Prom 2: Bohemian Rhapsody - 20.07.19

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:30 Saturday 20 July 2019
Royal Albert Hall

Antonín Dvorák: Violin Concerto in A minor
Bedrich Smetana: Má vlast


Joshua Bell, violin
Bamberg Symphony Orchestra
Jakub Hrůša, conductor

Following his thrilling Proms debut in 2017, Czech conductor Jakub Hrůša returns with two popular masterpieces from his homeland.
With its song-like slow movement and irrepressible, folk-infused finale, Dvořák’s Violin Concerto is one of the best-loved in the repertoire. American virtuoso Joshua Bell joins the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra as soloist.
Journey through the Czech countryside in the second half with Smetana’s symphonic suite Má vlast (‘My Country’) – a colourful celebration of a nation’s landscape, castles and warriors, with the sweeping melody of ‘Vltava’ at its heart.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The whole of Má vlast.

[jayne lee wilson]

Love that title! Shameless after the movie....!

A great epic to hunker down for, with very promising Orchestra/Conductor....personally I'd prefer Ma Vlast on its own, two halves either side of an interval works so well, but.... I may skip the Dvorak, but with enough coffee etc... we'll see....

[kernelbogey]

The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra has gone in for this sort of catchpenny concert titling for some time. I find it irritating.

(Perhaps soloist and conductor will wear Freddy Mercury look-alike white costumes....?)

[pastoralguy]

Of all the top class violinists currently before the public, I find Joshua Bell the least convincing. I just find his playing terribly slick and a little uninvolving. He can make a lovely sound but I do find his histrionics pretentious. Just my EXTREMELY humble opinion but I wonder if others have alternative thoughts.

[edashtav]

The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra has gone in for this sort of catchpenny concert titling for some time. I find it irritating.

(Perhaps soloist and conductor will wear Freddy Mercury look-alike white costumes....?)

I hate it, particularly when it seems random, wrong or silly!

[edashtav]

Of all the top class violinists currently before the public, I find Joshua Bell the least convincing. I just find his playing terribly slick and a little uninvolving. He can make a lovely sound but I do find his histrionics pretentious. Just my EXTREMELY humble opinion but I wonder if others have alternative thoughts.

I have sympathy with your views on Joshua: he has not blossomed as he has matured. The standards of the younger generation are higher than his and his lustre has faded. A shame.

[Stanfordian]

Of all the top class violinists currently before the public, I find Joshua Bell the least convincing. I just find his playing terribly slick and a little uninvolving. He can make a lovely sound but I do find his histrionics pretentious. Just my EXTREMELY humble opinion but I wonder if others have alternative thoughts.

I agree. When I saw him perform as soloist a couple of seasons ago, I was disappointed to say the least.

[edashtav]

The Dvorak Concerto took a long time to ignite. In the first movement, I was intrigued by the Beethovenian gravitas displayed by the Bamberg SO under Jakub Hrůša but the response by Joshua Bell was wan and lacked definition. I was happier with the slow movement as Joshua projected its soulful song with tact and imagination. If Bamberg SO has a "Bohemian" character then this was to the fore in the peasant dances and rhythms of the finale. Literally so, as I was surprised that Joshua sounded "second" fiddle. That, of course, may have been due to the vagaries of the RAH's acoustics or interference from radio engineers. It was the orchestra that roused the audience at the climax, I felt.

Far from a bad performance but its parts were greater than the whole.

The microphony for Bell's announcement of his encore was a failure. It could , and should , have been predicted and proper provision provided. Te Cavatina encore was beautifully played and was pure joy.

[jayne lee wilson]

Well that was simply lovely!

Gorgeously slav-accented Bambergers tonight, remade by Hrusa in the sound-image, the rhythmic vitality, soaring melodic lines and coloristic characters of the Czech Phil....

As for Josh Bell....I loved how he drew a full-throated huskiness, ruggedness alongside the delicacy and dance and swooping gypsy slides from his Strad...a very idiomatic East European sound from the get-go, far from anything glossy or slick....
The performers have taken this work on tour and doesn't it just show in the expressive freedom of the soloist, within an effortless partnering coordination.

A marvellous performance, full of the lilt of love, which left me laughing and crying at its glorious conclusion....!
(AAC 320 webcast sound - A1...orchestra wonderfully full, warm & weighty, Bell placed very naturally before the band... and his own sound was very well focussed.)

[bluestateprommer]

Love that title! Shameless after the movie....!

A great epic to hunker down for, with very promising Orchestra/Conductor....personally I'd prefer Ma Vlast on its own, two halves either side of an interval works so well, but.... I may skip the Dvorak, but with enough coffee etc... we'll see....

Well, you may recall back in 2011 the previous complete Ma Vlast @ The Proms (the only other complete rendition), where the first half was the Dvorak Cello Concerto. For the next complete Ma Vlast, the first half needs to be Dvorak's Piano Concerto . That aside, good reading of the Dvorak Violin Concerto with J. Bell, the Bambergers, and Hrusa. Martin Handley just said that they performed the same concert in Amsterdam recently. Bell is set to perform the Dvorak at Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival soon, so perhaps this is all warm up for a recording from him. Orchestra sounds great, and Bell gave a pretty straight-up interpretation, AFAICT.

First retro-encore archived in the Forum Calendar, the Dvorak 'Cavatina'. Nice gesture of Bell to do an encore which includes the concertmaster and principal viola, for a chamber music encore. Simon Trpceski has also done this a lot of late, for his encores in orchestral concerts.

Will be interesting to hear Hrusa's Ma Vlast, in comparison to Jiri Belohlavek's reading from 8 years back, insofar as I have memories of hearing that Prom from the Arena. The musical son is compared here with the musical father, so to speak, as Belohlavek was a conducting mentor to Hrusa.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The Dvorak Concerto took a long time to ignite. In the first movement, I was intrigued by the Beethovenian gravitas displayed by the Bamberg SO under Jakub Hrůša but the response by Joshua Bell was wan and lacked definition. I was happier with the slow movement as Joshua projected its soulful song with tact and imagination. If Bamberg SO has a "Bohemian" character then this was to the fore in the peasant dances and rhythms of the finale. Literally so, as I was surprised that Joshua sounded "second" fiddle. That, of course, may have been due to the vagaries of the RAH's acoustics or interference from radio engineers. It was the orchestra that roused the audience at the climax, I felt.

Far from a bad performance but its parts were greater than the whole.

Yes, I'd go along with this - the Dvorak is one of my favourite Violin Concertos, but had this been my first hearing of it, I doubt if I'd want to go out of my way to hear it again. A bit "routine"; the sparkle and mischief of the Finale didn't really come across, and the First Movement was a bit lumbering. The Slow Movement was good.

[Ein Heldenleben]

A very good R3 interval talk tonight from some people who know what they are talking about.,,,,

[edashtav]

A very good R3 interval talk tonight from some people who know what they are talking about.,,,,

[jonfan]

A very good R3 interval talk tonight from some people who know what they are talking about.,,,,

and the Smetana is sounding fantastic. I thought the concerto was captivating from start to finish. A wonderful Bohemian evening. A prom to cherish already and only on day two.