Prom 66: Berlin Philharmonic & Kirill Petrenko (I) - 1.09.18

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:30
Royal Albert Hall

Paul Dukas: La Péri – Fanfare
Sergei Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No 3 in C major
Franz Schmidt: Symphony No 4 in C major

Yuja Wang piano
Berliner Philharmoniker
Kirill Petrenko conductor

A landmark concert sees the Berlin Philharmonic perform for the first time in London under its new Chief Conductor Designate, Kirill Petrenko. ‘In this work Mahler’s spirit is resurrected,’ said a colleague of Franz Schmidt’s Fourth Symphony, a piece whose Romantic character is charged with the grief of personal loss. Dynamic pianist Yuja Wang is the soloist in Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto, with its explosive closing battle of wills between soloist and orchestra. The concert opens with Dukas’s exotic, Impressionistic ballet score La péri, prefaced by the arresting curtain-raising fanfare the composer later added.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I'll be interested to hear the BPO conducted by the "other" Petrenko.

[BBMmk2]

I'll be interested to hear the BPO conducted by the "other" Petrenko.

Very much so, EA. Somehow I don’t get this choice of conductor.

[Darkbloom]

Very much so, EA. Somehow I don’t get this choice of conductor.

Apart from a Bayreuth Rheingold a few years ago (pretty good, as I recall) I don't know much about him, but all the fuss about choosing the new boss suggests that he was a compromise candidate rather than a first choice.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Greatly looking forward to this one: the Schmidt Fourth Symphony is a tremendous work, far more powerful and vital than the Beeb Blurb's emphasis on the composer's "personal tragedy" might suggest. Schmidt's 20-year-old daughter died in childbirth in the same year that he wrote the Symphony - and there is much anger in the "Funeral March" section of the Slow Movement, but this isn't one of those Late Romantic "Selfie-Symphonies": it's a marvel of invention, full of wit, lyricism, and passion. Mahler? Weeeell - there are passing hints here and there of the scoring and harmony of the First Movement of Mahler's Tenth (Krenek's published edition of this Movement had appeared in the '20s) - but that Funeral March section demonstrates Schmidt's essential independence of thought.

And Petrenko has already "recorded" the work, back in 2000, with the WDR SO, Cologne - one of the very finest performances I've heard:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDPElQkEX1g

[jayne lee wilson]

Greatly looking forward to this one: the Schmidt Fourth Symphony is a tremendous work, far more powerful and vital than the Beeb Blurb's emphasis on the composer's "personal tragedy" might suggest. Schmidt's 20-year-old daughter died in childbirth in the same year that he wrote the Symphony - and there is much anger in the "Funeral March" section of the Slow Movement, but this isn't one of those Late Romantic "Selfie-Symphonies": it's a marvel of invention, full of wit, lyricism, and passion. Mahler? Weeeell - there are passing hints here and there of the scoring and harmony of the First Movement of Mahler's Tenth (Krenek's published edition of this Movement had appeared in the '20s) - but that Funeral March section demonstrates Schmidt's essential independence of thought.

And Petrenko has already "recorded" the work, back in 2000, with the WDR SO, Cologne - one of the very finest performances I've heard:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDPElQkEX1g

Can we have some examples of Late Romantic "Selfie-Symphonies" please?

[edashtav]

Can we have some examples of Late Romantic "Selfie-Symphonies" please?

Richard Strauss’s Symphonia Domestica

[jayne lee wilson]

Richard Strauss’s Symphonia Domestica

Oh, I see.... so.... Mahler 6, then? As the dysfunctional opposite to the Strauss....
... but the expression used above seems to be pejorative in context, so...hmm. It might be a rather small category.

Tchaikovsky 6, Sibelius 4?
Personal but universal etc....

[jayne lee wilson]

Apart from a Bayreuth Rheingold a few years ago (pretty good, as I recall) I don't know much about him, but all the fuss about choosing the new boss suggests that he was a compromise candidate rather than a first choice.

