Prom 22 (2.08.20) Belshazzar’s Feast

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

An all-English programme from the 2006 season conducted by the much-missed Richard Hickox.

Elgar: In the South (Alassio)
Bliss: A Colour Symphony
Walton: Belshazzar's Feast
(From the BBC Proms 2006, 23 July)

Bryn Terfel (bass-baritone)
BBC National Chorus of Wales
London Symphony Chorus
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
London Brass
Richard Hickox (conductor)

Ever the champion of British music, Richard Hickox conducts his final Prom at the helm of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, joined by Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel and massed choirs from London and Cardiff in the Old Testament fire-and-brimstone tale of Belshazzar's Feast. Walton’s mighty cantata was commissioned by the BBC in 1929, originally as a small-scale choral work. It soon outgrew its conception, morphing into a musical behemoth for orchestra, eight-part choir, organ and two brass bands.

Commissioned at the behest of Elgar – whose own In the South (Alassio) opens this concert – Bliss’s A Colour Symphony explores the heraldic associations of the colours purple, red, blue and green. Hickox and BBC NOW would go on to record the work in 2006, alongside Bliss’s Violin Concerto.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Bliss's Colour Symphony seemed to get more regular outings in my younger days. Well worth hearing imo.

[secondfiddle]

The birth of another Walton myth ? Before the Proms broadcast of Belshazzar’s Feast yesterday evening we were told by Kate Kennedy that William’s parents were so poor that they couldn’t afford the train fare when he was to be taken by his mother from Oldham to Oxford for a voice trial for a probationer chorister at Christ Church, and they had to borrow the money from their local greengrocer. The truth is slightly different. His parents were certainly not that poor. As Walton remembered: ‘My father had been to the pub the night before and had somehow lost the fare. We had to borrow the money from the local greengrocer.’ Perhaps someone in Oldham should research the house of this greengrocer and have a plaque installed. Without his kindness Walton’s life may have taken a very different course and we might have been without Belshazzar’s Feast and other such masterworks.

[bluestateprommer]

Bliss's Colour Symphony seemed to get more regular outings in my younger days. Well worth hearing imo.

Indeed, yes, well worth hearing in this archival Prom. I recall hearing the Chandos recording of A Colour Symphony conducted by Vernon Handley back in the day, over the old Philadelphia classical radio station, WFLN, now sadly gone 22+ years. Perhaps the applause after the 2nd movement was in recognition of use of the end of the 2nd movement as 'theme music' for Proms TV relays, which may be stating the obvious.

Overall, a good, solid, meat and potatoes (bangers and mash?) Prom from Richard Hickox and the BBC NOW. A few tiny fractional slips in the Walton, but in the grand scheme of things, no matter. Even with a fresh listen to the Elgar, not having heard a recording or BBC R3 relay in a long while, In the South itself still personally doesn't do it for me as a piece of music. Not a reflection on this particular performance, of course. No BBC NOW musicians, or Sir Bryn, featured to look back at this concert, but instead Kate Kennedy speaking about how much of an advocate RH was for British music.