One might think on reading this thread that the concert did not have a first half. The reason I went, and the reason I queued from 7 am, was to hear one of the greatest singers in the world singing one of the greatest song cycles. I sometimes think that "Le Spectre de la Rose" is the most beautiful song ever written. I was right at the front, directly in front of Joyce, and the experience was overwhelming.
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Finally caught up with this early morning Prom from (mostly) my much younger compatriots. Regarding the opener, BB's new work definitely was optimistic in spirit, with dollops of earlier John Adams-style pulsation, even if musically it was OK rather than great. Then I found his bio snapshot from Carnegie Hall's website and saw that he's just 18, so a reality check there for me, i.e. you don't have to be a great composer at 18 (even if that is no bad thing).
In terms of orchestral playing, the Berlioz was the highlight, wonderfully refined sound to back Joyce DiDonato, who sang very well indeed. The 'happy clappers' were on display between each of the songs, to the dismay of this poster on Twitter. If the 'happy clappers' had really paid attention to what the texts were about, they wouldn't have applauded.
Interestingly, in her interval chat with Andrew McGregor, JDD raised general points that mirror EA's comments in his initial reaction to the 2nd half. To a question from AM JDD said that if she had the chance to share sage advice with the NYOUSA kids, she commented that "they're not going to get easy applause just because they made it to the end of the piece". I suspect that deep down, the kids knew that, as the chat between 3 of them and AM showed. They were nervous, but good nervous and genuinely excited to be there, in the RAH for the first time ever for all of them.
I can see where people had less-than-favorable impressions of this reading of the Richard Strauss. I did notice some relatively scrappy moments (but moments, not whole long passages), some phrases that could have used more room to breathe, and some of the orchestral blend was a shade brash. (Hey, we're Americans; we lack couth. Well, some, or at least one, more than others, but never mind.) But the oboe solo prior to the storm had just the right "calm before" mood and pacing, and of course the kids really went to town during the storm section, where they managed to deliver the bigger climax after the first storm climax spot on.
BTW, taking the baton after a fashion from David-G, curious that no one mentioned the encore, but perhaps you guys take it for granted when a visiting orchestra plays that particular encore. I happened to know a week in advance what it would be, from this review of their Carnegie performance of this concert (with a different mezzo):
But it would have been truly lacking in couth to spoil the surprise :) .
Also, in terms of "presenter Olympics", Andrew McGregor did his usual fine job, with the right balance of enthusiasm in wishing the kids well without gushing at the end. He also managed to recite all of the 22 section titles of the work at a clear clip, before the work began.Comment
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