Prom 46: 20.08.16 - Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder and Mozart’s Mass in C minor

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:30 Saturday 20 Aug 2016
Royal Albert Hall

Gérard Grisey: Dérives (UK premiere)
Gustav Mahler: Rückert-Lieder
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Mass in C minor, K427

Tanja Ariane Baumgartner, mezzo-soprano
Louise Alder, soprano
Carolyn Sampson, soprano
Benjamin Hulett, tenor
Matthew Rose, bass
BBC Symphony Chorus
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Ilan Volkov, conductor

Tonight's first half contrasts Gérard Grisey's classic Dérives, a striking exploration of the interiors of sounds, with Mahler's tender Rückert-Lieder, sung by German mezzo Tanja Ariane Baumgartner.
Mozart's unfinished Mass in C minor is a mix of the chamber and the operatic, the dancing and the devotional - a work ripe for the resonance of the Royal Albert Hall.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07pdxhs

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Mozart's unfinished Mass in C minor is a mix of the chamber and the operatic, the dancing and the devotional - a work ripe for the resonance of the Royal Albert Hall.

[edashtav]

Yes, Alpie, what a random comment,grotesquely inappropriate.

Gerald Grisey Derives Prom Premiere

More than forty years on from its composition, Derives received its first Prom Performance. Should we be grateful, or critical? I’m both because Derives was part of the creation of the Spectral paradigm but it’s an early example, well composed but would we be satisfied with Beethoven being represented only by his first two symphonies? Grisey used his spectral phase as a way of defining himself, as a tool to distinguish himself from what had gone before. I suppose it owes most to Stockhausen’s Stimmung, and Messaien had been a precursor of the Spectral paradigm particularly with his Couleurs de la Citie Celeste, but here was a new beginning, a liberation, but not an end. By the end of his life, cruelly foreshortened by an unexpected burst aneurysm, Grisey had rejected the term “Spectral composer”. My gripe is that the Proms have show-cased only two of Grisey’s works both from his initial adoption of Spectral Methodology. Furthermore, Grisey was never hidebound by the mathematics of spectral analysis, I feel to him it was a tool, to liberate and decontaminate his creative juices.

Full marks to Volkov for approaching the piece untrammelled by its performing history. This was the most lyrical performance of Derives that I’ve experience, just as Sondergard’s interpretation of Brahms 4th Symphony was similarly a study in the melodic (at the expense of the dramatic) heard earlier in this Proms’ season. What I admire about the spectral movement is that the spectral elements give a sense of continuity and direction – elements sometimes missing from the post-Modern School of the early 70s. I loved the expansive performance by Volkov and his orchestra which nearly caused me to suppress my first paragraph. Splendid work- thank you!

But, I want to emphasise that Gerald Grisey is a major figure in late 20th century music and the Proms need to explore his later music, as a matter of urgency. Please!

Mahler - Ruckert -Lieder
Neat programming, just days after the controversial Das Lied by the Halle under Sir Mark, aided, or hindered, by our leading re-composer: Colin Matthews. The third Ruckert setting pre-echoes an important element in Das Lied.

Tanja Ariane Baumgartner has a lovely voice with generous vibrato, that sounded well-suited to Mahler’s score. The BBC engineers could have given the voice greater prominence over the orchestra as the soloist’s lower register sounded a tad recessed, particularly in the earlier songs. We're Volkov’s accompaniments more matter of fact than tender? Not an outstanding performance but an adequate one that afforded satisfaction.

[jayne lee wilson]

Not much to add to Ed's keenly contextualised account of the Dérives, except to remind ardent listeners of the recent reissue of Les Espaces Acoustiques, a key work in Grisey's output, an epic avantgarde cycle to set alongside such as Dusapin's Sept Solos or Cerha's Spiegel....

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/sea...hString=grisey

[Bryn]

Not much to add to Ed's keenly contextualised account of the Dérives, except to remind ardent listeners of the recent reissue of Les Espaces Acoustiques, a key work in Grisey's output, an epic avantgarde cycle to set alongside such as Dusapin's Sept Solos or Cerha's Spiegel....

