Prom 52: Edward Gardner & Bergen Philharmonic – 21.08.18

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:00
Royal Albert Hall

Richard Wagner: Flying Dutchman – overture
Rolf Wallin: Violin Concerto - world première
Jean Sibelius: Symphony No 2 in D major

Alina Ibragimova violin
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
Edward Gardner conductor

A concert with a Nordic flavour from Edward Gardner and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra climaxes in Sibelius’s Second Symphony, whose folk-like melodies are a musical celebration of Finnish life and identity.
Violinist Alina Ibragimova is the soloist in Norwegian composer Rolf Wallin’s concerto – the second of two new violin concertos premiered this season (see also Prom 47).
And the evening opens with Wagner’s propulsive overture to The Flying Dutchman, an opera set along the coast of Norway from the orchestra’s base in Bergen.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Alina Ibragimova again - what a superb violinist she is.

[BBMmk2]

Alina Ibragimova again - what a superb violinist she is.

I never say no to hear her playing! Good for Ed!

[Pulcinella]

19:00
Royal Albert Hall

Richard Wagner: Flying Dutchman – overture
Rolf Wallin: Violin Concerto - world première
Jean Sibelius: Symphony No 2 in D major

Alina Ibragimova violin
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
Edward Gardner conductor

A concert with a Nordic flavour from Edward Gardner and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra climaxes in Sibelius’s Second Symphony, whose folk-like melodies are a musical celebration of Finnish life and identity.
Violinist Alina Ibragimova is the soloist in Norwegian composer Rolf Wallin’s concerto – the second of two new violin concertos premiered this season (see also Prom 47).
And the evening opens with Wagner’s propulsive overture to The Flying Dutchman, an opera set along the coast of Norway from the orchestra’s base in Bergen.

I guess we should be grateful that the concert doesn't just reach a crescendo in...., which is now a commonly seen expression (from even some good authors who should know better!)
And since when was the Dutchman's vessel propelled? I have always thought of it as a sailing ship.
(Actually, I take that back: many years ago I saw a dreadful production at Covent Garden that was set on a modern ship of some sort: there was a light shining out into the audience some of the time that was very off-putting, and I remember Senta stepping down from a ladder having to watch her feet as there were fairy lights strewn all over the stage. I think I got the giggles at that point! There was no interval so no respite!)

[Bryn]

. . . And since when was the Dutchman's vessel propelled? I have always thought of it as a sailing ship. . . .

Since the wind was strong enough to fill the sails. Indeed, wind propulsion is now used in many ships of recent vintage, as a supplementary power source.

[edashtav]

Since the wind was strong enough to fill the sails. Indeed, wind propulsion is now used in many shios of recent vintage, as a supplementary power source.

Bryn’s right. The C.U.P. Dictionary gives an example:
PROPEL
to push or move something somewhere, often with a lot of force: a rocket propelled through space. The Kon-Tiki sailed across the Pacific Ocean propelled by wind power.

[Pulcinella]

Since the wind was strong enough to fill the sails. Indeed, wind propulsion is now used in many shios of recent vintage, as a supplementary power source.

Point taken; I hadn't thought of it in quite those terms.

Looking forward to the concert. Sibelius 2 is a favourite.

[edashtav]

:
[…]
Looking forward to the concert. Sibelius 2 is a favourite.

I’m worried by these words about the Sibelius in the BBC’s Press Release
[it is]
“musical celebration of Finnish life and identity.”

Jean Sibelius always denied such associations. He started work on a symphonic poem that morphed into the symphony, far away from Finland, whilst on holiday in Italy. He was thinking about Don Juan. Maybe, the Don’s lifestyle was typical of 19th century Finns.

[Serial_Apologist]

I’m worried by these words about the Sibelius in the BBC’s Press Release
[it is]
“musical celebration of Finnish life and identity.”

Jean Sibelius always denied such associations. He started work on a symphonic poem that morphed into the symphony, far away from Finland, whilst on holiday in Italy. He was thinking about Don Juan. Maybe, the Don’s lifestyle was typical of 19th century Finns.

Exactly! Another example of slipshod BBC publicity.

