Prom 44: Belshazzar’s Feast - 20.08.19

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:30 Tuesday 20 August 2019
Royal Albert Hall

Charles Koechlin: Les bandar-log
Edgard Varèse: Amériques (original version,1921)
William Walton: Belshazzar’s Feast

Gerald Finley baritone
Orfeó Català
Orfeó Català Youth Choir
London Symphony Chorus
London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Simon Rattle conductor


Sir Simon Rattle conducts a concert of sonic spectacle, bringing one of the great English oratorios together with an American orchestral classic.

Walton’s choral masterpiece Belshazzar’s Feast gets the Proms treatment with a 300-strong choir and Canadian baritone Gerald Finley as soloist.

More than 10 percussionists are needed to bring Varese’s Amériques – a celebration of the modern city in sound – to life, while Charles Koechlin’s Jungle Book inspired Les bandar-log transports listeners to the primeval forest, where all the noise comes from the monkeys.

[Petrushka]

No-one listening? I'm in the hall and Ameriques was absolutely stunning.

What with Koechlin's 'monkey scherzo', Ameriques and 'Thou art weighed in the balance' is Rattle making a statement here?

[Cockney Sparrow]

Listening to Belshazzar's Feast, my initial feeling is that if Rattle wants to drive the piece this fast, he needs to have a chorus rehearsed and inherently capable of meeting his vision. Not evident to me as a listener where the deficiency resides. He said the LSO chorus haven't performed it in 10 years, and only 10% of them knew it before this performance.

[Cockney Sparrow]

Having heard it to the end, the tempi too often took the oxygen out of the piece, quite apart from stressing the chorus to the point they couldn't achieve a decent contribution. I should listen again I suppose, not on FM but currently I think it reflects poorly on S Simon's judgement.

[edashtav]

I know and love Charles Koechlin's Les Bandar-Log better than the rest of his voluminous oeuvre.It's great fun and is an exemplar of brilliant scoring in music from the first half of the 20th century. I was astonished at the brilliance and security of tonight's performance by the LSO under its new conductor Sir Simon Rattle. Having heard many other performances (was it Antal Dorati who introduced me to it?), tonight's performance demonstrated more revelations than the others combined. An astonishing and unique experience that demonstrated why the Proms sets the standards for orchestral performance in GB. I lapped it up. Thank you!

[Maclintick]

Having heard it to the end, the tempi too often took the oxygen out of the piece, quite apart from stressing the chorus to the point they couldn't achieve a decent contribution. I should listen again I suppose, not on FM but currently I think it reflects poorly on S Simon's judgement.

Spot on CS -- "schlamperei" as Dr. Klemperer might have said -- though the LSO coped incredibly well with the panicky conducting. The choirs less well, sadly.

[Historian]

Missed the Koechlin but will try to catch up after your enthusiastic review edashtav. Ameriques sounded impressive but I'm ashamed to say I don't know it that well so will leave it to others to judge.

Belshazzar did sound a bit hurried in places I felt. If the LSC haven't done it for ten years, how often would Orfeo Catala have sung it? Felt that the chorus were under strain in places. Enjoyed Gerald Finley's singing. However, didn't think that the choral writing came through enough on the radio. That may be the production of course; the audience certainly seemed to enjoy it.

[edashtav]

I loved the performance, a piece that I first experienced whilst at Uni through an LP conducted , I think, by Maurice Abravanel. That performance was iffy (exploratory) but tonight's was supercharged with surging percussion, tight strings and burgeoning contributions from the rest if the 'band'. It was like bumping into an old friend after many years and finding that he had matured, learned a great deal, and now understood how to sift wheat from chaff.
Another outstanding reason to celebrate the BBC Proms.
Thank you.