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/sea...hString=grisey

How would you say this new release compares with the earlier Caussé/Valade recording on Accord?

[Bryn]

... I want to emphasise that Gerald Grisey is a major figure in late 20th century music and the Proms need to explore his later music, as a matter of urgency. Please! ...

Possibly, to misquote Zappa, a case of "keep it early Grisey so it will go down eassay". [Coat off peg].

[edashtav]

Possibly, to misquote Zappa, a case of "keep it early Grisey so it will go down eassay". [Coat off peg].

[jayne lee wilson]

How would you say this new release compares with the earlier Caussé/Valade recording on Accord?

I never heard that one (yet...) sorry... the work was a mere titular blip on the radar until recently....

[Bryn]

I never heard that one (yet...) sorry... the work was a mere titular blip on the radar until recently....

The earlier CDs were compiled from three Radio France sessions, the solo viola Prologue and 'chamber' sections (directed by Valade) in 1997 and 1998, and the last three sections for larger forces were recorded 'live' in 1996 under the direction of Cambreling. The programme notes by Grisey are illuminating, e.g.

I would sum up the language used in these pieces as follows:

-no longer composing with notes but with sounds;
-no longer composing only sounds, but the difference that separates them (the degree of pre-audibility);
-acting on these differences, that is to say, controlling the evolution (or non-evolution) of the sound and the speed of its evolution;
-taking the relativity of our auditory perception into account;
-applying to the instrumental sphere the phenomena experimented upon for quite some time in electronic music studios. These applications are much more radical and perceptible in Partiels and Modulations;
-seeking a synthetic writing in which the different parameters participate in the development of a unique sound; e.g. the ordering of non-tempered pitches creates new timbres,and from this ordering come durations, etc. The synthesis aims, on the one hand, at developing the sound (material), and on the other, the various relationships existing between the sounds (forms).

[Having now read the customer reviews on amazon.com it now looks like I will be ordering the Knox/Asbury CDs to supplement the Caussé/Valade/Cambreling. How curious that it took so long after its American release for Kairos to make it available here.]



"

[Barbirollians]

I only heard the Ruckert Lieder . Some rather mannered woodwind playing and a soloist who was adequate in most of the songs especially in the indestructible Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen but whose Um Mitternacht was a very lightweight affair . Ferrier in particular puts one through the wringer in that song.

[rogueigor]

Regarding Les Espaces Acoustiques:

I assume the Grisey fans who have already commented are familiar with the full, live performance from Ensemble Intercontemporain available on YouTube, but for those who are not, here goes:

Part 1
Part 2

Aside from the startling technical brilliance of the players in this performance, there are numerous visual aspects to the piece (the notation of these in the scores makes me chuckle) that you can't experience from a CD/audio recording.

[french frank]

Regarding Les Espaces Acoustiques:

I assume the Grisey fans who have already commented are familiar with the full, live performance from Ensemble Intercontemporain available on YouTube, but for those who are not, here goes:

Part 1
Part 2

Welcome, Rogue - and thanks for the contribution.

[gurnemanz]

We wanted to see the British Library Shakespeare anniversary show which closes soon. A variety of fascinating exhibits, so it was worth making the effort to go to London on Saturday with the opportunity to take in the Prom in the evening on the way home.

I was quite riveted by the Grisey, not knowing it at all before (or him, I confess). Michael Church in a 5* Indie review put it quiite nicely: "It has taken forty years for his key work Dérives to get its British premiere. The word means ‘driftings’, and it’s exact: listening to it is like walking round a sculpture, whose subtle lineaments reveal themselves with glacial slowness."

The Rückert Lieder was a subtle, restrained and unostentatious rendition from Tanja Ariane Baumgartner, understated maybe, but very enjoyably done. We were quite close, standing in the Arena and I don't think I would have wanted to be a long way back.

I know the Mozart Mass pretty well from recordings and it was good to hear it live for the first time. We even squeezed in the Proms Extra talk in Imperial College beforehand which included quite a few worthwhile insights into the work's creation. I thought the choir was on good form and the two sopranos did a fabulous job, obviously enjoying themselves and singing together with a happy rapport and we glimpsed Louise Alder in the pub afterwards.