Prom 51: Strauss, Wagner & Per Nørgård – 20.08.18

[bluestateprommer]

Very spacious feel to the Act I Parsifal Prelude just now, from TD and the BBC SSO. There was the odd sound of an audience member either talking to himself or breathing strangely during the first few minutes.

[gedsmk]

Very spacious feel to the Act I Parsifal Prelude just now, from TD and the BBC SSO. There was the odd sound of an audience member either talking to himself or breathing strangely during the first few minutes.

Unwell maybe? For a moment I thought it might be Amfortas.

[jayne lee wilson]

A Parsifal prelude of such power, beauty and sensitivity that it was a strange perceptual shift, awakening from one’s reverie, to recall that the 1st Act would not be consequential upon it…

(Amfortas, or an audience member overwhelmed to vocalisation...?)

I lack connoisseurship in classical vocal, so all I’ll say is that I didn’t warm to tonight’s soprano in the Strauss. Orchestra, smoothly flowing and gently supportive, sounded fine.

***
Now for it….!

[bluestateprommer]

Unwell maybe? For a moment I thought it might be Amfortas.

Perhaps, come to think of it. This person seems to have taken leave of the hall for the moment, since no such vocalizations were present during the Strauss.

The BBC SSO and TD sounded very lush and top-form in the Strauss. Malin Bystrom sounded good, but her diction struck me as a bit mushy. Maybe others will hear her differently.

PS: Pretty good interval discussion about Per Nørgård, even with Tom Service 'supervising' the proceedings. TS does seem to require other folks around him to restrain his volubility a bit. However, it was nice to hear from TS that Per Nørgård is in the RAH.

[teamsaint]

Well I thought the proms plus introduction was helpful and enjoyable.

[bluestateprommer]

Well I thought the proms plus introduction was helpful and enjoyable.

Indeed, with Stephen Johnson as one of the speakers, as SJ is very knowledgeable about Per Nørgård. I remember an older BBC Music Magazine article by SJ about the composer.

Clearly this performance was a labor of love for TD, and on the one hearing, all involved performed exceptionally well. Maybe this was where the bulk of rehearsal energy and attention went of the two BBC SSO concerts. Even if Nørgård somewhat brushed off Kate Molleson's one question in the pre-performance chat, her question actually seemed appropriate, as the work struck me as very meditative, or (as we Americans would superficially say) very "Zen". If anyone was in the RAH, it would be interesting to know if Nørgård was able to make his way down the steps to the platform, or took all the applause from his seat.

[jayne lee wilson]

Oh my word.... quite something, isn't it? Afterward, mindfully here, in a peaceful vale of tears..

The wonderful Nørgård Symphony No.3, wonderfully well-performed tonight, easily on a par with Dausgaard's dazzling Da Capo recording. Orchestra was beyond praise, the many lines perfectly balanced and preternaturally well-defined; the choral diction of such remarkable clarity I could follow it in the bilingual text (well, most of the time...!) with an apt, very pronounced emphasis to repeated words like Singe and sein (Sing! Exist!) which conveys something of the heart of the piece.

HDs sound beautifully distanced, controlled and powerful, perfectly equal to the challenge....

One of the events - if not the event - of the 2018 season. What a privilege to hear it - to bear witness.

[edashtav]

Indeed, with Stephen Johnson as one of the speakers, as SJ is very knowledgeable about Per Nørgård. I remember an older BBC Music Magazine article by SJ about the composer.

Clearly this performance was a labor of love for TD, and on the one hearing, all involved performed exceptionally well. Maybe this was where the bulk of rehearsal energy and attention went of the two BBC SSO concerts. Even if Nørgård somewhat brushed off Kate Molleson's one question in the pre-performance chat, her question actually seemed appropriate, as the work struck me as very meditative, or (as we Americans would superficially say) very "Zen". If anyone was in the RAH, it would be interesting to know if Nørgård was able to make his way down the steps to the platform, or took all the applause from his seat.

He ran onto the stage!!

[teamsaint]

I wonder how this came over in the hall ? It might be quite well suited, but some reports would be good.

Is the bit at the end of the first movement , where the music starts to cave in on itself , a Nielsen reference? Or something else? It seemed familiar.

A pity that the first half works weren't more ambitious, if they had been, this could have been a classic Prom, perhaps.

Anyway, great stuff, would have loved to have been there, but had to make do with the holiday cottage stereo, which, I suppose, is a lot better than nothing.