[Bryn]

I loved the performance, a piece that I first experienced whilst at Uni through an LP conducted , I think, by Maurice Abravanel. That performance was iffy (exploratory) but tonight's was supercharged with surging percussion, tight strings and burgeoning contributions from the rest if the 'band'. It was like bumping into an old friend after many years and finding that he had matured, learned a great deal, and now understood how to sift wheat from chaff.
Another outstanding reason to celebrate the BBC Proms.
Thank you.

Abravanel used the revised score, of course, which has serious cuts in both musical content and orchestral complement. In the Hall, I thought all three works sounded magnificent. Better to drive the chorus close to and even beyond its limits than to play safe.

[Simon B]

Brilliantly incisive and unanimous playing from all sections of the LSO tonight - no news there in recent years. Only the LPO runs them close among the current UK crop.

Fairly sure I've never heard the original Ameriques before - 2 timps + 18 perc on stage. Bonkers.

I tried and tried with the Koechlin on YouTube beforehand but it just doesn't connect. My loss.

More brilliant playing in the Walton, but the frenetic train-to-catch pacing robbed it of cumulative impact and made the chorus sound audibly uncomfortable.

The definitive recording (IMO obv.) sets a similarly blistering pace on the whole but somehow pulls it off. Andrew Davis/Bryn Terfel and the BBC forces at the last night of the 1994 Proms IIRC. Still waiting for another like that to come along...

[edashtav]

I suspect that we all agree on Rattle's Belshazzar: it rattles along.
Simon and Willy were born in Lancashire: Simon Merseyside, Willy in Oldham.

Willy was a master of the broad sweep, Simon was a born pointillist.

Both struggled to encompass the opposite virtues: Willy did and was reviled.

Simon is not so old, I think he's trying to understand WW's virtues.

He ain't there, yet.

[edashtav]

Abravanel used the revised score, of course, which has serious cuts in both musical content and orchestral complement. In the Hall, I thought all three works sounded magnificent. Better to drive the chorus close to and even beyond its limits than to play safe.

Helpful and insightful commemts. Many thanks, Bryn.

[mathias broucek]

In the Hall, I thought all three works sounded magnificent. Better to drive the chorus close to and even beyond its limits than to play safe.

Interesting. I too was in the Hall and had the same overall reaction. Did it come over differently on the radio, I wonder?

I thought the Walton was terrific. To me, it felt exciting rather than rushed and I thought the choral singing was excellent. Belshazzar's Feast is a HARD work for the chorus and even Etherea, who was a top level chorus accompanist and is not easily impressed, was very happy with the choir. And as noted above the orchestra was outstanding - hoping Rattle does the 1st Symphony with them soon!

I've only ever heard Ameriques in recordings (Chailly, Jansons, Nagano). As one might guess, it's one of those works that's MUCH better heard live! Ensemble and balance were terrific and I loved the way Rattle built up the tension over the last 5 minutes or so.

I like Koechlin but I find Les Bandar-Log rather episodic and Rattle didn't really convince me that the piece hangs together structurally. But the textures were beautifully balanced and there was some excellent solo playing. Perhaps ensemble wasn't quite as sharp as the Walton and Varese but all three pieces require LOTS of rehearsal....

Finally, kudos to all involved for devising the programme. The Koechlin and Varese are exactly the sort of music the Proms should be highlighting and it's great that a sell-out audience (plus TV) will have heard them.

[Historian]

Very happy to concede to those who were there in the hall, it was certainly an exciting performance. It is not easy for two choirs working together to become more than the sum of their parts, even when they share a director - the ubiquitous Simon Halsey - so full marks to all the singers.

Agreed that this was a rewarding programme; will make sure I listen to the Koechlin and the rest of the Varese. As mathias broucek has pointed out, the performance will also be televised on BBC4.

Many thanks to all those who have contributed to this thread so far; such discussions add greatly to my understanding and enjoyment of the music and performances.

[Alison]

A brilliant programme but the Walton a shade disappointing for all the reasons cited above.

Even the last bars felt oddly miscalculated.

Outstanding playing from the LSO, any dip in the Gergiev final years has been more than beaten off now.