Prom 69 - 4.09.17: Anne-Sophie Mutter plays Dvořák’s Violin Concerto

[Petrushka]

Just back from this fantastic Prom! We've been sold short this weekend with some sub-standard playing and dodgy conducting but THIS is how to do a Prom and I think the Prommers realised this and gave the orchestra a terrific ovation. Everyone was nicely warmed up with the Adams while the Dvorak Violin Concerto, never really one of my favourites, was given a peerless rendition by Mutter.

Wonderful Mahler 1 with terrific work from the horns and trumpets on particular. Guest principal trumpet Micah Wilkinson was the star among the brass contingent with very fine playing indeed. The horns did indeed stand for the final moments.

I've long said that Manfred Honeck is the right conductor for the VPO New Year's Concerts and they should sign him up without delay - assuming they will welcome back one of their own. You could have been forgiven for thinking that you were hearing the Vienna Philharmonic in the two Strauss encores, and, yes, Honeck floated Die Libelle just like Carlos Kleiber did.

Great concert!

[Darkbloom]

Interesting too that the Prommers seemed keen for a third encore too.
I just can't help thinking back to that RCO Bruckner and Mahler concerts and the post-concert reactions there - or as they came over on radio. Martin Handley seemed to think an encore was imminent from the RCO, but no dice, and presumably the BBC knows in advance if an encore is likely since they always seem to know the piece played in the encore even when there is no announcement by the artist / artists involved. One assumes such info is passed at rehearsal?

I was at the infamous BPO Rattle Prom where someone booed at the end of Heldenleben. They were going to play an encore but he obviously wasn't in the mood after that and he was visibly annoyed. As total concert misfires go the RCO one looks tame by comparison.

[Alison]

Friday's Bruckner deserved a boo. I was rather hoping someone would be brave enough.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I wonder if after their difficult few years of a strike , pay and pension cuts and a battle for survival the PSO had a point to prove . They certainly proved it - as well undermining the cliches of their hometown being largely rust and full of Trump supporters . You can't play this music without passion and total commitment and they had it. Talking of commitment Petroc was doing breakfast this morning ....

[BBMmk2]

This must be one of the best Proms of the season! Thoroughly enjoyed this. The Dvoeak and Mahler, was quite breath taking! We were spoilt by was it three encores?

[Darkbloom]

I wonder if after their difficult few years of a strike , pay and pension cuts and a battle for survival the PSO had a point to prove . They certainly proved it - as well undermining the cliches of their hometown being largely rust and full of Trump supporters . You can't play this music without passion and total commitment and they had it. Talking of commitment Petroc was doing breakfast this morning ....

It certainly undermines all that nonsense about the Big Five American orchestras when you have bands like Pittsburgh and Cincinnati that have been so well received. For the more high-profile outfits the Proms must seem like just another gig, but for the slightly less well-known orchestras I imagine they enjoy it as much as we do. Although Pittsburgh has been outstanding for a long time. Jansons did a Tchaik 4 and a Heldenleben that nearly took the roof off in the nineties

[richardfinegold]

It certainly undermines all that nonsense about the Big Five American orchestras when you have bands like Pittsburgh and Cincinnati that have been so well received. For the more high-profile outfits the Proms must seem like just another gig, but for the slightly less well-known orchestras I imagine they enjoy it as much as we do. Although Pittsburgh has been outstanding for a long time. Jansons did a Tchaik 4 and a Heldenleben that nearly took the roof off in the nineties

'The Big Five' thing is a stereotype that goes back a few generations. Pittsburgh has had a superb Orchestra for decades. Honeck is getting a lot of well deserved credit but he had some fine predecessors there--Jaansons, Previn, and Maazel amongst them. Minnesota, Detroit, Seattle have also had fine Orchestras that have shared with Pittsburgh periods of glory alternating with periods of financial instability and cutbacks, but in general all of these groups have survived and and maintained high levels of playing through the years.
Marek Janowski Brahms cycle with Pittsburgh on Pentatone is really good, certainly the best Brahms cycle in multichannel, and another indication that the Orchestra has been playing at the level you heard in the Proms for some time

[DracoM]

Yes, I too was a bit taken aback by the 'big five' of US orchestras statement. I'd bet that that 'top five' tag is probably at least a decade out of date.
The orchestras named by richardfinegold strike me as pretty good, and e.g. the Seattle Symphony are a stunning ensemble - heard them a year ago on their home pitch.

