Prom 35: Enigma Variations - 13.08.19

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:00 Tuesday 13 August 2019
Royal Albert Hall

Kalevi Aho ,Sally Beamish, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Richard Blackford, Gavin Bryars, Brett Dean, Dai Fujikura, Wim Henderickx, Colin Matthews, Anthony Payne, John Pickard, David Sawer, Iris ter Schiphorst, Judith Weir: Pictured Within: Birthday Variations for M. C. B. - BBC commission: world première
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Serenade to Music
Johannes Brahms: Song of Destiny
Edward Elgar: Enigma Variations

Nadine Benjamin soprano
David Ireland bass-baritone
English National Opera Chorus
BBC Singers
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Martyn Brabbins conductor

Elgar’s ‘Enigma’ Variations is the inspiration for a new work commissioned from 14 living composers as a special birthday tribute to conductor Martyn Brabbins, who turns 60 today.

Elgar’s original set also features, as do Vaughan Williams’s exquisite Serenade to Music and Brahms’s ‘Little Requiem’, the Song of Destiny.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

They don't do birthday presents better than this!

[Pulcinella]

Do we know if there's a 'theme', or will we have to try to find one?

Also, do we know which group of singers is performing in which piece?
My guess is that the BBC Singers may be 'soloists' in the original 16-voice version of the Serenade, but we shall see.
I find it a little remiss (but typical) that neither the listing nor the Proms Guide tells us.

[BBMmk2]

Have to wait and see about this then. I recently bought a CD from Hyperion, The Enigma, played on an organ. Quite enjoyed it, actually.

[mrbouffant]

Can't wait to be in the hall for the VW. Studied it for O Level music in the 1980s and was knocked out by its beauty. One can understand why Rachmaninoff reportedly wept on hearing the premiere. Still one of the most gorgeous pieces I know!

[mrbouffant]

A curious work to open the concert. Some interesting material but a lot of arid note spinning. The theme (by anon) was not a tune as such and I wasn't convinced there was enough material there to sustain all those variations. The shorter variations worked better for me than the long ones - the Birtwistle for example just seemed to hang around for the sake of it. Are they paid by the duration of the piece?

[DracoM]

Exactly my feeling to the letter. What on EARTH was that supposed to be?

[Paulie55]

Famiiar faces

A curious work to open the concert. Some interesting material but a lot of arid note spinning. The theme (by anon) was not a tune as such and I wasn't convinced there was enough material there to sustain all those variations. The shorter variations worked better for me than the long ones - the Birtwistle for example just seemed to hang around for the sake of it. Are they paid by the duration of the piece?

The same old faces popped up again....haven't these composers received enough commissions already? Why didn't they offer the task to composers who have never previously had a break at the Proms or even to neglected composers? Do the publishers encourage the BBC to commission their house composers? Or is it a case of the BBC pandering to their old favourites? Why didn't we hear a brand new British Symphony or Concerto with or without a tenuous Elgar link? There are some really fine composers out there who have NEVER had a chance!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

What on EARTH was that supposed to be?

"A special birthday tribute to conductor Martyn Brabbins, who turns 60 today."

A pity Birtwistle didn't do a "Beethoven Diabelli" and produce a 50-minute work on his own.

Brabbins certainly deserves such a celebration - one of the most versatile, committed, and adventurous conductors there is AND who always gets the best out of a work.

[jayne lee wilson]

I couldn't give them ideal critical attention, but I found these new MCB variations surprisingly weighty and fascinating...

Part of a noble tradition....

https://www.nmcrec.co.uk/recording/themes-and-variations

....going back to the original inspiration for the Diabellis, the Schumann/Brahms/Dietrich FAE etc....

Sometimes though, it only takes one composer to do something like this.....(& pretty entertaining & remarkable they are...yes, there really are 90 Variations on Handel's Water Music theme...)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ruders-Concerto-Variations-Symphony-Orchestra/dp/B078Y352FV/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=ruders+variations&qid=1565792648&s=gateway&sr=8-1

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/ruders-viola-concerto-handel-variations-andreas-delfs-marc-soustrot-aarhus-symphony-orchestra-lars-anders-tomter/nftb4gx1k8y2a

[mrbouffant]

Good album that... Again, it's fascinating to see which composers hold one's interest and which ones are just aural wallpaper.

[DracoM]

Delighted for Martin Brabbins - he deserves good congrats,
BUT
the Proms 'present' seemed so much less than those deservings - IMO.
Did he choose them or did the BBC?

[jonfan]

Delighted for Martin Brabbins - he deserves good congrats,
BUT
the Proms 'present' seemed so much less than those deservings - IMO.
Did he choose them or did the BBC?

I gather from MB’s comments it was his idea inspired by his agent. It needs another close listen to get the full subtleties, a great idea though and an appropriate birthday tribute to a national musical treasure who inspires professional and amateur musicians alike.
Disappointing singing from the chorus all night which seemed unfocused and wobbly. A pity the VW Serenade wasn’t with solo singers, far preferable. The Brahms was just awful singing. (A pity Tenebrae couldn’t have two-timed and sang in the early concert as well).
The celebrations properly concluded with as fine an Enigma as one could wish for. Many more birthdays MB and a knighthood?

[Maclintick]

"A special birthday tribute to conductor Martyn Brabbins, who turns 60 today." Brabbins certainly deserves such a celebration - one of the most versatile, committed, and adventurous conductors there is AND who always gets the best out of a work.

Certainly, FHG, & a full RAH cheered him to the rafters at the end, while the BBCSSO refused to stand & sat applauding. The commissioned opener would probably be be consigned to the category of "soft-modernism" by those who hanker for an avant-garde that has minimal traction in 2019, but, FWIW, I thoroughly enjoyed it, & would single out the variations by Brett Dean & Judith Weir as the most memorable, John Pickard's orgiastic & organic peroration
notwithstanding.

[edashtav]

Delighted for Martin Brabbins - he deserves good congrats,
BUT
the Proms 'present' seemed so much less than those deservings - IMO.
Did he choose them or did the BBC?

I must Catch Up with this Prom- a trusted friend was in the RAH and loved Brabbins' real Enigma Variations.
Curiously, first time around, all I heard was the excellent Interval Talk.