[DracoM]

Indeed, with Stephen Johnson as one of the speakers, as SJ is very knowledgeable about Per Nørgård. I remember an older BBC Music Magazine article by SJ about the composer.

Clearly this performance was a labor of love for TD, and on the one hearing, all involved performed exceptionally well. Maybe this was where the bulk of rehearsal energy and attention went of the two BBC SSO concerts. Even if Nørgård somewhat brushed off Kate Molleson's one question in the pre-performance chat, her question actually seemed appropriate, as the work struck me as very meditative, or (as we Americans would superficially say) very "Zen". If anyone was in the RAH, it would be interesting to know if Nørgård was able to make his way down the steps to the platform, or took all the applause from his seat.

Agree with all that.
My only quibble was how slow the Parsifal was.

[edashtav]

Agree with all that.
My only quibble was how slow the Parsifal was.

I agree with you, DracoM, re the Parsifal Prelude, although it ended serenely.

I felt this was a Concert of two halves with Part 1 undercooked (under-rehearsed?) but Part 2 was a fine performance of a tricky piece. I'll come to Nørgård, tomorrow, as it’s a major piece and may come to define this Season.

I was distressed by Strauss’s Four Last Songs which got off to a lumpen, unidiomatic start with the phrasing in the orchestra resembling a sight-reading exercise than a prepared performance. Worse was to follow, the Swedish Soprano , Malin Byström, was not to my taste: she was powerful beyond belief, but that could be due to microphony, and her interpretation lacked subtlety, storming rather than floating over the orchestra. I enjoyed the solo violin but wanted more bloom and legato playing from the first horn. For me, this is the most moving of all Richard Strauss’s works and, yes, I shed a tear or two, but they were In Memoriam treasured CDs and wonderful live performances. Eventually, I was ruled by the past and all thoughts of tonight’s lustre-free performance were banished.

I

[Serial_Apologist]

I only listened to the Norgard - and must check out the few other things of his I have, as I hadn't noted anything especially out of the ordinary. The symphony was a strange experience, though not unpleasant, with pretty obvious tonic/dominant/subdominant underlying key changes belying all the talk of serialism, and a sense of parts seeming somehow to drift against each other without really getting anywhere (though I'm sure it was all scrupulously crafted to wafting effect), and odd quirks in the part-choral second movement giving me, at any rate, an impression of not-quite-seriousness.

[Richard Barrett]

odd quirks in the part-choral second movement giving me, at any rate, an impression of not-quite-seriousness.

IMO that is far from his finest moment (many of which are to be found in his 4th and 5th symphonies). Whenever I listen to his 3rd I'm startled anew by how after a beautiful and really quite transfixing buildup it manages to turn me off quite so comprehensively with its abrupt turn to silliness.

[jayne lee wilson]

Nørgård's Third: From the Sublime to the Ridiculous and back.
1) Of Laughter and Conga.

Etc....

I've found it hard to find words for Nørgård's Third... one booklet note describes Part One as having something of a "creation myth" about it.
I guess Per knew what he was about? So, Part Two...undermining (his own) pretences, the Laughter of the Gods? I hear it as....unsettling, strange, rather than "silly" ("silly" through lack of control, or on some artistic purpose?).

Oddly enough, listening to No.4 earlier ("Indian Rose Garden/Chinese Witches Lake" - I love writing that down), I heard that very "laughter rhythm" from the 3rd coming through sometimes (not far from a Mahler 2 reference).... and there are those 14 tom-toms in No.7, of course....whose finale begins in a dislocated 3/4, a surreal waltz with cock-a-snooks...... soon, you hear those high winds, like sweet human voices, similar to the lovely effect a few minutes into 3 Part Two... but towards the 7th's conclusion a jazzy Gershwinesque vision materialises....
he-he-he ha-ha-ha ho-ho-ho

So though I struggle to evoke or describe, I feel there is something very Nørgård about "the laughter and the conga", or even very Nørgård Third about it... there isn't much else quite like this symphony, is there?


(Must try to get some sleep now...can't wait to see what Ed has to say later...)

[Richard Barrett]

("silly" through lack of control, or on some artistic purpose?)

I'm sure a composer as skilled as him intended it to sound exactly as it does, it's not that I have anything against music that's joyful or humorous or lacking in "taste", just that here it strikes me as a catastrophic letdown after everything that precedes it. One's mileage may vary of course. I do think PN is one of the most imaginative composers alive today.