I thought that was tremendous . Congratulations to the principal percussionist and lead snare drummer Paul Patrick who told us in the interval feature that this was his somewhat daunting audition piece for Ted Downes and the orchestra many years ago. Clearly his many hours practising along with a CD were not wasted.
Prom 4: Shostakovich’s ‘Leningrad’ Symphony - 16.07.18
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Originally posted by bluestateprommer View PostMark Simpson just knocked it out of the park (apologies for the Americanism P; RF knows its meaning) with ML's Clarinet Concerto; amazing playing throughout, and great accompaniment from JM and the BBC Phil. His encore, Patrick Nunn's Eid milaad saeed (archived in the Forum Calendar entry), wasn't too shabby either.
I fall into the mixed mind camp regarding DSCH 7. It's clearly an artistic product of its time (granted that all works of art are products of their time, but this work especially so because of particular historical circumstances), and is very uneven musically, IMHO. In anticipation of this Prom performance, as Mena is a rather low-key, non-interventionist conductor, JM might minimize the OTT aspects of the music, in a good way. Very fine interval talk going on now with Anastasia Belina and David Nice, and Petroc as moderator (the BBC is certainly getting their money's worth from Petroc today).
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Originally posted by bluestateprommer View PostMark Simpson just knocked it out of the park (apologies for the Americanism P; RF knows its meaning) with ML's Clarinet Concerto; amazing playing throughout, and great accompaniment from JM and the BBC Phil. His encore, Patrick Nunn's Eid milaad saeed (archived in the Forum Calendar entry), wasn't too shabby either.
I fall into the mixed mind camp regarding DSCH 7. It's clearly an artistic product of its time (granted that all works of art are products of their time, but this work especially so because of particular historical circumstances), and is very uneven musically, IMHO. In anticipation of this Prom performance, as Mena is a rather low-key, non-interventionist conductor, JM might minimize the OTT aspects of the music, in a good way. Very fine interval talk going on now with Anastasia Belina and David Nice, and Petroc as moderator (the BBC is certainly getting their money's worth from Petroc today).
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I might have to qualify a bit what I predicted about Mena's presentation of DSCH 7. Instead of "minimizing the OTT aspects of the music", perhaps a better assessment is that Mena took DSCH 7 at face value, and simply presented it straight-up, no frills, in his standard manner. From past comments of mine on Mena, I had similar reactions where he seemed to be skating over the surface of the music rather often. The same positive aspects regarding the orchestra itself, though, remain in force, as JM has clearly left the orchestra in strong condition for his successor (whom I keep hoping, again as wished before here, will be John Storgards). While Mena may not plumb the depths in general, at least you get the music pretty straight.
Originally posted by Joseph K View PostEnjoyed the Clarinet Concerto... but then I knew I would (I have the recording).
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Originally posted by bluestateprommer View PostMark Simpson just knocked it out of the park (apologies for the Americanism; RF knows its meaning) with ML's Clarinet Concerto; amazing playing throughout, and great accompaniment from JM and the BBC Phil. His encore, Patrick Nunn's Eid milaad saeed (archived in the Forum Calendar entry), wasn't too shabby either.
Rick Schultz of the LA Times (2011) called it 'a brilliant blend of traditional and contemporary techniques.' The technical term is 'extended techniques', I think.
And this one from Jay Nordlinger from The New Criterion (2010):
'Lindberg’s clarinet concerto is in one movement with five sections. Solo instrument and orchestra are strikingly well integrated. The work is rhapsodic, tumultuous, restless. There is lots of percussion, this being a modern work, but the percussion is not without purpose. And the concerto is genuinely exciting, not merely frenetic. The listener occasionally needs a break, a spell of more soothing music, and he gets it: There is a Christmassy stretch, I dare say, even a dose of the Disneyesque. It’s hard to tell whether the composer is mocking or in earnest. He has the clarinet make every sound it can, and probably some it should not. And it was amazing—surprising—to see that the work ends in a warm C major.'And the tune ends too soon for us all
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Originally posted by Constantbee View PostThere is a Christmassy stretch, I dare say, even a dose of the Disneyesque. (...) And it was amazing—surprising—to see that the work ends in a warm C major.
