Prom 62: 31.08.16 - Bayan Northcott, Mozart and Zemlinsky

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:30 Wednesday 31 Aug 2016
Royal Albert Hall

Bayan Northcott: Concerto for Orchestra (BBC commission: world premiere)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Violin Concerto No 5 in A major, K219 'Turkish'
Alexander von Zemlinsky: Lyric Symphony

Baiba Skride violin
Siobhan Stagg soprano
Christopher Maltman baritone
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Simone Young conductor


Simone Young makes her Proms debut with the world premiere of Bayan Northcott's Concerto for Orchestra and Mozart's Eastern-influenced violin concerto. Then, a rare chance to hear Zemlinsky's setting of Hindu poetry by Rabindranath Tagore, an alluring and mysterious slice of late-Romantic lusciousness in which soprano and baritone drape verses over a kaleidoscopic orchestra.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07qc06n

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

http://www.royalalberthall.com/tickets/proms/proms-2016/prom-62-bayan-northcott-mozart-and-zemlinsky/

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

An interesting programme. Despite the drip-drip of dumbing down, there are still some concerts worthy of the BBC.

[Alison]

Quite an enjoyable Concerto for Orchestra and certainly interesting to hear a composition by someone whose written word is so familiar. (Lovely radio voice too).

With an innocent ear, I'd have said it was written 30 years ago.

As I listened I couldn't help questioning the ongoing validity of the genre.

[verismissimo]

Any more reports from attendees or listeners? This was Simone Young's Proms debut.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Not overwhelmed by the BBCSO's contributions, to be honest. They phoned in the Mozart and the strings lacked the lushness required for the Zemlinsky.
I was impressed by Baiba Skride's sweet tone and refusal to push her sound in the RAH, although (as my colleague Alexandra Coghlan pointed out in her Artsdesk review) the final movement lacked humour. Enjoyed Siobhan Stagg's contributions to the Lyric Symphony - a light voice, but it cut across well in the hall.

[Alison]

A shame that Simone Young's Proms debut seems to have been a low key affair. She has lots to offer.

Not much reaction to the Northcott piece. Maybe it was that sort of work....

[bluestateprommer]

Must admit that I wasn't terribly thrilled with Bayan Northcott's new work, from just the one hearing. Alison's comment about "30 years ago" actually captures well another way of how I reacted to the work, with a personal impression of general-purpose modernism about it. SY showed a rather 'bouncy', hip-swaying podium manner here, but she led the work generally well. I'll try to give it another go on iPlayer later. If nothing else, as a bit of an aside, it was nice to note the presence of BN's fellow composers Anthony Payne and Robin Holloway in the audience.

The Mozart had a definite non-HIPP "big band" feel about it, with a sizable orchestra and plenty of vibrato in evidence. Baiba Skride was very good, both in the concerto and in her encore, and as IGi noted, she didn't force matters.

The most unfortunate aspect of this Prom was the poor attendance, maybe 1/2 full at best. I got a sense of what the audiences for the "Olly Proms" must be like. This did have the very-short term advantage of allowing the option of taking a seat for the 2nd half, high up. Here, in the Zemlinsky, SY really came into her own, as she seems to have an affinity for the German Romantic repertoire of that era & just before, from what I've read of her. She gave the BBC SO its collective head in the tuttis, but dialed it down quite well for Siobhan Stagg (fellow Australians sticking together, I guess) and generally well for Christopher Maltman, although the orchestra did drown him more than once. Zemlinsky's beefier orchestration for the male songs admittedly didn't help. On the plus side, the strings sounded much less glassy in tone upstairs compared to the middle of the Arena. This was a very good performance, and certainly a rare chance to hear it live.

[Alison]

Good summary blues.

Must confess I'd rather forgotten about Robin Holloway....

May try and catch Simone with the orchestra in the Spring. (Eotvos/Bartok)