Prom 28: NYO perform Mussorgsky, Ligeti and Debussy – 4.08.18

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:30
ON TV
Royal Albert Hall

Modest Mussorgsky: A Night on the Bare Mountain (orch. Rimsky-Korsakov)
George Benjamin: Dance Figures
Maurice Ravel: Piano Concerto for the Left Hand
György Ligeti: Lontano
Claude Debussy: La mer

Tamara Stefanovich piano
National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain
George Benjamin conductor

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Ah, now I see why the Soldier's Tale concert/staging isn't being televised. They always show this one.

[jonfan]

This concert will be on BBC Four on 12 August according to the prospectus. The Soldier’s Tale could have been shown on TV live, or recorded, from Lincoln if there was the will or the money.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

This concert will be on BBC Four on 12 August according to the prospectus. The Soldier’s Tale could have been shown on TV live, or recorded, from Lincoln if there was the will or the money.

Surely the BBC's Magic Money Tree doesn't extend that far from London (except for when Chris Evans decides to go to Lincoln).

[jayne lee wilson]

Very attractive programme - well, if I arrive about 10 minutes late (did they really have to put that in? Oh please, almost anything else. Menuet Antique would've been nice ).... and all about just how the orchestra sounds this year. Hope it's not too vast...

Maybe just take the filling (Ravel, Benjamin, Ligeti) and skip the bread...

[Bryn]

Very attractive programme - well, if I arrive about 10 minutes late (did they really have to put that in? Oh please, almost anything else. Menuet Antique would've been nice ).... and all about just how the orchestra sounds this year. Hope it's not too vast...

Maybe just take the filling (Ravel, Benjamin, Ligeti) and skip the bread...

And what was GB doing, opting for the RK orchestration, rather than the original?

[BBMmk2]

Very attractive programme - well, if I arrive about 10 minutes late (did they really have to put that in? Oh please, almost anything else. Menuet Antique would've been nice ).... and all about just how the orchestra sounds this year. Hope it's not too vast...

Maybe just take the filling (Ravel, Benjamin, Ligeti) and skip the bread...

Why they could put on Messiaen’s Turangalila Symphonie!

[edashtav]

And what was GB doing, opting for the RK orchestration, rather than the original?

Cheaper hire charges? £15 a week from the Harrogate Symphony Orchestra for Rimsky... Arm and a leg for OUP’s original.

[Pulcinella]

Ghastly introduction nearly made me turn off!

Why oh why do they feel that they have to be so chummy, like Blue Peter presenters?

[jayne lee wilson]

A curmudgeon writes....

The cheesy-teen-intro from the stage?**
What fresh hell is this....?

(**probably - no, almost certainly - wasn't the kids' idea...)

[DracoM]

Ghastly introduction nearly made me turn off!

Why oh why do they feel that they have to be so chummy, like Blue Peter presenters?

Auditioning to be the next R3 presenters? Think of their CVs?

[Pulcinella]

And what was GB doing, opting for the RK orchestration, rather than the original?

Is it perhaps for a larger orchestra, thus giving more of the NYO members a chance to play?
Naturally, we weren't told such potentially interesting and useful information in the introduction.

[jayne lee wilson]

The initial solo in the Ravel seemed hesitant, lacking timing or natural flow, and Benjamin brough the orchestra in very ponderously after that. It didn't get much better did it? Stefanovic found a surer touch in the later long solo leading to the orchestra's last outburst, but never gave us much subtlety or dynamic variation.

I could't help feeling how much sharper the NYO/Benjamin direction & response might have been if they hadn't had to work on the Night on the Bare...
One to draw a veil over.
Am I too fussy in wanting to hear soloist and orchestra really snap along together? Surely not, but I often feel this way about timing in concerti, even during that DSCH Cello-One a few Proms back.

***
Some time since I heard the Benjamin, but it went much better, with an NYO response of far greater confidence, tonal brilliance and panache. A wonderful piece, managing to be both challenging and very entertaining, a shape-shifter of pace, weight and colour, in a mood of the fantastical, as if it had a story to tell; like a dark, picaresque fairy-tale...

(I've just favoritised the recording on Qobuz; I'll compare them later.)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Ghastly introduction nearly made me turn off!

Why oh why do they feel that they have to be so chummy, like Blue Peter presenters?

Because they have no idea about how to do things well.

It's OK for the BBC to have contests that allow incompetent BBC presenters to conduct a professional orchestra, yet they are not prepared to show true respect when younger players reach a near professional standard of performance.

[edashtav]

I parked up when Benjamin’s piece came along because it was alive as an electric eel. I agree with Jayne’s judgement: “Some time since I heard the Benjamin, but it went much better, with an NYO response of far greater confidence, tonal brilliance and panache. A wonderful piece, managing to be both challenging and very entertaining, a shape-shifter of pace, weight and colour, in a mood of the fantastical, as if it had a story to tell; like a dark, picaresque fairy-tale...”

I’m afraid I find the Mussorgsky threadbare and Ravel left hand Concerto, probably with doubled instrumentation to ensure that the initial very low notes were audible, just sounded dislocated and bizarre. It got better, but was never good.

More than enough has been said about the jejune introductions. I’ll return for the second half, a little later.