Prom 32: Inside Shostakovich – 6.08.18

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

22.15
Royal Albert Hall

Dmitri Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No 2 in F major
Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No 9 in E flat major
Tom Service and Nicholas Collon present Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 9, with live excerpts

Denis Kozhukhin piano
Tom Service presenter
Aurora Orchestra
Nicholas Collon conductor

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Pre-Prom talk during the Prom?

[zola]

No comments at all ? Not even the customary invective aimed at Tom Service ?

I very much enjoyed Denis Kozhukhin in the concerto but then he is a pianist I have a lot of time for anyway. The Service / Collon mini 'discovering music' feature seems to me a much better way to involve a young audience than such as the Ten Pieces initiative. And it sounded a young audience in the hall for this one ?

[Pianorak]

No comments at all ? Not even the customary invective aimed at Tom Service ?

I very much enjoyed Denis Kozhukhin in the concerto but then he is a pianist I have a lot of time for anyway. . .

Yes, excellent pianist. But wasn't the Aurora just a bit too overpowering in places? Invective aimed at Tom S? Heaven forfend! But thank god the R3 website had the soloist's name.

[jayne lee wilson]

Well, there's a great run of Proms again this week since the Bach-Mod-fest so there's much to cram in!

I rather liked Tom Service's ringmaster-in-the-big-RAH-top initial presentation, and I found the 2nd DSCH Piano Concerto pretty electrifying, soloist/orchestra on-the-button, strong, springy resilient strings; great sound too, and Collon/Service intro to the No.9 very good, (if redundant for many here).... but even my insomnia couldn't hold out past 0600 so I haven't heard the 9th yet.... for later.

I remain, whether on stage or in his excellent articles, puzzled by the aversion to Tom S... fine by me.

[doversoul1]

No comments at all ? Not even the customary invective aimed at Tom Service ?

I very much enjoyed Denis Kozhukhin in the concerto but then he is a pianist I have a lot of time for anyway. The Service / Collon mini 'discovering music' feature seems to me a much better way to involve a young audience than such as the Ten Pieces initiative. And it sounded a young audience in the hall for this one ?

I thought so too but then starting at 10.15pm? I suppose that depends whom do we mean by ‘young’ people.

I thought it was all a bit too jolly and I’m not too sure if it helps to enjoy/appreciate the music by thinking ‘what does this bit mean?’. Personally, I prefer listening to music as an abstract art without trying to construct something solid to explain it away.

Does playing from memory add some credentials to musicianship?

[zola]

I thought so too but then starting at 10.15pm? I suppose that depends whom do we mean by ‘young’ people.

Agreed, I was thinking more in terms of students than children when talking about a young audience. And obviously the introduction to the symphony is not for seasoned concert goers and by its very nature can only be used sparingly. But I thought it related well to the kind of audience I perceived to be in the hall.

[doversoul1]

Agreed, I was thinking more in terms of students than children when talking about a young audience. And obviously the introduction to the symphony is not for seasoned concert goers and by its very nature can only be used sparingly. But I thought it related well to the kind of audience I perceived to be in the hall.

Yes, Ten Pieces for Post-16. And when you (I) think about it, Shostakovich is probably a good composer to engage this age group; nothing (embarrassingly) heroic or (posh-ly) beautiful.

[jayne lee wilson]

Yes, Ten Pieces for Post-16. And when you (I) think about it, Shostakovich is probably a good composer to engage this age group; nothing (embarrassingly) heroic or (posh-ly) beautiful.

But the adagio of the 2nd Piano Concerto is elegantly beautiful isn't it? Exceptionally - remarkably - so for DSCH, in a very heartbreaking way - especially if the compositional background to the 9th Symphony is given for context.... anyone hearing it for the first time feels pretty stunned.
Better not get started on how many shades of Heroic he does.......

I'll listen to this 9th when the bats are in bed and the owls come out...

