Proms on Afternoon Concert 15 (21.08.20): BBC NOW - Colin Matthews, Prokofiev, DSCH

[bluestateprommer]

"Penny Gore presents great BBC Prom concerts from recent years by BBC orchestras and choirs. Today the BBC National Orchestra of Wales with music by Colin Matthews, Prokofiev and Shostakovich. Followed by the BBC Concert Orchestra with music by Prokofiev.

From a Prom in 2013, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, under conductor Thomas Søndergård, in the UK premiere of Colin Matthews' Turning Point; Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 2 with Daniel Hope as soloist; finishing with Shostakovich's Symphony No. 11 in G minor ('The Year 1905').

Followed by the BBC Concert Orchestra with conductor Barry Wordsworth in Prokofiev's symphonic fairy tale for children Peter and the Wolf, featuring David Attenborough as narrator, from a Prom in 2003.

2.00pm
Colin Matthews: Turning Point (UK premiere)
Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No 2 in G minor, Op 63
with Daniel Hope, violin
Shostakovich: Symphony No 11 in G minor, Op 103 ('The Year 1905')

BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Conductor: Thomas Søndergård

4.00pm
Prokofiev: Peter and the Wolf
with David Attenborough, narrator

BBC Concert Orchestra
Conductor: Barry Wordsworth"

BBC R3 programme page: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000lvr9

[Petrushka]

The Matthews, Prokofiev, Shostakovich Prom was terrific and is well worth hearing again especially for an outstanding DSCH 11. I'd originally gone down for the pre-Prom event with John le Carre and attended this concert as well. The percussion in the Shostakovich certainly didn't pull their punches and really went for it as I found out from my seat very near them in G Stalls!

This repeat deserved an evening slot amongst this season's offerings.

[bluestateprommer]

The Matthews, Prokofiev, Shostakovich Prom was terrific and is well worth hearing again especially for an outstanding DSCH 11. I'd originally gone down for the pre-Prom event with John le Carre and attended this concert as well. The percussion in the Shostakovich certainly didn't pull their punches and really went for it as I found out from my seat very near them in G Stalls!

This repeat deserved an evening slot amongst this season's offerings.

Heard this Afternoon Concert retrospective Prom yesterday (although I might have listened through earphones back in 2013; anyway...). For Petrushka, it didn't blow me away as with you, where you had the clear advantage of having been in the RAH first, and then hearing it later on iPlayer. However, totally agree that the BBC NOW was on strong form particularly in DSCH 11. (Thought I'd heard the tiniest of horn blips, but no matter.) From hearing DSCH 11 live elsewhere, it is certainly a work where the percussionists go for it, most obviously in the depiction of the Palace Square scene. Once, the conductor actually managed to hold off the audience applause as the final tocsin reverberated through the hall, which took something like 40 seconds. Not the case here with TS, but one can't have everything .

I can't remember the John Le Carre talk from iPlayer. Did he speak of the general Cold War scene? I assume that there was reference to Hungary and 1956.

For the rest of this Afternoon Concert relay, another selection from that 2003 "The Nation's Favourite Prom" was included, the four Britten folk-song settings with JMA as tenor soloist, now added for the record to the Forum Calendar entry for archival purposes. It was also droll to hear the Prommers' chant as David Attenborough took the stage just before he started Peter and the Wolf:

"Arena to David Attenborough: here you see the Promenader in his natural habitat."

It seems that SDA himself had a good laugh at that from the stage, judging from the immediate reaction. The narration cut the general opening of "Each character in this tale...", and also the swaggering bars after "Boys such as Peter are simply not afraid of wolves" also got snipped.