Prom 71: Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique perform Berlioz – 5.09.18

[Darkbloom]

Not sure if this was mentioned on the radio, but the viola soloist acted the part as well as played it. Moving around the orchestra, interacting with the players. The orchestra stood for the Brigand's Orgy (as they did for the Corsair). Cleopatra is a fabulous piece once it settles down a bit and it feels less like recitative. The only blot on a terrific evening was the Dido piece - an odd piece of programming that didn't really work when pulled out of context.

JEG is such a familiar figure that I almost take him for granted, but the response he was getting from his orchestra was incredible. Hard to imagine a better Harold than that one.

[jayne lee wilson]

Yes, stunning Harold en Italie.... all the qualities I described above -
Lean, crisp, open-air textures, rhythm and phrasing turning on a sixpence, the dynamically explosive, razor-sharp brilliance of the brass... yes, it's the ORR/JEG with their revitalised Berlioz....

....in even richer abundance, and wonderfully vivid, spacious, relayed sound.

But like dear Alistair Cooke, I feel I've "nothing left in the tank" for further comments on the Proms near the end of a wonderful season...
And just the War Requiem left, of any real significance for me....
I'll be with the Last Night, if only to say goodbye. But I feel sad at the season's passing, both Proms and Summer.

[Petrushka]

I'll be with the Last Night, if only to say goodbye. But I feel sad at the season's passing, both Proms and Summer.

A familiar feeling here, too, at the end of every season. Your comments and reviews have been an integral part of the pleasures provided by this Proms season for which many thanks.

[BBMmk2]

Rather a clever encore!

[Hornspieler]

For me, this was the outstanding . Prom of the season (So far, of course)

I cannot sing its praises too highly and I can see nothing in the remaining concerts to alter that opinion


Well done, JEG and friends

HS

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

A familiar feeling here, too, at the end of every season. Your comments and reviews have been an integral part of the pleasures provided by this Proms season for which many thanks.

[BBMmk2]

A most hearty thank you JLW from me too!

[edashtav]

A most hearty thank you JLW from me too!

And I’ll add my trumpet to this JWL fan—Fair!

[Darkbloom]

It was good to see so many members of the orchestra enjoying themselves as much as the audience. JEG has rather a flair for using the spaces of the RAH for added theatrical effect, as we saw when he did Orfeo a few years ago. Tamestit's histrionics wouldn't have worked anywhere else but were just right for the Proms. And the applause at the end of the first movement of Harold was a spontaneous show off appreciation, rather than the awkward trickle that many people find annoying. It's been a long time since I enjoyed a concert so. much.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

And the applause at the end of the first movement of Harold was a spontaneous show off appreciation, rather than the awkward trickle that many people find annoying.

That made it even more annoying - it just means the copycat effect has increased.

[Darkbloom]

That made it even more annoying - it just means the copycat effect has increased.

Perhaps you had to be there. JEG certainly didn't mind it. When we really hear something special isn't it better to acknowledge it rather than maintain a constipated silence? The whole evening (well, considering it included two death scenes) was good-humoured throughout and the applause reflected that.

[edashtav]

Perhaps you had to be there. JEG certainly didn't mind it. When we really hear something special isn't it better to acknowledge it rather than maintain a constipated silence? The whole evening (well, considering it included two death scenes) was good-humoured throughout and the applause reflected that.

Let’s hear from Pierre Boulez who, in 1964, said this about applause during the programme “Pour le Plaisir”:

“ Dans les concerts nous avons une coutume qui est celle d’applaudir les artistes. Il m’est arrivé d’écrire que les gens applaudissent non pas l’artiste, mais eux-mêmes. Ils s’applaudissent de faire partie d’une certaine classe musicale et ils s’applaudissent de voir cette classe musicale refléter dans l’artiste qui est devant eux.”

Which, roughly translated, with a little help from my wife, Anne, becomes:

“We have a tradition during concerts which is to applaud the artists. It has occurred to me to write that people don’t applaud the artist but themselves. They applaud to be part of a musical exclusivity and they applaud themselves to see this musical exclusivity reflected in the artist in front of them.”
...........

To add a note on intra as opposed to inter movement clapping...was it not the case that Mozart wrote bravura passages with the intention of eliciting immediate applause within which some cognoscenti would shout “Da Capo”, the signal for WAM to smile and play it again? I’m awaiting the return of such a HIPP moment!

[Constantbee]

Looked forward to this Prom for ages and was not disappointed. Joyce D sounded as convincing as any staged performer might do. Antoine T moving around the orchestra was a modest coup de theatre although I thought he was slightly overshadowed by the orchestra in places, but maybe I wasn't concentrating. Thoroughly enjoyed his version of the Schubert Arpeggione Sonata earlier on Wednesday during the New Generation Artists slot. It's a staple of the viola repertoire but maybe more familiar in the transcription for cello. Recordings exist for both. The only person I've heard pronounce Antoine's surname correctly so far on air has been Sean Rafferty. Surely it should be Tamestit to rhyme with écrit, rather than Tamestite shouldn't it?

[Richard J.]

One point that no-one has commented on so far is that we only got the first part of Dido's death scene. The libretto in the concert programme included Dido climbing the steps of the pyre, her prediction of the conquering Hannibal, and stabbing herself with Aeneas' sword, which Donald Macleod faithfully summarised at the end of the item, but which we had not heard. All we had was the opening recitative and the Air Adieu, fière cité.

My companion in the hall, who was following the libretto, said that we appeared to have lost the second half of the scene, and I've just confirmed that from the iPlayer. Curious. Darkbloom commented earlier that it was "an odd piece of programming that didn't really work when pulled out of context". I agree, but I think that was because we only had part of the scene.

Apart from that, I thought it was a tremendous concert.

[BBMmk2]

This was an extraordinary Prom. Why do most conductors only perform the ubiquitous SF? The mind boggles. There's another work that should be performed and that is his Symphonie Funebre et Triomphale. I have arranged this for modern concert band.