[jayne lee wilson]

Outstanding DSCH 9, of phenomenal power, accuracy and speed-of-response. All at the faithful service (sorry ) of DSCH's ambiguous, sardonic, elegiac, tragic-comic vision...
The strings were texturally, powerfully, rhythmically sharp; heartfelt (and heartbreaking) in (ii); but it was those remarkable winds that really stood out, those clarinets in (ii), and what an extraordinary bassoonist through the stark, bleak lament of (iv) and the finale!

A work of many sub-texts, I usually find it hard to forget how Russian Orchestras and conductors play it, but this was exceptional. I had just one doubt - an awkwardness (of rhythm or tempo change) at the arrival of the finale climax, the climax of the whole work really: it was never undisciplined, just not quite going with the flow. And I could have used a bit more sheer malevolence here too; it is a crushingly wicked triumph after all, one of the most devastating in all of DSCH.

But another marvel in a season of marvels... the HDs relay was stunningly present, clear and very dynamic.

[jayne lee wilson]

A last bump for this stunner, here's a review....
(Just slide iplayer past the (actually rather good) Collon/Service intro, if you don't fancy it...the DSCH 9 will reward you well)

http://classicalsource.com/db_control/db_prom_review.php?id=15678

[BBMmk2]

A last bump for this stunner, here's a review....
(Just slide iplayer past the (actually rather good) Collon/Service intro, if you don't fancy it...the DSCH 9 will reward you well)

http://classicalsource.com/db_contro...w.php?id=15678

I always had the opinion that Shosta's 9th was underrated but after the performance from these guys who could say that?

[edashtav]

Outstanding DSCH 9, of phenomenal power, accuracy and speed-of-response. All at the faithful service (sorry ) of DSCH's ambiguous, sardonic, elegiac, tragic-comic vision...
The strings were texturally, powerfully, rhythmically sharp; heartfelt (and heartbreaking) in (ii); but it was those remarkable winds that really stood out, those clarinets in (ii), and what an extraordinary bassoonist through the stark, bleak lament of (iv) and the finale!

A work of many sub-texts, I usually find it hard to forget how Russian Orchestras and conductors play it, but this was exceptional. I had just one doubt - an awkwardness (of rhythm or tempo change) at the arrival of the finale climax, the climax of the whole work really: it was never undisciplined, just not quite going with the flow. And I could have used a bit more sheer malevolence here too; it is a crushingly wicked triumph after all, one of the most devastating in all of DSCH.

But another marvel in a season of marvels... the HDs relay was stunningly present, clear and very dynamic.

Thank you for this enthusiastic review of a brilliant performance. It’s taken me some days to catch up, but your final “bump” caused me to question why only a dozen or so folk have written about this Proms event and no great number have viewed this thread? Perhaps, because this symphony, so apparently simple, witty and artless, is such an enigma, and such a complex satire. It could be given dozens of nicknames but none would suffice: DSCH’s... Haydn, Classical, Neo-Classical, Anti-Hero, Little, Satirical, Russian Carnival, Not My Ninth, From Jewish Life, The Soviet Circus, and Joe’s Joke-Book.
The work is extraordinary: full of laughter through tears, and tear-filled laughter.
The performance was wonderful, and almost beyond compare.

Please do not miss the chance to experience it!
We Boarders have written thousands of words on two London symphonies.
To get to grips with this score and the Aurora orchestra’s performance may take a book.
You have been warned!

[jayne lee wilson]

Absolutely, Ed - and what about that 2nd Piano Concerto slow movement? Coming after another round of what shall we do with the drunken sailor (just can't get away from the sea this week...) it takes your breath out of you, its beauty stuns you into rapt, attentive silence... it really seems to be heart-on-a-very-ragged-sleeve...
I hope no-one ever reveals to me that this andante is - another parody, a send-up etc etc... I don't think I could bear that. It has the kind of melody you want to take into your heart, keep it there, keep it with you through everything...

I just heard Matsuev/Kirov/Gergiev...oh, very nice...but no match for Kozhukhin and the Auroras!
D-N-M!

[jonfan]

Thanks Ed for alerting me to this. Another wow concert. Top drawer performances of both works and TS great as well!