A compromise candidate? For the Berliner Philharmoniker?

[Darkbloom]

A compromise candidate? For the Berliner Philharmoniker?

Oh yes, I have no doubt about that. Remember they were deadlocked and had to reconvene later on to have another vote? There's a very conservative element that wanted a traditionalist (the sort of people who blanched at the thought of staging the Matthew Passion) like Thielemann, while others wanted someone less stodgy. Hence the deadlock and Petrenko comes up through the middle. That sort of thing happens all the time, it doesn't matter how eminent the institution is. In fact, the more prestigious they are, the harder it seems to be for them to make decisions, from popes to prime ministers.

That's not to say KP won't be any good. I'm fact, it may help him if he doesn't have quite the burden of expectation that weighed down Rattle, in my view.

[edashtav]

Oh, I see.... so.... Mahler 6, then? As the dysfunctional opposite to the Strauss....
... but the expression used above seems to be pejorative in context, so...hmm. It might be a rather small category.

Tchaikovsky 6, Sibelius 4?
Personal but universal etc....

Yes, I think you’ve identified the genre and your selection are works that cause snowflakes and the squeamish to run for cover when they’re conducted by the likes of Bernstein.

I’m surprised by your inclusion of Sibelius 4 in the Selfie-Symphony list, Jayne as it’s more sublimated and may reach out to the Universe as opposed to universal truths about the human race.

I would suggest adding Walton’s 1st and,as a Multiple Selfie-Symphony, the first three of Bax’s Symphonies. Does Cesar Frank’s 1 and only deserve to go into Room 1on1?

[Stanfordian]

Richard Strauss’s Symphonia Domestica

In 2016 I was at Philharmonie, Berlin for music festival when Kirill Petrenko conducted the visiting Bayerisches Staatsorchester in Strauss's 'Sinfonia domestica'. It was a stunning performance! I hadn't realised how good the symphony was!

Vasily Petrenko made his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker this February at Philharmonie, Berlin.

[jayne lee wilson]

Yes, I think you’ve identified the genre and your selection are works that cause snowflakes and the squeamish to run for cover when they’re conducted by the likes of Bernstein.

I’m surprised by your inclusion of Sibelius 4 in the Selfie-Symphony list, Jayne as it’s more sublimated and may reach out to the Universe as opposed to universal truths about the human race.

I would suggest adding Walton’s 1st and,as a Multiple Selfie-Symphony, the first three of Bax’s Symphonies. Does Cesar Frank’s 1 and only deserve to go into Room 1on1?

"Room 1on1" That's good, Ed, by Polonius, that's very good...

Note my question marks....But...
"Sibelius 4th Symphony tells of how Sibelius faced up to having a tumour removed from his throat, his relief at its removal (clearly heard in the 2nd movement), his fears of its recurrence and sense of his own mortality (3rd movement), and, in the finale, the imminence of European War...."

This could be quite a good game. I can't conceive of a program for the Franck yet, though I love the piece very much.
(Isn't there someone missing from this discussion?)

[jayne lee wilson]

In 2016 was at Philharmonie, Berlin for music festival when Kirill Petrenko conducted the visiting Bayerisches Staatsorchester in Strauss's 'Sinfonia domestica'. It was a stunning performance!

Vasily Petrenko made his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker this February at Philharmonie, Berlin.

In fact his Berlin Phil guest-conducting debut was a few years earlier...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirill_Petrenko

[Stanfordian]

In fact his Berlin Phil guest-conducting debut was a few years earlier...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirill_Petrenko

I hope to be in Berlin next week for the music festival. The Berliner Philharmoniker are performing, at one of the concerts I'll be attending, but it's Sir George Benjamin conducting a programme that appeals to me.

https://www.berlinerfestspiele.de/en/aktuell/festivals/musikfest_berlin/programm_mfb/mfb18_programm_gesamt/mfb18_veranstaltungsdetail_244889.php