Prom 17: Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (2) - 31.07.19

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:30 Wednesday 31 July 2019
Royal Albert Hall

Jean Sibelius: Symphony No 1 in E minor
Sergei Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor
Richard Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier – suite

Lisa Batiashvili violin
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Yannick Nézet-Séguin - conductor

The second concert from Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra pays tribute to the 150th anniversary of the birth of Proms founder-conductor Henry Wood.

A passionate champion of new music, Wood gave the UK premieres of many major works featured this season, including both Sibelius’s turbulent Symphony No. 1 and Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto – played here by Georgian soloist Lisa Batiashvili – whose initial simplicity and directness give way to spiky virtuosity in the finale.

The concert closes in Vienna, with the waltz-filled and lushly orchestrated suite from Richard Strauss’s popular opera Der Rosenkavalier.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The programme remains the same as originally announced, though with a different conductor.

[Edgy 2]

Just received this

Customer Information - Prom 17: Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Visitor Information

29 July 2019

Dear Customer

Please see below a letter from the BBC Proms:

Change of artist - Prom 17, Wednesday 31 July

Thank you for booking tickets for Prom 17 at the Royal Albert Hall.

We are writing to inform you that Lisa Batiashvili has had to withdraw from this concert due to health reasons. We are delighted that Gil Shaham will perform Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor. The full programme is below:

Sibelius Symphony No.1 in E minor
Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor
R. Strauss Der Rosenkavalier - suite

Gil Shaham violin
Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra

We’re very sorry for any disappointment this may cause, and we hope you enjoy the Prom.

[Bryn]

Just received this

Customer Information - Prom 17: Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Visitor Information

29 July 2019

Dear Customer

Please see below a letter from the BBC Proms:

Change of artist - Prom 17, Wednesday 31 July

Thank you for booking tickets for Prom 17 at the Royal Albert Hall.

We are writing to inform you that Lisa Batiashvili has had to withdraw from this concert due to health reasons. We are delighted that Gil Shaham will perform Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor. The full programme is below:

Sibelius Symphony No.1 in E minor
Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor
R. Strauss Der Rosenkavalier - suite

Gil Shaham violin
Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra

We’re very sorry for any disappointment this may cause, and we hope you enjoy the Prom.

Oh dear! When do we get the replacement orchestra to complete the picture?

[jayne lee wilson]

This Sibelius should be interesting .... I never heard YNS' recent release with the Métropolitain yet though...

[DracoM]

Thunderous and VERY Bavarian on Sibelius! Good tempi, no hanging about, plenty of mystery too.
BUT
sound perspective VERY odd: we went from good, balanced Mixtape to a very distant take on tonight's Proms. Orch seemed miles away.

[Ein Heldenleben]

My word that string section ....what wonderful freedom of line. That was absolutely tremendous....a beautifully balanced relay. I wish they were doing another Sibelius symphony in part 2 .I love DR but the suite leaves me cold.

[kernelbogey]

Well I haven't heard it played like that before - such violence, such passion!

[jayne lee wilson]

Hmm....
I had a few problems with the Sibelius 1...

A cautiously played opening section, the 1st climax sounded laboured, the orchestra uneasy, as if unsure of the direction. Ragged brass.
The timps were thunderously dominant - even a bit OTT I thought (the room shook....wonder what it was like in the hall) which for me only underlined the uncertainty of the ensemble. Perhaps they haven't played it with this conductor very often.

A very Romantic approach from YNS, much rubato and phrasing very nurtured, almost manicured. I felt this baffled momentum, lost the flow and surge, and the many wind details lacked inner tension. (The coda went better with some lovely quiet solo details, then a more cohesive conclusion).
Yes, personally I prefer this movement, and this symphony, swifter, sharper and more direct, but even so I felt this wasn't well done of its type.

Things were tighter in (ii), the band seeming more in tune & in touch with their conductor, but I still wanted more urgency - this was again very episodic, played rather as if it were a tone poem - so at least there was more life and colour here.
The finale was the highlight of this reading (one I felt wasn't settled or clearly defined) with maximum contrast between a very quick, urgent approach to the allegro and the soaring intensity of the big tune. As if YNS was inspired by the very title "quasi uni fantasia" to give us his and the orchestra's best.

Just a shame that degree of conviction wasn't there earlier, in the 1st movement especially.

[jayne lee wilson]

See what I mean? Everyone sounds far happier now...YNS has that wonderful Prokofiev record with Batiashvili....and here is Shaham, so full of music and joy!
Orchestra responding in kind....

A lovely, truly soloist-inspired Prokofiev 2nd Violin Concerto.

[edashtav]

See what I mean? Everyone sounds far happier now...YNS has that wonderful Prokofiev record with Batiashvili....and here is Shaham, so full of music and joy!
Orchestra responding in kind....

A lovely, truly soloist-inspired Prokofiev 2nd Violin Concerto.

I'm entirely in agreement, Jayne, but I must write about the Sibelius because I warmed to the interpretation more than you did.

[By the way I enjoyed Shaham's Bach Partita movement encore: played with panache, security, full tone and an indifference to HIPP.]

[jayne lee wilson]

Oh my word....how glorious was that?!

You had the feeling this wonderful orchestra would turn on the style, rise to the finale-occasion... what wonderful showstopping, life-affirming Strauss!
I'm not the greatest of RS fans nowadays, but this Rosenkavalier-Suite was gorgeous....all that cream!

How sweetly, beguilingly seductive was the tempo di valse....the sostenuto so con amore I thought it would love me to death....
Joyfully uproarious conclusion (and who cares who wrote it, on such a night as this)?....

Now they are singing us out into the evening with the Valse Triste...

Fare thee well, BRSO & YNS.... mixed bag, yeah, but we had a lot of fun...(and more)...

[Ein Heldenleben]

Well I got more Sibelius ! If any one else has been following YNS’ s triumphant progress at the Met - either through the cinema or R3 relays - his wonderful command of rubato and colla voce ( even without the voice ) will come as no surprise.

[gradus]

I enjoyed the Sibelius with it's Wagnerian-sounding textures in the first movt, perhaps Sibelius intended this. Unfortunately I missed the Prokoviev but what a triumphant conclusion in the Strauss. That's how you do it!

[LeMartinPecheur]

I've never heard the end of Valse triste sound anywhere so dangerous and threatening! Brilliant