Prom 55: 27.08.16 - CBSO/Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:30 Saturday 27 Aug 2016 ON TV
Royal Albert Hall

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: The Magic Flute – overture
Hans Abrahamsen: Let me tell you (London premiere)
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No 4 in F minor



Barbara Hannigan, soprano
City Of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla, conductor

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra makes its first London appearance with young Lithuanian Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla, who becomes the orchestra's Music Director next season. While Mozart's overture combines infectious energy with Masonic symbolism, Tchaikovsky's dramatic Fourth Symphony explores the shadow cast by Fate. Hans Abrahamsen's Grawemeyer Award-winning song-cycle for Barbara Hannigan centres on Shakespeare's Ophelia, using only words allotted to her in Hamlet.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07qbh1l

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I wonder whether any idiots will start clapping in the middle of the overture.

[Zucchini]

Mirga is aleady flying high - she conducted the COE in Lucerne Festival last night. Nelsons is a hard act to follow but she will bring something different. Her CBSO position has been most generously anchored by a £500,000 donation from John Osborn, a Director and Trustee. That shows confidence!

CBSO Video

https://www.facebook.com/TheCBSO/videos/1218321034879029/

Telegraph "Meet conducting's next superstar"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/classical-music/meet-conductings-next-superstar-mirga-grainyt-tyla/

[EdgeleyRob]

I heard this lady is a Weinberg fan

[Simon B]

I called in on the Birmingham performance of this programme last night on the way up to Edinburgh for Gurrelieder at the EIF (as you do...)

Good to see Symphony Hall at capacity for Gražinyte-Tyla's first concert as the new music director. Hopefully this is the start of a trend, given that shifting lots of tickets can only help the CBSO's finances cope with the cut, cut, cut context it seems to find itself in.

If the Prom is the likely carbon copy, expect:

(i) Very big band sounding Mozart - no bad thing in the RAH barn, though this impression may have been gained mainly via the shock of a decent acoustic after attuning to Prince Albert's mighty bathroom.
(ii) Ms Hannigan doing her rather extraordinary thing (though the prevailing stasis and relative unvarying quality of the piece tried my patience a bit this time, having previously been captivated by it when the same forces except c Nelsons performed it a few years ago - not in the mood perhaps)
(iii) A somewhat manipulated (not egregiously so IMO) Tchaikovsky 4 - with everything turned up to 11. If the CBSO brass and percussion were paid by the deciBel they'd have had a productive night, trombones especially egged on to lift the roof at a few key moments. Those seeking a more searching or thoughtful interpretation may be disappointed, but the surface was thrillingly dramatic - and it's not exactly a piece that invites subtlety.

Gražinyte-Tyla's conducting style is... lively... and peaked with her baton landing somewhere in the cello section. Not sure her joints will withstand a lifetime of that approach, but she certainly couldn't be accused of underinvolvement!

On the whole this will probably go down very well as a Saturday night Prom.

[gedsmk]

(iii) A somewhat manipulated (not egregiously so IMO) Tchaikovsky 4 - with everything turned up to 11. .... On the whole this will probably go down very well as a Saturday night Prom.

Will be in the arena for this. looking forward to it! I wonder if the 4th movement of the symphony will beat the 7'53" of Mravinsky with the Leningrad?

[Barbirollians]

I am looking forward to this she is a great talent . Nelsons pull with his old orchestra is striking though he is coming back for one concert in January and it is just about sold out

[edashtav]

Mozart: The Magic Flute – overture
City Of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla, conductor

Last evening saw a programme from Mozart’s last year, magnificently played by the Budapest Festival Orchestra under Ivan Fischer. And here is the CBSO under its new director offering competition. How did they measure up? Their band sounded fuller and larger but this overture with its contrast between scurrying strings and aldermanic brass adapts well to a big band context. Opera overtures vary from mere pot-pourri “spoilers” to thoughtfully constructed preludes designed to enhance what is to come. The Magic Flute overture is real music that can stand on its own feet in the concert hall. I felt the introduction might have gained from a little more space between its chords given the size of the RAH auditorium. The first group of themes were played with pace, accuracy and alacrity. The brass response was spooked by an almighty yawn from a member of the audience. The string figures had shape and direction. I worried that the whole was “in yer face” – full of poster paint in loud colours. It was Saturday Night Fever, lacking any sense of awe and majesty.