Although actually what the piece sounds like to me is what happens when you take suitable bits of (to name a few) Berio, Dutilleux, Takemitsu, Nørgård, Stravinsky, Copland, Gershwin, some Hollywood film scores, throw in a few "special effects" familiar from very many other contemporary scores, and whip them all up together into a virtuoso soufflé with its climaxes and cadenzas all in the expected places. The straightforwardly tonal ending is, far from being surprising, a completely obvious way to conclude what's been happening. There's a lot of skill involved to be sure, especially from the soloist, but to me it seems empty and lacking in a sense of necessity. Large numbers of listeners would disagree with me though!Last edited by Richard Barrett; 17-07-18, 12:33.
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Originally posted by jayne lee wilson View PostMaybe it is one of those pieces you get or you don't. If you get it, oh boy, you really get it: it becomes an adored, intoxicating musical icon, always in your head, even if you haven't heard it for a while. Obviously, I wouldn't go to the trouble of defending it on artistic grounds (whose merits, including a high degree of melodic inspiration, and that far-reaching, through composed symphonic integration, I believe are genuine, and deep) if I didn't love it to distraction. (Dear EdgelyRob, if he's looking in, will know exactly what I mean; it affects him just as profoundly).
It can be so overwhelming that, like Josef Suk's Asrael, you'll sometimes not dare to approach it; it gave me the two most intense concert hall experiences I ever had, in the days when my ears could still (just) take those kinds of levels. I just played the adagio in the bedroom, to check some thematic transformations, and found myself utterly devastated again, full of love for that flute/cello theme (perhaps hearing it just after seeing the John Curry film was a little too much; I could easily imagine him choreographing that idea..)...
It was the last DSCH symphony I got to know, having been discouraged from listening to it at all by critical dismissal, when I first traversed the cycle in the 1970s on Melodiya LPs. At first I was dazed and confused by the epic breadth and depth, the sheer thematic proliferation; listening to a Radio 3 broadcast, I could scarcely tell the movements apart.
But what made me really connect with it was - that's right, Bryn: Edward Downes' BBC Phil broadcast in the early 1990s, which I taped off-air. As the coda approached the tension was unbearable; my heart was racing, and I was short of breath; I was really fearful for my survival; I guess I didn't play that tape too often!
It found a place, deep and dark, in my head and in my heart; but it was some time before I could face the work again.
I had never heard the 7th until I encountered in concert when the Leningrad Phil (I don’t remember who conducted, sadly ) was on tour in Ann Arbor when I was an Undergraduate. At the time I probably only was acquainted with Shostakovich Fifth, and the jolting experience of that concert not only put me off of the 7th but the Composer as well for many years.
Gradually I began to get to know DSCH —I believe the Preludes a d Fugues and 8th Quartet became my gateway—but put off revisiting the Seventh until I acquired my first complete cycle, Kitaenko/Cologne Gurzenich, in Multichannel. That performance is somehow overwhelming without either accentuating or ignoring the bombast. I now love the piece but it took some doing.
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Originally posted by Richard Barrett View PostSounds awful.
Although actually what the piece sounds like to me is what happens when you take suitable bits of (to name a few) Berio, Dutilleux, Takemitsu, Nørgård, Stravinsky, Copland, Gershwin, some Hollywood film scores, throw in a few "special effects" familiar from very many other contemporary scores, and whip them all up together into a virtuoso soufflé with its climaxes and cadenzas all in the expected places. The straightforwardly tonal ending is, far from being surprising, a completely obvious way to conclude what's been happening. There's a lot of skill involved to be sure, especially from the soloist, but to me it seems empty and lacking in a sense of necessity. Large numbers of listeners would disagree with me though!
