Prom 69: Smetana, Shostakovich & Tchaikovsky - 10.09.19

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:00 Tuesday 10 September 2019
Royal Albert Hall


Bedrich Smetana: The Bartered Bride – overture
Bedrich Smetana: The Bartered Bride – Three Dances
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin – Letter Scene
Dmitry Shostakovich: Symphony No 8 in C minor


Elena Stikhina soprano
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
Semyon Bychkov conductor

The dancing rhythms and swirling colours of Smetana’s opera The Bartered Bride launch a concert of big musical gestures and even bigger emotions.

First love blazes hot in the Letter Scene from Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin, as Tatyana (sung here by soprano Elena Stikhina) pours out her heart in music as romantic as anything the composer ever wrote.

War, not love, drives the pulsing heartbeat of Shostakovich’s Eighth Symphony – the most personal and direct of the composer’s many attempts ‘to express the terrible tragedy of war’.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Maybe the whole of Eugene Onegin next year?

[alywin]

Wouldn't that be great?

[jayne lee wilson]

Wonderful orchestra, and a conductor excellent in such repertoire..... make the most of it now!
(Oh OK.... probably Part Two only for me...or, part one until the soprano enters....)

[Sir Velo]

One of my very favourite overtures played by a crack Czech orchestra. Pity it's not the Dvorak 8 after the interval however!

[jayne lee wilson]

Gloriously lovely noise from this beloved band in the Smetana sequence.....

Extended break for me now whilst the soprano does what sopranos do....

[Edgy 2]

Gloriously lovely noise from this beloved band in the Smetana sequence.....

Extended break for me now whilst the soprano does what sopranos do....

Thought you were gonna say while you watch England Jayne

[Alison]

One of my very favourite overtures played by a crack Czech orchestra.

I’ve long felt an exploration of the overture would be a good ‘theme’ for the Proms.

[Once Was 4]

Gloriously lovely noise from this beloved band in the Smetana sequence.....

Extended break for me now whilst the soprano does what sopranos do....

Well, I heard her whilst driving my car - lovely! I had to pull over!!

[DracoM]

DCSH symp 8th - very fine.

[teamsaint]

DCSH symp 8th - very fine.

Yep, sounded terrific from here.

[cloughie]

Gloriously lovely noise from this beloved band in the Smetana sequence.....

Extended break for me now whilst the soprano does what sopranos do....

Er? Sing?

[Darkbloom]

Well, I heard her whilst driving my car - lovely! I had to pull over!!

She was a class act, got a great reception in the hall. Quite a powerful voice too.

[edashtav]

I’ve long felt an exploration of the overture would be a good ‘theme’ for the Proms.

Great idea, Alison: run with it (I hope you're better).

[edashtav]

Yep, sounded terrific from here.

I found the performance and interpretation were both curate's eggs, ts. I loved the brutal, militaristic rhythms which were driven home with fierce, metronomic insistence but some gear changes were sloppy. I wanted more plastic playing from the woodwind, more flexibility from the brass whilst loving the string department to bits.

Overall: A-