Hans Abrahamsen: Let me tell you
Barbara Hannigan, soprano
Ophelia’s Tale expanded by Paul Griffiths. I was surprised that this was Hans’s first work for voice. Memory, Love and Time to Come are the three parts of Ophelia’s story.
Again , the start was ruined by “noises off”- what was going on? Hans’s music has developed from its roots in the “new simplicity” , to link it to tonight’s overture, perhaps he’s added elements of magic realism. His later scores combine artless elements with a concern for beauty of line and texture. I find they are beguiling and can be addictive.
Barbara Hannigan sang with conviction and confidence, creating a wide spectrum of vocal sounds that spoke highly of her admirable technique and intrepid nature.

The support of the CBSO under Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla was polished and sensitive. The score sounded fun to play and sing. Considering that the performance was a London premiere, it was remarkably assured, refulgent and successful. Most enjoyable, indeed – I long to hear further performances.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No 4 in F minor

An excellent start from the relaxed, confident brass section. The layers of Tchaikovsky’s orchestration were well blended with a fine attention to important details. Rhythms were tight, to the point of being clipped. The more lyrical moments in wind and strings were allowed to breathe in a most natural manner. I did wonder whether early climaxes became over-heated as this can leave too little in reserve and spoil the movement’s shape.What saved the performance for me was the quantity and quality of finely observed detail that is missing from so many barnstorming “ Sunday Night is Tchaik's Night” sessions. Once more, a quiet moment was wrecked by another voice in the crowd. The coda was rushed leading to a spluttering of applause.

The slow movement needed more time to breathe and it started in a matter of fact manner, robbed of its tenderness. The climaxes were overdrawn and I felt the opportunity afforded for establishing a strong contrast with the tension of the first movement was missed. Once more, stronger criticism was avoided by incidental insights and delights. However, I did conclude that the movement as a whole failed to hang together.

The string section projected their pizzicati cleanly with excellent work from double basses, and sounded better than the ensuing music for wind and brass that took time to settle down.

What a blast as the finale started abruptly! A bit coarse, more Soviet than Russian in style. I began to be irritated by a Mirga mannerism: I find that she fore shortens the endings of phrases. She sounds like a young woman in a hurry.

Much to admire but so much that needs to bed down, to become natural. She’s constantly spraying her players with Miracle-Gro when they would benefit from a hosing down with cold water.

[Ravensbourne]

Odd intruments

At the end of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No 4, I thought I heard Petroc mention a bass clarinet player and a contrabassoon player. What was that about? I'm pretty sure Tchaikovsky didn't include a part for either instrument.

Petroc also incorrectly identified the encore, but you can't expect him to get everything right.

[kernelbogey]

Well she blew my socks off! In much to admire I was especially struck by beautiful woodwind playing throughout - primi inter pares.

This was the first symphony that I heard live, circa 1960/61: Bournemouth SO under Charles Groves, Herr Hornspieler at the back (we have established). The work spoke to my extreme teen angst, and it was an overwhelming experience to hear it live.

Remembering, as I listened (on R3) tonight, how I had felt about the fourth and fifth symphonies in those anguished years, I was struck how the performance under Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla brought out the emotional pain expressed in the last movement which can easily come over as (mostly) a kind of vulgar triumphalism. The coda tonight reminded me of the upbeat last movements of some of the late Schubert sonatas. As they say in Vienna, 'Life is desperate but not serious'.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

At the end of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No 4, I thought I heard Petroc mention a bass clarinet player and a contrabassoon player. What was that about? I'm pretty sure Tchaikovsky didn't include a part for either instrument.

Petroc also incorrectly identified the encore, but you can't expect him to get everything right.

Well he's a news reporter, not a qualified musician.

[gedsmk]

A night of "high anxiety"!!
A couple of odd moans from someone in the circle or 2nd tier, quite clearly audible in the Mozart (I thought originally it was a protest at the conductor's failure to balance the brass in a crucial section but was wrong), got worse at the beginning of the Abrahamsen, at which point I presume security decided enough was enough and asked the person to leave? The outburst in the Tchaikovsky was someone sneezing loudly. In addition to all that going on, people were bringing plastic beakers FULL of wine into the arena for the 2nd half, someone was holding a conversation with her friend more or less through the whole evening, and one or two tried filming the performance on cameras that tinkled when turned on.