[Ein Heldenleben]

It certainly undermines all that nonsense about the Big Five American orchestras when you have bands like Pittsburgh and Cincinnati that have been so well received. For the more high-profile outfits the Proms must seem like just another gig, but for the slightly less well-known orchestras I imagine they enjoy it as much as we do. Although Pittsburgh has been outstanding for a long time. Jansons did a Tchaik 4 and a Heldenleben that nearly took the roof off in the nineties

I nearly took the roof off in the nineties as well but one look at the builder's quote and I changed my mind.

[Stanley Stewart]

I wonder if after their difficult few years of a strike , pay and pension cuts and a battle for survival the PSO had a point to prove . They certainly proved it - as well undermining the cliches of their hometown being largely rust and full of Trump supporters . You can't play this music without passion and total commitment and they had it. Talking of commitment Petroc was doing breakfast this morning ....

Indeed Petroc must have broken presentation records, yesterday (4 Sept). After his early morning feat, he left for Cadogan Hall and, mid-morning during Essential Classics, he did a promotion trailer for the early afternoon concert there, on-stage, on his tod, after the rehearsal had concluded. A few mins after the 1 o'clock news, he introduced the players, Elias Quartet and Alice Neary, (cello), followed by an elegant synopsis of Schubert's Quintet in C, D956.

Later, at the RAH, he introduced the Pittsburgh S.O. and their varied programme with consummate ease; determined, too, to stay on-air for several encores after the most invigorating Prom of the season. Thank you, Petroc Trelawny.

[Maclintick]

This must be one of the best Proms of the season! Thoroughly enjoyed this. The Dvoeak and Mahler, was quite breath taking! We were spoilt by was it three encores?

Terrific Prom -- the encores alone were worth the price of admission. Amazing playing by soloist & orchestra. I'd put in a special mention for the PSO's principal flute, Scotland's own Lorna McGhee, whose fresh & affecting solos in the Dvorak sang out at us with folk-like directness -- more Czech in feeling in a performance that occasionally, if one could be allowed an insignificant quibble, seemed a tad too-Viennese or Austro-German-accented...The whole woodwind section were fabulous, BTW -- breathtaking ensemble in the J Strauss II polka.

[BBMmk2]

Terrific Prom -- the encores alone were worth the price of admission. Amazing playing by soloist & orchestra. I'd put in a special mention for the PSO's principal flute, Scotland's own Lorna McGhee, whose fresh & affecting solos in the Dvorak sang out at us with folk-like directness -- more Czech in feeling in a performance that occasionally, if one could be allowed an insignificant quibble, seemed a tad too-Viennese or Austro-German-accented...The whole woodwind section were fabulous, BTW -- breathtaking ensemble in the J Strauss II polka.

Yes to the Strauss II!

[pastoralguy]

Lorna McGhee was principal Flute with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Look like she's made a good move!

[pastoralguy]

I must make another attempt to get the Pittsburgh/Honeck Beethoven 5 & 7 cd. Mrs PG bought it for me for Christmas 2015 but, alas, no less than 5 copies Miss-tracked. (Amazon were very good at providing me with replacements until I eventually plumped for a refund. I contacted both Quad and the CD company and neither could give me an explanation although the producers gave me a free download for 2 recordings which was very good of them).

Well worth trying again I think.

[Rasluap]

Outstanding concert. It was as if the the orchestra simply took up from where they had left off in 2011.

Manfred Honeck includes the 2 Strauss encores on a CD with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra dating from 2014.