Prom 52: Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky & Ryan Wigglesworth - 28.08.19

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:30 Wednesday 28 August 2019
Royal Albert Hall

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Concerto in E flat major for two pianos
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Suite No. 4, ‘Mozartiana’
Henry Wood Novelties: UK première, 1897
Ryan Wigglesworth: Piano Concerto - BBC co-commission with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra: world première
Igor Stravinsky: Divertimento ‘The Fairy’s Kiss’

Marc-André Hamelin, piano
Britten Sinfonia
Ryan Wigglesworth piano/conductor

Arranging four pieces by Mozart in his Suite No. 4, Tchaikovsky pays homage to the composer he regarded as a ‘divinity’.
Tchaikovsky himself was the inspiration for Stravinsky’s ballet The Fairy’s Kiss, shot through with Tchaikovsky’s melodies.
Conductor Ryan Wigglesworth also features as both pianist – alongside Marc-André Hamelin in Mozart’s Concerto for two pianos – and composer, with the world premiere of his own Piano Concerto.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Paul Lewis appears to have been replaced by Marc-André Hamelin in this concert.

[alywin]

Not another replacement!

[jayne lee wilson]

Very attractive-on-paper..... a program to lighten the darkest mood.......probably my last till Sunday so hope springs....

[bluestateprommer]

Chipper opening to this Prom, with the Mozart from M-AH and RW. Some rough edges here and there, where I thought that I heard some trimmed vibrato from the Britten Sinfonia (which kind of oddly clashes with modern pianos). Nice discussion between M-AH, RW, and Petroc just now on both concertos.

[jayne lee wilson]

Excellent sound, some lovely playing.... just missing some sparkle tonight, in the Mozart especially, where the pianos seemed not to be quite the closest of friends...

Come on guys, sauce it up a little! .....As Sweet Sue once said...

[bluestateprommer]

Very enjoyable interval discussion on Stravinsky and the background to the ballet of Le baiser de la fee, with Louise Fryer very much the anti-Tom Service in her very restrained moderation of the discussion (albeit perhaps partly due to her recent health issues that I vaguely recall). I missed the very end of 'Mozartiana', but what was before sounded reasonably OK. RW's new Concerto now at the ready....

[jayne lee wilson]

Of his Piano Concerto, [Ryan Wigglesworth] notes:

"My Piano Concerto is scored for an orchestra of modest, Classical size. The solo piano part is neither bravura nor particularly virtuosic. Rather, the work’s three movements are studies in character. The first is a short, intimate arioso; the second, a fast scherzo with a central, gentle trio; and the final movement is a set of variations on a Polish folk melody."

source-

https://www.eamdc.com/news/world-premiere-of-ryan-wigglesworths-piano-concerto-at-the-bbc-proms/

....2nd Viennese/late Stravinskian stylistic roots to these ears, but very inventive with them.... the reflective elegy of the arioso, the infective energy of the scherzo then combining for a mini-concerto-for-orchestra-with-piano finale....

Engaging throughout, rather brief (I would have liked more...), with a strange, inconclusive conclusion...

[jayne lee wilson]

No lack of spice or sparkle in the Divertimento...!

A Fairy's Kiss to seduce and intoxicate the ears...... lovely end, to a (finally) lovely and lovely-sounding concert.....Petroc fine in his role tonight...

What am I going to do with myself the next few nights?
Longer walks (harvest just done, birds much busier among the stubble...)...the DCO/Adam Fischer Beethoven set.... Schubert Symphonic Sketches....

I miss the Proms when I'm not in front of them though, and Autumn is in the keener, cooler air......

[edashtav]

I listened only to Wigglesworth's new piano concerto and Stravinsky's Tchaikovsky mash-up. They made an effective coupling although risking the feeling that the concerto, whilst being eminently musical and concentrated, didn't break much new ground. Wigglesworth didn't drive the Stravinsky in a mercilessly modern, rhythmic manner but accepted its opportunities to counterpoise the romance of Tchaikovsky against Stravinsky's more progressive spirit. A delightful relaxed performance for a sultry night.

There was one variation in the concerto that I admired without reservation: it was a delightfully diverting, contrapuntal chatter that I would entitle,"The Birds". Overall, Ryan's muse was over-mediated by all the music of the last seventy years that he's played and loved. Overall, I thought of the music of other conductor-composers, such as Antal Dorati, Ollie Knussen and Eugene Goossens: all marred and narrowed by those works they have espoused, so dearly.