Prom 34: West–Eastern Divan Orchestra - 12.08.19

[jayne lee wilson]

Well, they're certainly playing it beautifully, but what a safe, complacent soft-centred retro-Romantic view of the Schubert d759..... this one's not going not keep you awake at night is it?
The omitted repeat is more than usually significant and damaging here, because of the horrifying chasm that should open up as we cross into the development...


KM's intro was shockingly inadequate in its own way, telling us that Schubert wrote 30 bars of the scherzo and then "nothing"....the movement is almost complete in short score, a terrifically compelling piece in itself, and for many of us the B Minor Rosamunde Entr'acte is an utterly convincing finale, especially if played with such scarifying tragic intensity as on the recent Concentus Music/Gottfried recording. But this finale must have all its repeats - it's over 11' then, and far more weightily proportionate to the whole structure, never mind gaining a truly tragic impact.
After that stunning achievement (and the recent Venzago) I can't really take d759 as a two-movement work anymore. Especially if it is played as DB just has...terribly undersold.

Off for a walk to clear my head.... might try the Luto if I get back in time, but it's almost my least favourite work of his now, devoted as I am to most of his wonderful oeuvre......

[Ein Heldenleben]

After the 1st movt I think it’s Argerich - 4 : WEDO - 1 . I would have thought her astonishing opening chords , octaves and all round panache might have roused them from their Schubert-induced slumber....

[Bert Coules]

And not to make a meal of it, but this is more of the same. Where's the fire? Where's the passion?

[Bert Coules]

See? (or rather, hear?) It obviously is just me. And I do wish that woman would stop gushing.

[CallMePaul]

I also did not enjoy the Schubert; like Jayne, I feel that I need the exposition repeat (observed in both my CD versions - Carlos Kleiber and Emmanuel Krivine) and I was not surprised to hear an old-fashioned romantic performance.

An important phone call caused me to miss the Tchaikovsky - I have just put the radio back on for the applause for Argerich, so cannopt comment on the performance. I do wish that KM would not pass comment on the performance, though - a criticism I have made of her elsewhere on the forum.

[kernelbogey]

[...] I do wish that KM would not pass comment on the performance, though - a criticism I have made of her elsewhere on the forum.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I don’t mind them passing comment when it’s good as long as they are also prepared to comment when it’s not much cop.....

[bluestateprommer]

I again seem to be dissenting from the crowd, in admittedly mild ways (but not in one, of which more anon). The opening of Tchaik 1 from MA actually shocked me, with a fair portion of dropped phrases and notes, almost as if she were in a bit of a bad mood. Granted, technical perfection isn't everything, and far be it from me to tell MA what to do. But some of the basics from her were missing at the start, although she seemed to settle down as things went along. Perhaps that's why she didn't give an encore, as much as the audience would have loved it, as maybe she felt that she didn't give her very best. (Musicians can certainly be their own harshest critics.) The WEDO and DB accompanied her quite sensitively, IMHO, and followed her nicely, as they all knew that she was in the driver's seat. As breathtakingly annoying as KM's editorializing was and is (where I am definitely in agreement with the consensus), she did allude, perhaps without realizing it, to one point that I objected to in MA's reading, when KM said that Argerich "wasn't afraid to be brutal". That's one aspect that I didn't like about her reading.

(And for everyone who wants to complain - rightly- about KM's editorializing, you'll have to write, politely, to the BBC, with details of your objections, and with your real name attached. I don't know that anyone, besides one particular presenter, at the BBC will read these comments and send feedback to KM based on it.)

My opinion of the Schubert is a lot less harsh than most posters here so far. I agree that it was no great revelation of a reading, nowhere near one for the ages. But neither was it the overly mannered, awful train wreck that some seemed to find it. I've heard that CMW recording that JLW referred to, and liked their "finished" version of the "Unfinished" myself. The WEDO/DB reading was definitely a throwback to the old days, to be sure, but I was open-minded enough to accept that on its own terms, on this one occasion as a one-off.

Enjoyable interval discussion now, overseen by Andrew McGregor, on Lutoslawski (with a very droll illustration of what Cold War "Socialist Realism" would mean if it were updated to now in the UK).

[Bert Coules]

At the risk of expressing a "good old days" sentiment I do miss the times when R3 announcers actually made an effort to conceal their emotional responses, sometimes audibly struggling to do so after a particularly overwhelming performance.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

It’s worse still on television, when LD tells us what we can already see on the screen.

Re exposition repeats, they’re unnecessary if you were listening the first time around.

[Wychwood]

At the risk of expressing a "good old days" sentiment I do miss the times when R3 announcers actually made an effort to conceal their emotional responses, sometimes audibly struggling to do so after a particularly overwhelming performance.

Bert, it makes me wonder how much training, if any, KM has had in announcing live concerts.

[LMcD]

Who are KM and LD, please?

[Ein Heldenleben]

KM is Kate Molleson but is LD what happens when you mean Katie Derham but hit the next door key ....?

[edashtav]

I found the Schubert to be acceptable but in no way inspiring or out of the ordinary. The concerto was less satisfactory with MA not playing at her best.

I was delighted with Barenboim's interpretation of Lutoslawski's Concerto for orchestra, full of insights at a detailed level but placed within a carefully controlled structural schema. I've heard many live performances but none has exceeded this. I was delighted with the care taken over balance, rhythmic exactitude and the acknowledgement of the folk inspiration that lies behind much of the score. On a rather ordinary evening, this was extraordinary music making.

[bluestateprommer]

The best came last, as it were, in this Prom with the Lutoslawski Concerto for Orchestra. Perhaps it was because I haven't heard the work in any format in quite a while, but this sounded the freshest of the 3 main works this evening. Undoubtedly it was the least familiar to the musicians themselves. Generous encore with the Egmont Overture, again a big band sound, but Beethoven can take it :) .