Prom 33: 9.08.16 - Mark Simpson, Dutilleux and Elgar

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:30 Tuesday 9 Aug 2016
Royal Albert Hall

Mark Simpson: Israfel (London premiere)
Henri Dutilleux: 'Tout un monde lointain ...'
Edward Elgar: Symphony No 1 in A flat major

Johannes Moser cello
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Juanjo Mena conductor

In his First Symphony, unveiled in Manchester in 1908, Edward Elgar saw beyond the recession in which Britain was languishing to express a 'massive hope for the future'. The symphony's noble main tune appears fragile at first, but when it returns at the end, it's carried home by an ecstatic orchestra filled with a spirit of uplifting optimism. The BBC Philharmonic and its Chief Conductor also present the London premiere of a work by its Composer in Association, Mark Simpson, and the marriage of modernity and beauty that is Dutilleux's cello concerto 'Tout un monde lointain…'.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07mwnyk

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Just a note to say that in my cutting and pasting, I noticed that the BBC website gives the date of the first performance of Elgar 1 as 1911 (the date of the 2nd symphony). I feel very close to this work, having heard it for the first time in the Free Trade Hall (where it was premiered), and my mother's violin teacher had played in that first Hallé 1908 performance.

[Serial_Apologist]

Just a note to say that in my cutting and pasting, I noticed that the BBC website gives the date of the first performance of Elgar 1 as 1911 (the date of the 2nd symphony). I feel very close to this work, having heard it for the first time in the Free Trade Hall (where it was premiered), and my mother's violin teacher had played in that first Hallé 1908 performance.

Either carelessness or somebody under pressure to provide programme notes in a hurry.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Either carelessness or somebody under pressure to provide programme notes in a hurry.

I suspect the same team who do the Radio 3 website also do the Facebook one-liners.

[bluestateprommer]

MS' Israfel just finished. It rather reminded me, through hazy memories, of his Last Night commission sparks, but in more extended form, and perhaps less obviously "scratchy modern" in places. One more lyrical interlude was notable. According to Tom Redmond, not one, but two composers, are in the RAH, not just MS himself, but also Julian Anderson.

[BBMmk2]

This be another one top catch up on! I am doing more catching up this year, than last!!!

[Petrushka]

This be another one top catch up on! I am doing more catching up this year, than last!!!

I'm endeavouring to listen to as much live as possible leaving my evening meal until after the Prom.

Very much enjoyed the opening piece by Mark Simpson. It made an excellent concert opener and I'll certainly listen again.

[DracoM]

Good stuff, tonight. Simpson exciting, Dutilleux intriguing and full of atmosphere, and beautifully played. Elgar - not my thing at all, BUT terrifically well-played.

[edashtav]

Just a note to say that in my cutting and pasting, I noticed that the BBC website gives the date of the first performance of Elgar 1 as 1911 (the date of the 2nd symphony). I feel very close to this work, having heard it for the first time in the Free Trade Hall (where it was premiered), and my mother's violin teacher had played in that first Hallé 1908 performance.

Here's a side-light on that first performance in December 1908 from an anonymous correspondent who was one of the Hallé orchestra's guarantors. The letter was published in the Manchester Courier on Monday, 7th December 1908.

THE HALLÉ CONCERTS.

To the Editor of the "Manchester Courier."

Sir, —I have purposely refrained from answering numerous communications which my letter on "St. Paul" elicited until after Thursday, when the only symphony ever written by the greatest living English composer was 'to given for the first time anywhere.

To use a distasteful expression, nothing could have been more " boomed” [ i.e. promoted] than the Elgar Symphony, and one expected see Peter street impassable owing to the crowds who had been unable to get in. Alas! what did we find on entering the hall? One of very worst unreserved gallery attendances of the season, while the bulk of the reserved seats were obviously occupied by given tickets. [i.e. in modern parlance: an attempt had been mounted to paper the house.]

Where were the Humperdinck devotees, the Reger enthusiasts, and the disciples of Weingartner? If they were represented by the small unreserved gallery audience—which, after all, is the real Hallé barometer —I am constrained to conclude that, after all, the Hallé Concerts Committee are working on the right lines, and, to adopt the phrase of one correspondent, they allow us quite as much modern " jam” our perpetual feast of "the bread," which Beethoven, Mozart, and others supply, we deserve.

It seems forgotten that the Hallé Concerts are not wholly, at any rate, a philanthropic institution, and while we guarantors are quite ready to find sufficient money to ensure high standards of performance, we know that heavy calls would deter new guarantors from filling the places of those who, through death, fall out the guarantors' list. No, we have every confidence in our committee, and to those of us who old Owensians, it is a matter pride that " the Grand Old Man Owens " —Mr. Broadfield [Edward John Broadfield, Life Governor of “Owens College”, the forerunner of the University of Manchester]—is our chairman.
Yours. &c, OLD OWENSIAN. Dec. 5.

[cloughie]

Good stuff, tonight. Simpson exciting, Dutilleux intriguing and full of atmosphere, and beautifully played. Elgar - not my thing at all, BUT terrifically well-played.

Enjoyed the Elgar and my backwoodsman recording from FM to minidisc sounds excellent.

[edashtav]

A Compelling Score by Mark Simpson

[...]

Very much enjoyed the opening piece by Mark Simpson. It made an excellent concert opener and I'll certainly listen again.

Mark Simpson Israfel
Urgent, dramatic, directs and compelling, I was gripped by Mark Simpson’s score from its opening bars right through its two movements. It’s a young man’s score: the product of a mind relishing his opportunity to explore and exploit the resources of a large symphony orchestra. At times the work is almost hyperactive as if Mark is being sent delirious by the wealth of sounds at his disposal. The piece is heavily and busily scored but it didn’t feel clotted and dense. I heard echoes of the American composer, Michael Torke, possibly mediated by the music of Julian Anderson and Jimmy MacMillan. A naughty thought- does Mark’s triumph in the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition when he played Nielsen’s Clarinet Concerto still resonate in the far recesses of his mind- I found some passages had a whiff of Danish Blue.