

Aside from some (understandable at the end of a long concert and hot and humid conditions) sour intonation creeping in towards the end of the Planets, all was played with striking levels of skill and commitment. It seems a loss to me that AFAIK, Ed Gardner doesn't hold any formal positions in the UK now - I can barely recall a musically disappointing one among many concerts/operas I've attended at which he was waving a stick about.

Almost every time I go to an NYO Prom it almost comes as a relief to have an orchestra onstage big enough to actually fill the RAH with sound instead of it being like the aural equivalent of looking down the wrong end of a telescope, and this was no exception.

There's nothing particularly wrong with the Colin Matthews piece as such, but it just doesn't belong. The piece of music it is grafted onto has clearly finished, whatever the solar system does(n't) have to say about it. At a guess, those in the arena booing and giving the thumbs down to the composer last night are mainly offended by a perceived presumptuous hanging-on-the-coat-tails-of-a-masterpiece aspect of this move rather than the thing itself...

All of this comes with the qualifier that this concert was a musical equivalent of fine wine turning to vinegar in the mouth, so I wasn't really "present" for about 80% of it. Striking whatever the opposite of gold is in what was generally a quiet and *still* audience (by Planets standards - which has about a 90% destruction rate) is a regular experience but rarely with such a stark conflict between what seemed a really good performance and impossibility of concentration. If the sound of someone finally completely losing the plot under the unbearable pressure and bellowing "Please, *please* just stop doing that in my peripheral vision and &*%^g STAND £&$*% STILL!!!!!!!!!!!" gets broadcast tonight... that'll be me in the same seat adjacent to the same position in the arena (and once the men come and fill me with drugs...)

[Nick Armstrong]

Aside from some (understandable at the end of a long concert and hot and humid conditions) sour intonation creeping in towards the end of the Planets, all was played with striking levels of skill and commitment. It seems a loss to me that AFAIK, Ed Gardner doesn't hold any formal positions in the UK now - I can barely recall a musically disappointing one among many concerts/operas I've attended at which he was waving a stick about.

Almost every time I go to an NYO Prom it almost comes as a relief to have an orchestra onstage big enough to actually fill the RAH with sound instead of it being like the aural equivalent of looking down the wrong end of a telescope, and this was no exception.

There's nothing particularly wrong with the Colin Matthews piece as such, but it just doesn't belong. The piece of music it is grafted onto has clearly finished, whatever the solar system does(n't) have to say about it. At a guess, those in the arena booing and giving the thumbs down to the composer last night are mainly offended by a perceived presumptuous hanging-on-the-coat-tails-of-a-masterpiece aspect of this move rather than the thing itself...

All of this comes with the qualifier that this concert was a musical equivalent of fine wine turning to vinegar in the mouth, so I wasn't really "present" for about 80% of it. Striking whatever the opposite of gold is in what was generally a quiet and *still* audience (by Planets standards - which has about a 90% destruction rate) is a regular experience but rarely with such a stark conflict between what seemed a really good performance and impossibility of concentration. If the sound of someone finally completely losing the plot and bellowing "Please, *please* just stop doing that and &*%^g STAND £&$*% STILL!!!!!!!!!!!" gets broadcast tonight... that'll be me (and once the men come and fill me with drugs...)

I saw a couple of stocky blokes dressed in white holding a big net and hovering near the exit as we filed out - looking for you I take it !

I now expect shuffling and coughing and whispering at the Proms (I've never understood why it's supposed to be the best audience in music - I've always found it the most distracting) ... plus this year's new feature, Chinese tourists filming the whole first piece on their phones, being told to stop by officials or other audience members, and then being palpably bored (shifting, whispering, talking, regularly opening fizzy drinks with a 'pshhhh') for the rest of the concert.

Given that's my expectation at the Proms, last night was relatively ok since the mercifully massive orchestra drowned out most 'noises off'...

[Simon B]

I'd swear that some concerts are actually an experiment to test Sartre's hypothesis that Hell is Other People. When it gets too much I sometimes give up even trying to pay any attention to the performers and contemplate the likelihood that my approach (sit still, STFU, hopefully essentially don't exist in the perception of anyone around me who, shock horror, actually wants to concentrate on what's going on on the stage) presumably fills someone with visceral loathing and stylised visualisations of felling me instantaneously with a single sensationally crisp blow.

