Prom 42 - 16.08.17: Les Siècles and François-Xavier Roth

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:30 Wednesday 16 August 2017
Royal Albert Hall

Camille Saint‐Saëns: La princesse jaune – overture
Léo Delibes: Lakmé – ballet music
Camille Saint‐Saëns: Piano Concerto No 5 in F major, 'Egyptian'
César Franck: Les Djinns
Édouard Lalo: Namouna – Suite No. 1
Édouard Lalo: Namouna – Suite No. 2
Camille Saint‐Saëns: Samson and Delilah – Bacchanal

Cédric Tiberghien piano
Les Siècles
François‐Xavier Roth conductor


A French and Belgian programme inspired by the East, from the fragrant Indian gardens of Delibes's Lakmé and the eroticism of Samson and Delilah, to Corfu with the adventures of Lalo's Namouna.
Oriental demons surface in Les Djinns, complementing the vibrantly coloured music of Java and the Middle East that suffuses Saint-Saëns's 'Egyptian' Piano Concerto.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I took the unprecedented liberty of amending the BBC blurb in this instance, as it described the concert as "all-French". If I'm wrong, I shall restore the original text.

[Alain Maréchal]

I took the unprecedented liberty of amending the BBC blurb in this instance, as it described the concert as "all-French". If I'm wrong, I shall restore the original text.

I can never resist the siren call, even while on holiday. Although we always claimed Franck as Belgian, the country did not exist when he was born. Liege had been a Prince-Bishopric and then part of the Netherlands. In any case, like all sensible francophone Belgians he migrated South, and by the time he wrote Les Djinns he was a naturalised French citizen. So, to be honest, and however much it pains me, all-French is a reasonable description.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

... and by the time he wrote Les Djinns he was a naturalised French citizen. So, to be honest, and however much it pains me, all-French is a reasonable description.

So Handel was an Englishman then?

[Alain Maréchal]

So Handel was an Englishman then?

At birth, no, but eventually a British Citizen. Since Deutschland did not exist at his birth, I'm not sure what he had been. You of all people Alpen understand the perils of innocently raising the concept of "citizenship" in any thread, however unlikely. (The source poem of Les Djinns is French).

[pastoralguy]

This looks a very interesting programme which I'm sure will be tackled by Les Siècles and the imaginative Francois-Xavier Roth.

[jayne lee wilson]

PROM 42. FRENCH MUSIC. LES SIECLES/XAVIER-ROTH
R3 CONCERT SOUND. Impeccable balances in Part One.

...Such delicate play of layered transparencies in the Saint-Saens' 5th Piano Concerto, marvellously relayed from the hall, with breathtakingly quiet playing and surprisingly powerful climaxes! Lovely, light, sweet cellos in the Song of the Nile Boatmen...
No sonic or musical compromise tonight - less a perfectly judged accompaniment from Xavier-Roth than a soloist-orchestra collaboration - At one.
Tiberghien's lovingly-restored 1899 Bechstein piano sounds close to a modern one, but lighter and more singingly resonant in its thuds, chimes and tinkles. The instrument encouraged Tiberghien into stunning articulation-at-speed, but he could still produce some very powerful moments in the lower registers!

Playing their bons-bons with all the idiomatic panache of a VPO doing New Years' Day with a conductor they truly love, the Siècles' opening Delibes and Saint-Saens overtures and ballets were a spotless match of rhythmic discipline, coloristic freshness, swing and bite.

But this is, so far, pure delight....Classics for Pleasure if ever there was!

[pastoralguy]

Lovely performances of lovely music.

[edashtav]

I've known Saint-Sean's unpretentious overture "La Princesses Jaune" for more than forty years since I taped a BBC Provincial Orchestra's performance off-air. Saint-Saens caught a little of the flavour of the Orient with sections based on pentatonic tunes but constrained within an Occidental strait-jacket, but that was appropriate as the opera was set in Holland! The preface to the composer's first, one act Opera & composed in 1872 when Saint-Saens was returning to composition after serving in the forces during the 1870 revolution, the overture shows Saint-Sean's quick ear for picturesque detail. Remarkably, it predates the craze for Japonaiserie by a decade. Roth's band gave a colourful but not exaggerated account of the pretty score. (Some far-off day, I hope to hear the work live coupled with Felix White's symphonic sketch " The Yellow Hammer" and Michael Torke's Yellow Pages.).

Saint-Sean's final "Egyptian" piano concerto was played with great elan by Cédric Tiberghien on a period instrument. The work's exotic content increases after a relatively "Western" first movement with the second being loosely based on a tune the composer heard in the Nile Valley. The piece is a "journey" and could have been called "En Bateau". Surely, when the composer write the finale in 1896, his music must have been the first to be based on the thrashing of a ship's mechanical propeller? Pianist, band and Roth combined to give this early piece of light music every chance. For me, the choice of a "Spanish" Prelude by Debussy as encore was an error for it displayed such a nuanced understanding of the"exotic" by a composer born long after Saint-Saens.

[DracoM]

Whole evening a real discovery! Terrific stuff!

[Alain Maréchal]

I have been attending many of their concerts for about 10 years, and this was well up to standard; huge fun meticulously played. Although on holiday I made a special effort to hear this (Namouna is a secret sin, memory tells me I have at least six recordings of it): did anybody else discern a weakness in the 1st violins or slight lack of left channel? It may have been platform placement or an unfamiliar system . I shall listen again and check at the end of the month when I am at home.

One point: do RAH audiences applaud at every opportunity?

[Maclintick]

PROM 42. FRENCH MUSIC. LES SIECLES/XAVIER-ROTH
R3 CONCERT SOUND. Impeccable balances in Part One.
But this is, so far, pure delight....Classics for Pleasure if ever there was!

Yup -- & a welcome reminder of Saint-Saëns credentials as a purveyor of musical champagne -- revered by Ravel & Les Six. I hope there'll be a revival of "Samson et Delilah" soon, having missed Grange Park's well-regarded 2015 staging with the BSO in the pit...

[MickyD]

Yup -- & a welcome reminder of Saint-Saëns credentials as a purveyor of musical champagne -- revered by Ravel & Les Six. I hope there'll be a revival of "Samson et Delilah" soon, having missed Grange Park's well-regarded 2015 staging with the BSO in the pit...

Here's an encore from Les Siècles...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jyqw-fN1M8

[Ferretfancy]

Here's an encore from Les Siècles...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jyqw-fN1M8

Was last night's encore transmitted? It was a hugely enjoyable riff on the pop song "Get Lucky"

[Alain Maréchal]

Was last night's encore transmitted? It was a hugely enjoyable riff on the pop song "Get Lucky"

yes it was. incomprehensible to me, but the 12 year old in the house thought it was amusing that the elderly might be amused by it. I think it is, to use the English expression, passé.
.