Prom 15: Paul Lewis plays Beethoven’s ‘Emperor’ concerto – 25.07.18

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:30
ON TV
Royal Albert Hall

Tansy Davies: What Did We See? (orchestral suite from 'Between Worlds') - BBC commission: world première
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No 5 in E flat major, 'Emperor'
Johannes Brahms: Symphony No 2 in D major

Paul Lewis piano
BBC Philharmonic
Ben Gernon conductor

Life is celebrated and loss mourned in music spanning over 200 years. The BBC Philharmonic and its Principal Guest Conductor Ben Gernon pair Beethoven's majestic final piano concerto - for which we welcome back Paul Lewis, who played all five Beethoven piano concertos in the 2010 season - with Brahms's sunny Second Symphony, whose lyrical, pastoral spirit harks back to the earlier composer's own 'Pastoral' Symphony (No. 6). The concert opens in a more sombre, contemplative mood with the world premiere of Tansy Davies's 'What Did We See?' - a meditation on death, healing and transcendence that builds on material from the composer's recent 9/11-inspired opera Between Worlds.
Broadcast on BBC Four on Sunday 5 August.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Looking forward to this one.

http://www.tansydavies.com/about/c_53821333c5520f53318be976/

[Stanfordian]

I shall try to listen in. I greatly respect Paul Lewis' reputation but for some reason his performances tend to leave me cold. I hope it doesn't tonight as I love the 'Emperor Concerto'!

[Bryn]

I shall try to listen in. I greatly respect Paul Lewis' reputation but for some reason his performances tend to leave me cold. I hope it doesn't tonight as I love the 'Emperor Concerto'!

Not tonight though, it's to be a week hence.

[Stanfordian]

Not tonight though, it's to be a week hence.

A note in the diary then!

[BBMmk2]

My old colleague Ben Ger On has done very well fir himself! My goodness conducting at The Proms now. With Paul Lewis as well!

I’ll be listening in.

[BBMmk2]

My old colleague Ben Ger On has done very well fir himself! My goodness conducting at The Proms now. With Paul Lewis as well!

I’ll be listening in.

I do hope people will tune in

[kernelbogey]

It's not on television tonight; is there a place to check such matters?

[BBMmk2]

Either the Proms Prospectus, iPlayer. Radio 3 website. BBC4?

[Bryn]

It's not on television tonight; is there a place to check such matters?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bbt88l

http://www.cheshirelife.co.uk/people/ben-gernon-bbc-philharmonic-guest-conductor-is-enjoying-life-in-alderley-edge-1-5389285

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I think kernel is asking if there is a site that shows at a glance which Proms are being televised and when these are broadcast? If so, this might save having to go through the complete schedules for the week ahead:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1WlmXYLGsch49MpyfHDFwBp/tv-schedule

(So, Sun 5th August for this Prom. Doesn't look like they've decided what time yet.))

[kernelbogey]

Aaaah....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1WlmXYLGsch49MpyfHDFwBp/tv-schedule

Sunday 5 August, BBC4

Edit: posted without having seen Ferney's no 11; thanks. There is a separate section of the Proms website which lists tv broadcasts and dates, to which this is the link.
Edit (2) The Radio 3 website does not, as far as I can see, give this information.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Looking forward to this one.
http://www.tansydavies.com/about/c_5...20f53318be976/

Tansy Davies is a much more interesting composer than many of this year's other "commissionees", and whilst I think that she became a victim of her own earlier successes in that some of her most recent work doesn't excite me nearly as much as that from earlier in her career, there should be plenty of "meat" in this new suite from her opera.

I wonder if it will be included in the telly broadcast?

[Bryn]

Does anyone here have the Jonathan Del Mar edition of the 'Emperor'? If so, can they please advise the tempo indication and time signature given for the 'slow' movement? Is it common, or cut-time?

[jayne lee wilson]

Paul Lewis on wonderful form in Beethoven’s 5th Concerto, from imperious to touchingly delicate, lucidly phrased, with great subtlety of articulation and dynamics.
The orchestra played well for Gernon, crisp, warm, neat and tidy but sometimes a shade too self-effacingly accompanist? I’d have liked them to assert themselves a little more.
But it is hard for ears conditioned by the colours and characters of period instruments, chamber orchestras and fortepianos - in much smaller spaces - to attune to a conventional modern-instrument performance again. I did warm to it as it went along though.

A man yelled out a sharp, staccato “Yes!” at the end of the Emperor’s 1st movement (as one might do when England score a World Cup penalty)… then came laughter, then the applause. …
Ah well. I guess it makes a change from “bravo!” …