Prom 18: Currentzis conducts Beethoven – 28.07.18

[kernelbogey]

Thank you Jayne for your comments.

....the ability to transform very familiar (often overplayed to the point of outworn) masterpieces into newly-expressed, often sensational experiences is a precious devotion....

What more could one ask than this?

[cloughie]

Thank you Jayne for your comments.



What more could one ask than this?

....and are they beng ultraHIPP or just taking liberties?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Yes, the Beeb Blurb is "stupid hype", but that's Beeb Blurb for you!

The hype is often misleading. There have been highly energetic performances of Beethoven long before present day blurbisms.

Walter, Toscanini and Kleiber spring to mind.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The hype is often misleading. There have been highly energetic performances of Beethoven long before present day blurbisms.
Walter, Toscanini and Kleiber spring to mind.

Indeed - anyone with an interest in historic recordings can cite dozens of high-octane recordings from the first half of the 20th Century (and not because of the short side lengths of 78rpm discs - it's there in recordings of Live concerts, too).

[Bryn]

....and are they be[i]ng ultraHIPP or just taking liberties?

. . . or liberating Beethoven from the shackles of 20th Century 'interpreters'?

[Bryn]

Meanwhile:

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

It'll probably be fine - just the BBC displaying the maturity of a tadpole. Fortunately, the Corporation isn't performing.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Meanwhile:

Certainly not "Punk" - just scrappy.

[edashtav]

How will it sound tonight?

The first review of Beethoven’s 2nd symphony in 1804 said, in Nicholas Slonimsky’s translation:
”... is a rash monster, a hideously writhing wounded dragon, that refuses to expire, and though bleeding in the Finale, beats about with its tail erect.”

[Petrushka]

The ridiculous hype surrounding this concert is doing the artists, audience and Beethoven no favours at all. Unless the music is pulled about to grotesque levels that bear no relation to the score it's difficult to see what can be so different from what has been tried already.

Nevertheless, as these artists are giving a complete LvB cycle at the Salzburg Festival I'll listen with interest.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Although in a sense exciting I found the constant exaggerated sforzandi , subito piani etc really wearing on the ear . I must be getting old...

[Bryn]

Nothing to spook the horses in that 2nd. Nor to give rise to a repeated listen, come to that.

[oddoneout]

Erm... I realise I'm higgorant about such matters but that performance of the 2nd Symphony didn't seem to me to be so very shocking/different/rulebook-destroying. It came across to me as a lively detailed rendition by performers who seemed to be enjoying themselves(always a bonus when listening on steam radio and not having the benefit of watching the players or being at the venue). In the first movement I felt the endings of some phrases seemed to get swallowed( I found myself thinking 'shouldn't there be a couple more notes there') and it was quite a 'mannered' performance to my ears - perhaps not one I would wish to listen to repeatedly as I think I would find elements of it over-exaggerated to the point of irritation. It's a long way off what I find tiresome about JEG Bach performances however. I do think that this is an orchestra and conductor that I would very much like to hear and see live.
The inter-movement applause, while I would have been happier not to have it, was at least proper applause - enthusiastic and immediate response to what had been heard rather than the irritating slightly delayed tentative ripple heard on several previous evenings.
I await the second half with interest, not least because the 5th is not only one with which I am much more familiar, but have also played, albeit many decades ago.

[Bryn]

Forgot to mention, I thought the timps sounded a tad muddy. Harder beaters might have helped.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Perhaps the moral here is: don't take too much notice of what the BBC hypists write on their hypewriters.