Prom 56: Henry Wood Tribute - 31.08.19

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:30 Saturday 31 August 2019
Royal Albert Hall

Maurice Ravel: Rapsodie espagnole
John Ireland: Piano Concerto
Dobrinka Tabakova: new work - BBC commission: world première
Claude Debussy - Préludes, Book 1 – La cathédrale engloutie (orch. Henry Wood)
Enrique Granados: 12 Danzas españolas, Op 37 (orch. Henry Wood)
Richard Wagner: Wesendonck Lieder – Träume (arr. Wood)
Percy Grainger: Handel in the Strand (arr. Henry Wood)
Maurice Ravel: La valse


Nathaniel Anderson-Frank violin
Leon McCawley piano
BBC Concert Orchestra
Bramwell Tovey conductor



A 150th-anniversary tribute to Henry Wood, founder-conductor of the Proms, featuring works he premiered and arranged, and reflecting his wide musical tastes, from Wagner to John Ireland, Ravel to Percy Grainger.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

... though it the BBC really wanted to pay tribute to Sir Henry Wood, they could give his name back to the Proms, rather than pretending it was all their idea in the first place.

[Serial_Apologist]

A 150th-anniversary tribute to Henry Wood, founder-conductor of the Proms, featuring works he premiered and arranged, and reflecting his wide musical tastes, from Wagner to John Ireland, Ravel to Percy Grainger.

The Five Orchestral Pieces of Schoenberg Op 16 would probably have frightened the horses, had they been included in this concert. I believe they are being performed elsewhere in the season in any case.

[mathias broucek]

The Five Orchestral Pieces of Schoenberg Op 16 would probably have frightened the horses, had they been included in this concert. I believe they are being performed elsewhere in the season in any case.

They could have given us Farben, which isn't that scary!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The Five Orchestral Pieces of Schoenberg Op 16 would probably have frightened the horses, had they been included in this concert. I believe they are being performed elsewhere in the season in any case.

Yup - back in Prom 7 over a month ago (so no longer i-Playerable - it was also on the telly).

[VodkaDilc]

... though it the BBC really wanted to pay tribute to Sir Henry Wood, they could give his name back to the Proms, rather than pretending it was all their idea in the first place.

Many of us have been saying this for years - but it's always worth repeating. (Though whether Sir Henry would want to give his name to some recent concerts is debatable.)

[Serial_Apologist]

They could have given us Farben, which isn't that scary!

Actually the second movement - appropriatly named "The Past" - which is probably the most accessible for people new to the post-1907 works, opening as it does with some nice jazzy flat nines over a sustained perfect fifth in the bass, pure blues! - then leading into some beautifully scored post-impressionistic dreamlike music. This includes some of my favourite orchestration.

[bluestateprommer]

Pretty good Rapsodie espagnole to start, even if some moments in the 'Feria' flagged a bit.

(It shouldn't mean anything on the musical merits of this Prom, but Bramwell Tovey received a recent cancer diagnosis. Good to see that he's hale and hearty enough to conduct this Prom.)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

(It shouldn't mean anything on the musical merits of this Prom, but Bramwell Tovey received a recent cancer diagnosis. Good to see that he's hale and hearty enough to conduct this Prom.)

Indeed.

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2019-08-14/cancer-diagnosis-be-damned-hollywood-bowl-favorite-bramwell-tovey-hits-stage

- best wishes to him.

[bluestateprommer]

Fine job by Leon McCawley with the John Ireland Piano Concerto. I thought that I'd heard the concerto on recordings back in the day from Philadelphia's old (and much lamented) radio station, WFLN-95.7 FM. Maybe I didn't, because little of it struck the residual memory banks. Nice encore, which unfortunately for the Ireland, put the latter in the shade, since one phrase of 'Widmung' was more memorable than most of the Ireland concerto. Interesting to hear the back story from LM in conversation with Petroc beforehand, with the unfortunate falling-out between composer and soloist.

[jayne lee wilson]

Yes (.... the Ireland a little too obviously indebted to... well, you know..), and they played the Ravel Rhapsody very beautifully too...

Real fun concert, kinda lie-back-and-enjoy-it classics really... (or domestic promming, while keeping the cat(s) happy outside...)
Enjoyed the easy-listen minimalist uplift of Tabakova too....(reminded me of Colin Matthews' 4th Sonata, never a bad thing!)

[LMcD]

Yup - back in Prom 7 over a month ago (so no longer i-Playerable - it was also on the telly).

Is that the performance on YouTube?

[edashtav]

[QUOTE=jayne lee wilson;753849]Yes (.... the Ireland a little too obviously indebted to... well, you know..), and they played the Ravel Rhapsody very beautifully too...

[...]
Yes, I , too, enjoyed the Ireland Concerto which, I suspect, after a youth spent in Bournemouth with the likes of Eileen Joyce, I have heard more often live than any concerto excepting Rachmaninov's 3rd and Brahms Bb. Like Jayne, as the work grows older, its hair grows longer and its roots cannot be contained by a soloist and orchestra trying to paint the piece in a new hue.
I thought the Ravel Rapsodie Espagnole lacked a bit of Spanish glitter and, at times, it sounded too lugubrious.
Nor did I feel that the Granados-Wood piece sounded as Spanish as I had hoped to experience.
The Debussy was extraordinary and ... appalling. Henry it was written in pastel shades!
The Grainger, which Bramwell Tovey conducted as if it featured an Irish Trotting horse was more successful although I'd been happier being "dished up"with one of Percy's own chamber arrangements.

"La Valse" needs an orchestra of 100+. The BBC CO doesn't have such a complement. Therefore, few compliments, here.

I wish its conductor a a complete recovery from his recent illness.

A typical Henry Wood Saturday Night Prom.

[bluestateprommer]

Real fun concert, kinda lie-back-and-enjoy-it classics really... (or domestic promming, while keeping the cat(s) happy outside...)
Enjoyed the easy-listen minimalist uplift of Tabakova too....(reminded me of Colin Matthews' 4th Sonata, never a bad thing!)

Tovey has struck me as that kind of conductor, who really wants to give audiences a good time and emphasizes the fun and pleasurable aspects of music, while still taking the work seriously and doing a good job. He isn't Karajan, Kleiber (Erich or Carlos), or Kirill Petrenko as an intrepreter, but he knows it, and doesn't try to be. (Plus, he's a composer, unlike the others.) My orchestra acquaintances tell me that whenever Tovey comes to town as a guest conductor, everyone in the orchestra has a good time.

The Dobrinka T. new work was indeed nice, very audience-friendly listening, if quite too drawn out for its material. But it's good that the audience enjoyed it and gave her a warm reception. Sir Henry's arrangements were good to hear once, but I wouldn't be strongly motivated to go back. (Good solo work from Nathaniel Anderson-Frank there.) Ravel, of course, is another matter, given that he's my desert island composer, if forced to choose only one composer. La valse got a good, solid reading, even if some of the tempi stretches were just a bit much, and the BBC CO strings couldn't quite pull off being the Philadelphia Orchestra in that one bar before the work's coda. But, as jlw said, this had perhaps more of a kick-back and chill vibe.

[jayne lee wilson]

Bramwell Tovey has recorded some obscure & fascinating orchestral repertoire, including this -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Roussel-Aeneas-Fanfare-Bardit-Francs/dp/B0002XNM6Y/ref=sr_1_16?keywords=bramwell+tovey&qid=1567286585&s=music&sr=1-16

HI-FI spectacular, hi-spec & high-rec for all Rousselians.....