It was pity no-one mentioned to MG-T that the woodwind solos over strings couldn't be heard at some points (i need to see the video but I think the front row of woodwind was on the floor behind the violas) and that the trombones needed some shaping to bring out the melody in the first movement, also that the 1st violins were almost entirely inaudible in the 3rd movement.

I must though declare a bias. As live performances of Tch Nr 4 go nothing IMHO will supplant Jansons with the Pittsburgh in 2003. Now THAT had everything!

[bluestateprommer]

FWIW, I can try to explain edashtav's inquiries about the unfortunate vocal interruptions in the Mozart, just before the start of the Abrahamsen, and during the Tchaikovsky. Two different parties were involved. My guess is someone with some sort of condition like cerebral palsy, who was in a wheelchair in Rausing Circle, near Door W. Fortunately, when MG-T heard the "yowling"-ish noise, the parent/guardian of said person finally figured out that this was not going to work out, and unlocked the wheelchair and took this person out for the remainder of the concert. I could hear one more sound during let me tell you, but as it was muffled by the person being out of the hall, it was less of a concern. This wasn't the afflicted person's fault, in hindsight, because he didn't know any better. It was the fault of the parent/guardian who thought, very mistakenly (if perhaps unintentionally), that this person would remain silent for the whole concert (or only sound off at the loud moments). In the Tchaikovsky, it seemed to be someone else (definitely not the same person) with an equally unfortunate sound from down in the stalls, at 9:00 if you put MG-T at 12:00. It didn't recur during the rest of the Tchaikovsky, thank goodness.

That aside, on to the main business. While I had some momentary reservations, on the whole, this was a very good Prom, and a fine Prom debut for MG-T. Moments of the Mozart were a bit rushed, as edashtav noted, but eminently forgivable under the circumstances. The main weakness of the Hans Abrahamsen performance was actually the soprano, Barbara Hannigan, for the simple reason of volume (certainly not on musical grounds as such, since she is the muse behind the work and knows it cold like no one else's business). I remembered her Toronto performance last year, in a much smaller hall, where her voice didn't exactly soar over the orchestra. She has a very flexible voice, to be sure, to be able to sing all the modern stuff that she does. But her voice is not a big one, so that the people who got the most out of her delivery of the text were probably the people in the Arena (in the more front 2/3 or so), and everyone listening on iPlayer. I don't doubt that the eventual TV transmission will balance things so that her voice comes over. There are no grounds for concern here on interpretation as such, but again, simply one of sheer vocal volume (or the lack thereof). MG-T did a fine, fine job with the orchestra here, and dialed it down well so as to minimize the risk of masking BH's voice, as much as she could. Nice of HA and Paul Griffiths to take a bow at the end.

In her Tchaikovsky 4, the balance of the brass on the back risers really did allow them to cut through the rest of the orchestra, perhaps even more than most, but with particular clarity here, like in the 1st movement. I noted that in the quiet moments, she tried to underplay things and not overcook any sentiment. The "happy clappers" were perhaps understandable especially after the noxious cough/yawn/whatever in the 1st movement, but less understandable after the 2nd movement. MG-T may have deliberately launched into the finale attacca after the scherzo to forestall the happy clappers, or perhaps it was her overall plan to begin with (probably the latter). It was a nice touch to let the bass drum thwacks and the big chords in the finale die out before launching into the next respective measures, to let the full measure of resonance in the RAH take. She went for the crowd-pleasing accelerando conclusion, but judged the final crescendo nicely.

Any reservations here shouldn't really detract that MG-T is off to a pretty strong start in her CBSO tenure. Some other random points to note:
(a) When she took her bows, she did not stand on the podium, but rather in the middle of the front desk strings, behind the podium. She also shook hands with all the immediate front-desk string players before taking her bow. (She did salute the principal and associate principal double bass players from near the podium.)
(b) For a good laugh (perhaps Petroc had already mentioned it), MG-T took a percussionist's stand to take it to behind the 1st violin section, for the encore. Ultimately, she avoided taking a solo bow for herself.

[edashtav]

A most helpful report on the whole situation, bsp, many thanks.

[verismissimo]

Petroc also incorrectly identified the encore, but you can't expect him to get everything right.

... but what was it?