Prom 1: First Night of the Proms - 19.07.19

[Goon525]

Can see why that may struggle for further performances.

[jayne lee wilson]

Impressive, densely-textured first work, aptly space-filling too....

[edashtav]

Zosha Di Castri's Long is the Journey - Short is the Memory - a memorial piece for the first successful Moon Landing, was scored for soli, small (professional) chorus and orchestra augmented by exotic percussion. The work had a strong propulsion with brass and rhythm sections to the fore. It was attractive in a 'crossover' style ( but style might be better expressed as eclectic). I need to hear it again, but whilst I do not want dismiss it out of hand, neither do I rush to embrace it as 'significant'.The world premiere performance under Canellakis was confident.

[bluestateprommer]

Within the limitation of listening through headphones, the ZdC definitely has a movie-music kind of feel. Mixed bag from the one hearing, but will give it another go later on proper speakers off the home laptop.

Agreed. She has a tremendous rapport with the BBCSO too, witness last seasons' Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances. And it's significant that she's been handed the First Night.

Indeed, for several reasons, not least because KC is the first maestra ever to helm the First Night. Plus, and more to Petrushka's point, given that, according to either Niels Bohr or Yogi Berra, "prediction is difficult, especially about the future", my guess is that, barring the end of civilization before then, with KC on the podium now, you're looking at the next chief conductor of the BBC SO.

[Ein Heldenleben]

KC getting some nice playing out of the BBC strings - maybe it was all that warming up with the B and Q sandpaper ?

[Alain Maréchal]

Zosha Di Castri's Long is the Journey - Short is the Memory - a memorial piece for the first successful Moon Landing, wasbscored for soli, small (professional) chorus and orchestra augmented by exotic percussion. The work had a strong propulsion with brass and rhythm sections to the fore. It was attractive in a 'crossover' style ( but style might be better expressed as eclectic). I need to hear it again, but whilst I do not want dismiss it out of hand, neither do I rush to embrace it as 'significant'.The world premiere performance under Canellakis was confident.

I did not expect a chorus, and I have been unable to find out what they were singing. Does anybody have better research skills?

[Ein Heldenleben]

No but I had the subtitles up and I think to be honest the words (by Xiaolu Guo) let the side down really....

[Alain Maréchal]

No but I had the subtitles up and I think to be honest the words (by Xiaolu Guo) let the side down really....

No subtitles on my radio, unfortunately.

[edashtav]

Dvorak's Golden Spinning Wheel has become Karina's visiting card. The work is prolix- Dvorak's son-in- law, Josef Suk, chopped 10 minutes from it but that was a doomed idea since the work is an early example of setting the rhythm, line by line, of the poem that the composer used as his inspiration. Poems and music do not often use the same structural elements. As a gloss on a gory story, this piece is colourful, naïve, and full of incident.

Karina Canellakis drew wonderful lines from her orchestra … gosh she's so flexible and musical … and I soon forgot how the work rambles. I know the work tolerably well. Have I heard a better, more cogent performance? No, I haven't! Dvorak, like Schubert, can beguile and blunt one's critical faculties. You spun me yard after yard of yarn, Karin and I swallowed the lot: hook, line and sinker. The Proms are a Festival and rescuing almost lost causes is their speciality. (Should I reveal that I consumed half a bottle of a rich Chilean Red before settling down to hear the first half of this Prom?)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Well, judging by recent years' record, the usual forgettable First Night of the Proms fanfarey-type thing that shows a "commitment" to commissioning "new" Music, whilst providing nothing too long or "inaccessible" to scare off the punters.

But that is a definition of "prejudice"

Hmm - not so much "prejudice" as "premonition". Sort of "We can't afford to commission Saariaho or Adams, so could you give us something that sounds a bit like either/both of them?" And a few "modernistic" techniques chucked into the mixture with all the aplomb and self-assurance of Del-boy sticking French phrases into his conversation.

The Dvorak waffles along from one stock Bohemian idea to another pleasantly enough, but I'm impatient for the Janacek.

Creme de menthe, Rodney; creme de menthe ...

[bluestateprommer]

KC getting some nice playing out of the BBC strings - maybe it was all that warming up with the B and Q sandpaper ?

I think that it's more than that, namely the cumulative legacy of Jiri Belohlavek (a former cellist) and Sakari Oramo (a violinist), along with KC's own background as a violinist. Nice Dvorak just now, maybe a few fractional blips, but I'll give it one more listen again at home later.

It just occurred to me that the first two nights this season have a very strong Czech thread, very Jiri B.. He would have been pleased.

As luck would have it, I have a book by Xiaolu Guo on the shelf, waiting to be read. One of these days...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

... my guess is that, barring the end of civilization before then, with KC on the podium now, you're looking at the next chief conductor of the BBC SO.

That would be welcome - and would lead to the remarkable example of the BBCSO having women as Chief Conductor and Principal Guest Conductor (the equally marvellous Dalia Stasevska).

I just hope that this won't reduce Ms Canellakis' appearances with the Hallé or Ms Stasevska's with the Orchestra of Opera North up here!

[Ein Heldenleben]

I was joking ! you may not be aware that a few of the violin desks were co-opted as sandpaper wielding chippies in the first piece. Obviously the quality string playing is a product of many strictly musical factors ....

[jayne lee wilson]

Lovely Dvorak, yes, full of warmth, colour, rhythmic and dynamic subtlety and variety (genuine, very soft pps...) but above all conveying a vivid sense of story-telling wonderfully well. But I could have used more power and punch.

Via the usual 320 aac stream on BBC Sounds, balance a little dry, 2-D and constricted tonight...perhaps partly due to the absorptive packed house effect.
It's OK, but I have heard better from the RAH.

(I can't compete with Ed's pre-concert preparations.... I'm tentatively sipping a brandy and apple....)

[Ein Heldenleben]

It’s also sounding quite dry on FM ( weirdly I am also watching on telly with the sound turned down and a three second delay) and the strings very forward in the balance in the Dvorak...