Prom 34: 10.08.16 - Dutilleux, HK Gruber and Beethoven

[silvestrione]

Poised, elegant, almost neoclassical through the first two movements yet with no lack of tonal or expressive warmth , Oramo's trimly-proportioned Beethoven 5th breathed quite enough fire thereafter!
But how my heart sank when he omitted the scherzo/trio repeat, especially when played as well as it was here, with wonderfully clean double-basses chugging and chewing away at terrific speed. Odder still as he then observed the finale repeat, sometimes adduced (by Adrian Boult, e.g.) as a reason not to do the scherzo one because if you feel you need the finale repeat to balance the scherzo one, it can be hard to bring off the great C Major outburst three times...well, choices choices, but at least Oramo's speed and sweep was sufficient to his self- and musical- justification.

For me though it always sound wrong not to play scherzo/trio twice, simply too short (and too good not to be heard twice!), and the finale then seems to come much too soon. Then when the scherzo returns mid-finale, in still-going-on-always-going-on mode (like the ghost in Whistle and I'll Come to You My Lad, saying "I'm still here..."), it has nothing like the same impact...

(HDs R3 player live, dynamics better in the Beethoven, finale especially).

Yes I thought this was a neoclassical reading, a non-triumphalist 21st century one too, none the worse for that. I particularly enjoyed the slow movement, which these days always gives me goose bumps when it starts, and then it engages in those extraordinary quiet bits after the march sections, and then the magical coda, and suitably tentative conclusion. All this was wonderfully done, superbly played, I thought (also from home concert hall though!)

[Lat-Literal]

Didn't listen to the Beethoven but I did take this opportunity to learn more about Dutilleux via the discussion in the interval. I also listened to this performance of "Timbres, espace, mouvement". All good. During the Gruber piece, I started to see the three buskers as Compo, Foggy and Clegg with elements of the 'Allo 'Allo cast drifting in and out. That is not to say I didn't like it or that I have any problem. I've often wondered if there was a lost episode of "Summer Wine" based upon Batty's perspective of Compo's irrepressible mind.

[bluestateprommer]

During the Gruber piece, I started to see the three buskers as Compo, Foggy and Clegg with elements of the 'Allo 'Allo cast drifting in and out.

Even in my ignorance of the pop culture references, writing from this side of the pond, from my hearing of the HK Gruber, I did understand intuitively what you meant, in the cheeky spirit that HKG's Busking has. Definitely "audience-friendly" in harmonic style, and actually possessing that seemingly rare quality in contemporary concert hall music, humor. The humor at the very start initially hit me as maybe a bit much, with just trumpet mouthpiece, but then things settled down. HH, CB and MB all did very well with their solo parts.

Likewise, the BBC SO and Oramo did very well with the Dutilleux and LvB. It was a treat to hear the spoken audio clip of HD during the interval feature. Oramo did make a point of trying to give a totally fresh reading with the orchestra of LvB 5, from working from a totally clean, unmarked orchestral score. What struck me was that Oramo tried to avoid any self-conscious monumentality about his interpretation, with the occasional tempo fluctuation for the motto theme in the 1st movement. The lack of the scherzo repeat is quite normal these days, at least on this side of the pond, as I think also is the finale repeat.

[Lat-Literal]

Even in my ignorance of the pop culture references, writing from this side of the pond, from my hearing of the HK Gruber, I did understand intuitively what you meant, in the cheeky spirit that HKG's Busking has. Definitely "audience-friendly" in harmonic style, and actually possessing that seemingly rare quality in contemporary concert hall music, humor. The humor at the very start initially hit me as maybe a bit much, with just trumpet mouthpiece, but then things settled down. HH, CB and MB all did very well with their solo parts.

Likewise, the BBC SO and Oramo did very well with the Dutilleux and LvB. It was a treat to hear the spoken audio clip of HD during the interval feature. Oramo did make a point of trying to give a totally fresh reading with the orchestra of LvB 5, from working from a totally clean, unmarked orchestral score. What struck me was that Oramo tried to avoid any self-conscious monumentality about his interpretation, with the occasional tempo fluctuation for the motto theme in the 1st movement. The lack of the scherzo repeat is quite normal these days, at least on this side of the pond, as I think also is the finale repeat.

A nice summary bluestateprommer.

I won't lower the tone by including clips, especially as I sense that you did some background reading. Suffice it to say that the thought was in the trumpet (North of England) and the accordion (France/Germany) and I didn't mind the piece at all.

Minds work in strange ways. Tonight's winner of "Make Me an Egghead" - a television competition to gain a permanent place on a nightly general knowledge programme - had been successful in another similar programme partially by specializing in the films of the Muppets.

She also recognised, just, that the Funeral March of a Marionette was by Gounod.

That sort of thing always makes me feel better.

[Roslynmuse]

I heard an unexpected anticipation of the 2nd mt of Sibelius 5 near the end of this very fresh performance of Beethoven 5's 2nd mt. Not a link I'd made before despite 40-plus years familiarity with LvB and 35 years of JS - one of the reasons we keep listening to these 'familiar' works.