[jayne lee wilson]

Programme note for Rolf Wallin's Whirld...
http://www.musicsalesclassical.com/c...ork/1663/58401

According to Stephen Johnson's essay on the Sibelius 2 in the BBC Proms Great Symphonies guide, the Don Juan tone-poem ideas morphed into the slow movement of Sibelius 2, as a "battle for the soul" between Death and Christus. ("Christus" is actually a thematic label in the sketches for this movement, used of the warm major-key theme which is like an answer to the fiercer climaxes). The triumphant transformation of the finale theme in the coda was "a musical impression of the Finnish painter Gallen-Kallela's villa in the Karelian forests..."

Given the steeping of his pre-1900 works in Finnish myth, there's certainly plenty of Finland in this music, though its rich suggestiveness goes beyond the much-discussed implications of, as Robert Layton once described it, patriotic or political "rabble-rousing" in the finale...

I usually find it hard to stay with the work after the andante, but with the Bergen PO (whose BIS recordings have given me much pleasure for many years) I'll have another go...

[Serial_Apologist]

Programme note for Rolf Wallin's Whirld...
http://www.musicsalesclassical.com/c...ork/1663/58401

According to Stephen Johnson's essay on the symphony in the BBC Proms Great Symphonies guide, the Don Juan tone-poem ideas morphed into the slow movement of Sibelius 2, as a "battle for the soul" between Death and Christus. ("Christus" is actually a thematic label in the sketches for this movement, used of the warm major-key theme which is like an answer to the fiercer climaxes). The triumphant transformation of the finale theme in the coda was "a musical impression of the Finnish painter Gallen-Kallela's villa in the Karelian forests..."

Given the steeping of his pre-1900 works in Finnish myth, there's certainly plenty of Finland in this music, though its rich suggestiveness goes beyond the much-discussed implications of, as Robert Layton once described it, patriotic or political "rabble-rousing" in the finale...

I usually find it hard to stay with the work after the andante, but with the Bergen PO (whose BIS recordings have given me much pleasure for many years) I'll have another go...

Thanks jayne: not knowing any of Wallin's music, I'm rather expecting something that shares in the soundworld of Xenakis.

[edashtav]

I never say no to hear her playing! Good for Ed!

‘Ere, ear!

[edashtav]

‘Ere, ear!

The Flying Dutchman received an efficient performance although I
Would have liked to hear more weight and precision from the strings as they howled to fill his sails.

Wow, the Wallin Violin Concerto would have formed a great first half to last night’s performance of Norgard’s Third Symphony. It took me back twenty years when I regularly used Fractals as exercises for my A-level Computer Science students. One or two went off to careers in music but I don’t remember teaching Rolf. O, yes, here was the second composer whom I’m going to put into my Room 101 a.k.a. the New Norwegian Naïves. The work had dynamism, colour, and plenty of lovely detailing. The soloist was excellent as ever. I last heard her live in the Proms Premiere of Huw Watkins Violin Concerto which was shorter than Wallin’s but more substantial. I shan’t put up Wallin for entry to the Spectralists’ Club for I fear that he would fail its entry exam, but he’s a cheerful, peripheral figure. Contemporary music is full of such figures, full of Zeitgeist small-talk but once giants are sorted, acolytes become merely interesting historical figures.

[jayne lee wilson]

Loud enough for you, kids?
Wow....wow.......... magnificent, magnificently built, Sibelius 2...
I never though I could thrill to it so much again...
The Bergen Phil really played out into the vast spaces, and Gardner really encouraged them to.... HDs was simply superb, rich, full, brilliant...

So carefully, thoughtfully shaped in the first movement, with subtle shades of pace and dynamics leading to a terrific climax; the andante intense, dark and fiery with wonderful low winds; articulation at high speed through the vivacissimo... then the finale, as physically thrilling and emotionally fulfilling as I could ever imagine.

I'll never listen to Sibelius 2nd very often, but I won't forget this one for a while...!

[DracoM]

Well, sorry, I was a bit taken aback by.........well...mistakes, tuning at times?
Must listen again to check my ears.