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Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View PostNot this one, though! So sad to have observed this, for me, once great composer, slowly sliding his way into a form of postmodernist populism.
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Originally posted by ferneyhoughgeliebte View PostThe Ondine recording of Lindberg's Clarinet Concerto, with dedicatee Kari Kriikku as soloist and the Finnish Radio SO conductede by Sakari Oramo, made a bit of a stir when it was released in 2005, and the piece has kept a place in the repertoire since. It isn't difficult to see why - it is an enjoyable piece, in a style heavily indebted to Lutoslawski, but with moments that wouldn't sound out-of-place in a Second Copland Clarinet Concerto. Indeed, listening to it again yesterday, the strongest impression that came across to me was that it sounded as if a Musicologist had put together a performing version of sketches for a Clarinet Concero by Lutoslawski, but had left some bits to be filled in by a Copland specialist. I quite enjoyed it, without being particularly thrilled by it - and without coming away with much of an idea what Lindberg's own "voice" might sound like.
So - for me a programme in which there's a piece I think I shall quite enjoy, that doesn't give much indication of the composer's individual style, and a work I shall (almost certainly) detest, that is unmistakably in the style of its composer!Don’t cry for me
I go where music was born
J S Bach 1685-1750
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PROM 4. DSCH 7, BBCPO/MENA.
I’d imagine this was very exciting in the hall - hard for a Leningrad not to be - but, live via the HDs webcast, one or two problems for me here.
A rather dry balance, lacking space and air (large audience, large orchestra, warm night, acoustically absorptive?); some level-boosting apparent in the central episode of the finale, rather spoiling the tense preparation for the coda, which, whilst not lacking power exactly, didn’t open up enough and seemed subject to some pulling-back itself.
Musically I found this conclusion a little rushed and metrical, I wanted more blaze and abandonment, more letting-go. I wondered if the conductor was drawing a parallel with the undermined ambiguity of the ending of Symphony No.5…?
The performance was well-drilled - perhaps sometimes a little too neat and tidy?
The strings sounded augmented, especially the very powerful DB section - very dark, full and gutty. Side-drum in (i) was a shade too loud at first, later even evocative of the Nielsen 5th as the levels rose. Still, the 1st-movement climax, and its bleak aftermath, were powerful and contrasted enough… personally I wished for more intensity of both orchestral sound and dynamic contrast - a less “objective” presentation.
The scherzo lacked some character - that savage, sardonic, cartoonish colour was missing from winds and brass. Powerful, but too often merely militaristic. (Perhaps that peculiarly local USSR character, most aptly lurid wth Rozhdestvensky, is too much to ask from Western Orchestras).
But the adagio was both beautiful and heartfelt, again that large string section very powerful and eloquent. I wonder if the conductor sees this as the “first-person” heart of the work (DSCH the fireman speaks!)...
… Speeds nicely brisk in the outer movements, always a good thing to my ears. That less-inspired first section of the finale motored along very well, with its motivic references and relations crisp and clear.
So - pretty well-played, but I missed that colour and character that can - or in DSCH, need to - go beyond abstract symphonic expression into at least some degree of programmatic or narrative extremity; and whilst the sound, and dynamic range, was generally OK on the HDs webcast, I missed the anticipated sonic thrills to some extent too.
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But I guess I was always going to miss -
1) Lossless sound (I don’t listen to much below CD quality these days). Dull decision not to bring Concert Sound back after last year. Great deal easier for ears to take a step up in quality rather than a step down - especially in large-scale pieces. Interested to hear how the Turangalila fares on Wednesday).
2) Russian Orchestras. If I listen to DSCH now, I tend to stick with Kondrashin or Rozh. (That Tatarstan/Sladkovsy release looks interesting….timings a little lengthy though…needs further investigation, hope it is available on Qobuz soon.)
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