Prom 13: ‘From the Canyons to the Stars …’ - 28.07.19

[Richard Barrett]

I was listening to the Cambreling recording today and it occurred to me to compare timings of the various recorded versions with the performance under discussion. Looking at the "slow movement" ("Les ressuscités...") I found the following:

Constant 9'23"
Chung 8'23"
de Leeuw 10'01"
Cambreling 10'31"

... and Oramo 6'40"! Quite a difference.

[Bryn]

I was listening to the Cambreling recording today and it occurred to me to compare timings of the various recorded versions with the performance under discussion. Looking at the "slow movement" ("Les ressuscités...") I found the following:

Constant 9'23"
Chung 8'23"
de Leeuw 10'01"
Cambreling 10'31"

... and Oramo 6'40"! Quite a difference.

I will aim to provide further timings, later.

[edashtav]

I will aim to provide further timings, later.

Phew, that's very revealing, Bryn!

[Bryn]

A further trio:

Gilbert 8'43"
Benjamin/LS (1999 Messiaen Weekend) 10'04"
Benjamin/EM (2004 Proms) c. 8'00"
Eschenbach 11'57"
Salonen 8'05"

[Bryn]

That 2004 televised Prom performance (Ensemble Modern/George Benjamin) was very sparsely attended.

[Bryn]

I was listening to the Cambreling recording today and it occurred to me to compare timings of the various recorded versions with the performance under discussion. Looking at the "slow movement" ("Les ressuscités...") I found the following:

Constant 9'23"
Chung 8'23"
de Leeuw 10'01"
Cambreling 10'31"

... and Oramo 6'40"! Quite a difference.

Re. the Cambreling, do you think the resonance in Appel Interstellaire is actually that of the Baden-Baden Hans-Rosbaud-Studio, or was it artificially added? Whichever, I rather like it.

[Richard Barrett]

Re. the Cambreling, do you think the resonance in Appel Interstellaire is actually that of the Baden-Baden Hans-Rosbaud-Studio, or was it artificially added? Whichever, I rather like it.

The studio is large (it's a concert hall really) but possibly not that large... although it could just be a question of how the balancing between close and distant microphones was done (and the fact that the orchestra probably wasn't in the studio at the time!). I note that the Aufnahmeleiterin was the recently retired Dorothee Schabert, with whom I've worked - I guess I could ask her!

[bluestateprommer]

Certainly the Horn solo movement needed more time - given that Messiaen once told a horn player (who had sent him a recording of his playing it in the Grand Canyon) that whilst the playing was fine, the tempo was rushed, and the spaces needed to be left empty for longer "It's an Interstellar Call - give them time to reply!"

A performance that I felt drew me closer to the work, whilst still having so much material that I got impatient with - every time something grabbed my attention (and there are many such times in this work, and in this performance) those wretched birds came piddleyTom piddleyTom piddleyTom, chinchinchinchinchinchinchin - and then the soft-focus Gershwin chords, molto vibrato ...

Broadcast sound was very fine indeed - those piano resonances! And special praise to Nic Hodges, as ever.

For those who haven't found the on-line reference of which fhg was speaking, regarding Messiaen's and/or Loriod's wish for the horn player to slow it down a bit:

https://www.therestisnoise.com/2016/02/canyons-in-the-canyon.html

I've heard the work once a while back, and honestly wasn't that enamored of it. I rather liked Oramo's approach much better, so I'm in the Master Jacques camp on this particular rendition. Probably Messiaen and Loriod would have had similar "you play well, but too quickly" objections to Martin Owen, but I was perfectly fine with MO's approach.

[Master Jacques]

I've heard the work once a while back, and honestly wasn't that enamored of it. I rather liked Oramo's approach much better, so I'm in the Master Jacques camp on this particular rendition. Probably Messiaen and Loriod would have had similar "you play well, but too quickly" objections to Martin Owen, but I was perfectly fine with MO's approach. .

Indeed yes. Martin Owen's solo was certainly a great highlight in the hall, and his urgency brought out aspects of a movement which (in my experiences from CD) usually has more of a philosophical, contemplative aura and less drama. I found his approach all the more moving, for its clear sense of forward-moving structure: and (as I've said before, more or less) there was no sense anywhere of Oramo "short-changing" Messiaen in any way.

Perhaps it was a performance for our compacted, 21st century world rather than the more expansive, leisurely time and place which commissioned it.