It must run in the family as I was reminded last night of the observation of a close relative that the only person in the building who should be expressing the music through the medium of gesture is the one on the podium with the stick. "All else is (polite translation!) public onanism". Well, quite .

The only reason it is all worth it is... concerts like the recent Mahler 3 or the recent Ring Cycle in Gateshead. Blissful silence and stillness and focus from all those around and (at least moments of) sublime escape from the "tedium of the quotidian"!

[edashtav]

I agree with Simon B, Rolmill and Caliban that Ed Gardner is both good and reliable. There's a surprising number of good, young British conductors who've joined the baton drain. British music needs more of them to stick around.

[Nick Armstrong]

I'd swear that some concerts are actually an experiment to test Sartre's hypothesis that Hell is Other People. When it gets too much I sometimes give up even trying to pay any attention to the performers and contemplate the likelihood that my approach (sit still, STFU, hopefully essentially don't exist in the perception of anyone around me who, shock horror, actually wants to concentrate on what's going on on the stage) presumably fills someone with visceral loathing and stylised visualisations of felling me instantaneously with a single sensationally crisp blow.

I've mentioned here before that in past years I used to attend Proms with a veterinary friend (specialism: horses) who was legally obliged not to leave his pistol and ammunition in the car, and thus had with him at all times a small case with the means efficiently to dispatch the noisier element. We came very close a couple of times...

[Simon B]

I agree with Simon B, Rolmill and Caliban that Ed Gardner is both good and reliable. There's a surprising number of good, young British conductors who've joined the baton drain. British music needs more of them to stick around.

To get back to happier matters than spleen venting - indeed so. Rosenkavalier and Peter Grimes at ENO - overwhelming, Meistersinger nearly so. Gerontius and Bluebeard's Castle with the CBSO similar. Lutoslawski's concerto for orchestra and Petrushka with the NYO recently, likewise. Walton Belshazzar's Feast with the BBCSO... And so on. I may have forgotten the duds, but there haven't been many.

That said he probably did well to get out of ENO when he did. Is there any sign of a successor to Wigglesworth yet?

Anyway, hopefully (on grounds of merit) he will not be among numerous pretty good or better Brit conductors who seem to have vanished to middle ranking orchestras abroad never to be seen again.

[Petrushka]

At the time when the BBC SO chief conductor position became vacant (around 2011?) I put forward Ed Gardner as the ideal candidate. It didn't happen at that time as Sakari Oramo was offered the job but once it becomes vacant again and assuming, as SimonB says, he hasn't vanished abroad, then Gardner remains just the man for the job.

[Nick Armstrong]

To get back to happier matters than spleen venting

I'm collecting his Mendelssohn series on Chandos - he has a very good touch indeed with that repertoire too...

[edashtav]

Iris ter Schiphorst: Gravitational Waves

It was good to hear a piece by ter Schiphorst. Unfortunately, her oeuvre that employs a constantly changing mosaic of media doesn’t fit conveniently on a traditional aural CD and that limits what’s available to the home listener. I listened, today, on the radio iPlayer and soon realised that I was missing out on a full account of the work that available via the BBC’s TV link. However, what I heard revealed an experienced artist with a facile command of live, electronic and recorded effects. The work had a shape and a fine sense of momentum. An ideal piece to break down perceived barriers around classical music. Whilst the work was readily accessible, it wasn’t full of redundant clichés, although getting the orchestra to use their voices is becoming a trope for our times. After this promising co-commission, I hope that the BBC schedules more of Iris’s works.

[BBMmk2]

I'm collecting his Mendelssohn series on Chandos - he has a very good touch indeed with that repertoire too...

You saw my post a out the projected recording of The planets that was being made at this performance?

[Nick Armstrong]

You saw my post a out the projected recording of The planets that was being made at this performance?

Yes! Who was "Ralph" in your post, BBM?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Yes! Who was "Ralph" in your post, BBM?

Gustav's best friend?

(Or, more likely, one of his Couzens )