Prom 25: Tchaikovsky, Sibelius & Weinberg - 6.08.19

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:30 Tuesday 6 August 2019
Royal Albert Hall

Jean Sibelius: Karelia Suite
Mieczyslaw Weinberg: Cello Concerto - London première
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Symphony No 6 in B minor, ‘Pathétique’

Sol Gabetta cello
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Dalia Stasevska conductor

Dalia Stasevska makes her Proms debut as the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s newly appointed Principal Guest Conductor.
Cellist Sol Gabetta joins them to celebrate the centenary of one of the 20th century’s great unsung heroes, Mieczysław Weinberg, whose Cello Concerto – premiered by Rostropovich in 1957, a decade after it was written – deserves a place alongside those of his great friend and colleague Shostakovich.
The programme also includes Tchaikovsky’s much-loved ‘Pathétique’ Symphony, with its thrilling Scherzo, and Sibelius’s suite Karelia a stirring celebration of Finland’s proud history.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=mieczyslaw+weinberg%3a+cello+concerto&view=detail&mid=E4A5C0405581E845B597E4A5C0405581E845B597&FORM=VIRE

[Edgy 2]

The Weinberg Cello Concerto is a masterpiece IMVHO

[edashtav]

The Weinberg Cello Concerto is a masterpiece IMVHO

My problem with Weinberg is one of volume: have I time and energy to sift the meretricious from the masterful?
That said, I've heard enough to promote his Cello Concerto to the premiere league.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Dalia Stasevska is the real deal, too. Another of my "unmissable" Proms.

[Stanfordian]

The Weinberg Cello Concerto is a masterpiece IMVHO

I agree! Rather like the Fantasia for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 52 too.

[Edgy 2]

My problem with Weinberg is one of volume: have I time and energy to sift the meretricious from the masterful?
That said, I've heard enough to promote his Cello Concerto to the premiere league.

I agree! Rather like the Fantasia for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 52 too.

There’s plenty of masterful I think ed

[Maclintick]

Dalia Stasevska is the real deal, too. Another of my "unmissable" Proms.

I'll be there. Not yet heard her live, so really looking forward to it.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I'll be there.

Lucky you!

Not yet heard her live, so really looking forward to it.

I mentioned on the "Last Concert" Thread that I'd been to a Orchestra of Opera North concert that she conducted in Huddersfield earlier this year (Lutoslawski Musique Funebre, Strauss 4 Last Songs, Bruckner #7) and I was so impressed that I immediately bought a ticket for the repeat in Leeds - I've never done that before in my life. (And the repeat confirmed the high opinion I'd formed of her Music-making.)

[Maclintick]

I mentioned on the "Last Concert" Thread that I'd been to a Orchestra of Opera North concert that she conducted in Huddersfield earlier this year (Lutoslawski Musique Funebre, Strauss 4 Last Songs, Bruckner #7) and I was so impressed that I immediately bought a ticket for the repeat in Leeds - I've never done that before in my life. (And the repeat confirmed the high opinion I'd formed of her Music-making.)

Very interesting to receive your high opinion of her, FHG. I'd only heard DS in action in live radio broadcasts -- a stonking Bartók Concerto for Orchestra with BBC Symphony & a Harold en Italie in which she, Lise Berthaud and the Ulster Orchestra managed to convert me to a piece I'd hitherto found...well, dull..

[bluestateprommer]

Very hearty and enjoyable reading just now from DS and the BBC SO of Sibelius' Karelia Suite. (Did catch one minor brass blip, but very minor.) Rather amusing to hear her comments to Petroc comparing Sibelius to Paul McCartney, in tunesmith capabillities :) .

[jayne lee wilson]

Hmm....I missed the schwung in that Karelia a bit....the horseback jog-trot in the Intermezzo especially...
I ain't gettin' the rhythm here...

***
First ever encounter with the Weinberg which seemed beautifully played soloistically and with an impressively Russian amplitude from Stasevska's BBCSO....

Didn't get far with the Cello Concerto tonight, doubtless rewards repeated etc.... so for now whereof I do not know, thereof I silent...

[edashtav]

Karelia Suite
Intermezzo
A no-nonsense performance. The pulse was established quickly and the marching bands went through their paces efficiently.
Ballade
This movement has more depth and was balanced nicely by Dalia Stasevska and the BBC SO.
Alla Marcia
Oh dear, I can remember when a 78r.p.m. record of this march was my favourite recording I played it on my wind-up gramophone so frequently that the final minutes became painfully distorted. The BBC SO under Dalia Stasevska played it with good cheer but without any revelations.

Weinberg - Cello Concerto (1948-56)
This is the fourth Weinberg concerto that I've encountered My favourite, so far, has been the buoyant, early Violin Concerto.The cello concerto starts with a quiet movement that is lyrical and sad in tone. The scherzo which follows is more rhythmic in nature and affords plenty of virtuosic moments that Sol Gabetta played with assurance and keen insight. The cadenza was very striking. The finale is full of high spirits and has that popular feel
that was so necessary to evoke in 1948. That rhetorical emptiness is redeemed by an unanticipated return to the sad wistfulness of the first movement.

The work is insufficiently individual to be called a masterpiece but it is worthwhile and, maybe, in the top 20 of 20th century cello concerti. Tonight's performance was confident and moving. A good start to the handful of Weinberg works being played during the 2019 Proms to celebrate the composer's centenary. The BBC is to be applauded for scheduling this 'festival within a festival'.

The short encore the Song of the Birds arranged by Pablo Casals for 4 celli was marvellously played.

[bluestateprommer]

The short encore the Song of the Birds arranged by Pablo Casals for 4 celli was marvellously played.

Indeed, and a nice gesture of SG to include 3 cellists from the BBC SO. I wonder if this seems to be an increasing trend with encores in symphony concerts, as Simon Trpceski has also done this quite often of late with post-concerto encores in symphony concerts. Unfortunately, work interrupted the Weinberg for me (don't tell my boss ), so I have to revisit the Cello Concerto later.

One other point to note is something where other presenters can learn from Petroc, namely that Petroc never editorializes about the performance. Points to him for that.

Enjoyable interval discussion about Tchaikovsky's letters now.

[Wychwood]

One other point to note is something where other presenters can learn from Petroc, namely that Petroc never editorializes about the performance. Points to him for that.

Yes, and forgive me for straying beyond this thread, but it's maybe worth saying (IMV) that the same goes for Donald Macleod currently in Edinburgh.