Prom 70 - 5.09.17: Missy Mazzoli, Bartók and Dvořák

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:30 Tuesday 5 September 2017 ON TV
Royal Albert Hall

Missy Mazzoli: Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres) European première of orchestral version
Béla Bartók: Piano Concerto No 2
Antonin Dvořák: Symphony No 8 in G major

Jeremy Denk piano
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Karina Canellakis conductor

Following her recent UK debut, American conductor Karina Canellakis now makes her first visit to the Proms, joining the BBC Symphony Orchestra and fellow American Jeremy Denk for Bartók's ferociously brilliant Second Piano Concerto.
Dvořák's Symphony No. 8, by contrast, is a work of genial lyricism. 'Melodies simply pour out of me,' wrote the composer, and the result is a pastoral symphony in all but name.
The concert opens with the European premiere of Missy Mazzoli's mesmeric Sinfonia - music 'in the shape of the solar system' that weaves and coils itself in a sequence of pulsing loops.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

https://www.laphil.com/philpedia/music/sinfonia-for-orbiting-spheres-world-premiere-la-phil-commission-missy-mazzoli

[Barbirollians]

Considering the very positive response to Jeremy Denk's recordings I am surprised there is so little comment on this concert .

[Bryn]

Considering the very positive response to Jeremy Denk's recordings I am surprised there is so little comment on this concert .

I was intending to attend, but with due regard to housework backlog and the back discomfort I experience during the Sunday Proms, I have chickened out. I will have to make to with Radio 3's 'Concert Sound'. The same applies to tomorrow's with Mrs. Service, I am sorry to say. That Prom will also be available in binaural sound at the Taster page.

[Maclintick]

Considering the very positive response to Jeremy Denk's recordings I am surprised there is so little comment on this concert .

V. much looking forward to this. Caught JD yesterday talking to Ian Skelly on R3, where he played a typically imaginative set of Byrd (William, as it happened, though knowing this pianist's wide-ranging repertoire & musical sympathies, I wouldn't have been surprised if it had been Charlie or Donald) John Adams & Liszt/Wagner. In the 2015 Proms with San Francisco Symphony & MTT he wowed us with the Cowell concerto -- "The Alcotts" a perfectly-chosen encore...

[jayne lee wilson]

PROM 70 PART 2.....DVORAK 8. BBCSO/Canellakis.

From the very start, the exceptional character of this Dvorak 8th was clear - in its almost bar-to-bar rubato, moulded individuality of phrase, lovingly detailed attention to wind solos, subtle shading of micro-dynamics and transparent luminosity of sound. A very creative, individualised approach serving the Romantic spirit of the piece wonderfully well, finding new life in what one might have thought irretrievable over-familiarity.
The orchestra sounded disciplined yet relaxed, joyfully responsive to everything Canellakis asked of them.

So the adagio became a wide-ranging Romance of folklore and fantasy, not an episode (or a note) taken for granted, the dance episodes here and in the allegretto light, buoyant and balletic. Wonderfully flighted.

The finale was played almost attacca…. was it a shade too restrained? Canellakis, thinking through the movement as before, was careful not to give too much too soon here, playing it more for shape, stress and articulation of phrase, only building dynamic impact gradually. The quiet, reflective episode before the final clangour was very quiet and withdrawn, far from the noisy energy of the world around it. Perhaps I might have preferred a touch more raucous shout and abandon at the very end, but I guess it simply wasn’t the way Canellakis chose to conceive it on this memorable, beautiful occasion.

***
It almost goes without saying that Concert Sound relayed all of this with that open, precise, dynamic 3D presentation we’ve enjoyed so much this season, and will miss so much from Radio 3 Concerts, until it returns - which it surely should.

(Wasn't able to give undivided critical attention to Part One but having just heard the Bartok 1st movement again my view of it was confirmed as wildly free and creative as the Dvorak itself - DEFINITELY worth returning to when the owls come out, as to the fascinating sonorities of the Mazzoli Sinfonia...).

[oddoneout]

Agree with you Jayne about finding new life in the familiar - I always like that feeling of surprise when something 'new' snags the ear in well loved pieces. Even on my rubbish set-up there was a sense of enjoyment from the orchestra in what they were doing, which I also felt in the Bartok. Being something of a philistine, the 2nd is not the concerto I would listen to for pleasure as such, but I'm glad I heard this performance -and also grateful to my parents for exposing me frequently to some of Bartok's music as a child else I might not otherwise listen to him at all. The Mozart encore I found the ideal 'cool-down' after the energy of the Bartok.

[BBMmk2]

I was too tired to hear the Dvorak. All part of the legacy of my illness. Will catch up. A strange prom, I thought. I thought the Bartok was incredible though. First rate playing from Jeremy Denk.

[DracoM]

Yup, Bartok took it for me as well. His left hand work was simply amazing.

[Bryn]

Yup, Bartok took it for me as well. His left hand work was simply amazing.

Indeed, I don't think I have ever heard the left hand writing so clearly presented.

[Pulcinella]

Looking forward to being able to watch this concert on TV, especially the Bartok.

[underthecountertenor]

V. much looking forward to this. Caught JD yesterday talking to Ian Skelly on R3, where he played a typically imaginative set of Byrd (William, as it happened, though knowing this pianist's wide-ranging repertoire & musical sympathies, I wouldn't have been surprised if it had been Charlie or Donald) John Adams & Liszt/Wagner. In the 2015 Proms with San Francisco Symphony & MTT he wowed us with the Cowell concerto -- "The Alcotts" a perfectly-chosen encore...

PT played his recording of "The Alcotts" near the beginning of Breakfast yesterday morning. Perfect early start to the day.