Prom 51 (26.08.20) Vienna Philharmonic/Bernstein

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Bernstein appeared only twice at the Proms. In tonight’s selection from the Proms archive, we hear the first of those appearances, from 1987. Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, with its sublime slow movement, is the composer at his sunniest and most mellow, despite the fact that he was to die two months after its completion. Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, a work especially associated with Bernstein, is by contrast the urgent work of a composer starting a new adventure, charged with new musical possibilities and a new love, expressed with impossible tenderness in its famous Adagietto.


Mozart: Clarinet Concerto in A major, K622
Mahler: Symphony No 5 in C sharp minor

Peter Schmidl (clarinet)
Vienna Philharmonic
Leonard Bernstein (conductor)

(From the BBC Proms 1987, 10 September)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I missed this one first time around. (September 1987 was a bad time. )

So I'm ever so slightly indebted to COVID-19 that there's now a second chance to hear it.

[Petrushka]

So I'm ever so slightly indebted to COVID-19 that there's now a second chance to hear it.

If ever there was such a thing as 'Greatest Ever Prom' I think this legendary concert would be a major candidate to top the list. I was very fortunate to have a fantastic seat (in O stalls) that night and will never forget it. A real 'I was there' occasion if ever there was one and if another pandemic in 50 years time forces another archive series to be broadcast this one would would still be a prime contender.

[Cockney Sparrow]

The Mahler has been available on You Tube for some time, and its very engaging indeed. I contacted the poster there and he confirmed it was a high quality recirding (for then) which he had created at the time and had posted. The quality is very tolerable, but I would think Thursday's repeat, accessed via "Sounds" is likely to be better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBaNdjO4Ah0&list=PLga96pEu02EXuS-6fT-xjCNS0GFM3_a0e&index=2&t=0s

[makropulos]

If ever there was such a thing as 'Greatest Ever Prom' I think this legendary concert would be a major candidate to top the list. I was very fortunate to have a fantastic seat (in O stalls) that night and will never forget it. A real 'I was there' occasion if ever there was one and if another pandemic in 50 years time forces another archive series to be broadcast this one would would still be a prime contender.

I was there too and coincidentally we also had really nice stalls seats for it. Completely agree with you that it was one of those never-to-be-forgotten Proms, and I can't wait to hear it all again.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I was there too and coincidentally we also had really nice stalls seats for it. Completely agree with you that it was one of those never-to-be-forgotten Proms, and I can't wait to hear it all again.

I can't wait to hear it either - I was thinking after last week's Wand / Bruckner and Guilini / Brahms and then last night's staggering Kissin recital this must be the greatest Proms season ever...

[Jeremy Crouch]

I was at this concert which was quite extraordinary but does anyone else share my perhaps defective memory that it was originally billed that the first half would be Liszt's Piano Sonata?

[Petrushka]

I was at this concert which was quite extraordinary but does anyone else share my perhaps defective memory that it was originally billed that the first half would be Liszt's Piano Sonata?

I've just had a look at my copy of the original 1987 Proms guide and it does say the programme as broadcast, that is the Mozart Clarinet Concerto and Mahler 5. However, you may possibly be thinking of the following night which had Claudio Abbado and the VPO in the Beethoven Choral. The first half was originally billed as the two piano version of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring (!) but, wisely I think, this was changed to Mozart's Serenade K 375 with the Vienna Wind Soloists. I was present at that one too and it was terrific.

[Jeremy Crouch]

I've just had a look at my copy of the original 1987 Proms guide and it does say the programme as broadcast, that is the Mozart Clarinet Concerto and Mahler 5. However, you may possibly be thinking of the following night which had Claudio Abbado and the VPO in the Beethoven Choral. The first half was originally billed as the two piano version of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring (!) but, wisely I think, this was changed to Mozart's Serenade K 375 with the Vienna Wind Soloists. I was present at that one too and it was terrific.

Thanks and that must be what I was thinking of. Yes I was at the penultimate night too.

[Nick Armstrong]

I was at this concert which was quite extraordinary but does anyone else share my perhaps defective memory that it was originally billed that the first half would be Liszt's Piano Sonata?

Definitely no recollection of that... and my memory of one of the best Proms I ever attended is pretty clear.

Overwhelming stuff from the centre of the arena.

If ever there was such a thing as 'Greatest Ever Prom' I think this legendary concert would be a major candidate to top the list. A real 'I was there' occasion if ever there was one....

Couldn’t agree more

[Bryn]

Listening now, I still think Mahler knew better than Bernstein regarding the appropriate tempo for the Adagietto. It's an expression of love, not grief.

[Ein Heldenleben]

The VPO are incredible - that first trumpet - what a player. And the principal horn in the Scherzo- heart melting . And the pizzicato skeletal waltz in the scherzo - spine chilling . I could fill a page with Bernstein masterstrokes - The way the Adagietto faded in from silence, the way the violins hang on the note without dragging - how does he get that just by ‘baton waving’ ? .....astonishing but he’s really just following Mahler’s amazingly detailed score so superbly ....

[BillMatters]

Shame we did not hear more of the applause and soloists taking their bows.

[edashtav]

The VPO are incredible - that first trumpet - what a player. And the principal horn in the Scherzo- heart melting . And the pizzicato skeletal waltz in the scherzo - spine chilling . I could fill a page with Bernstein masterstrokes - The way the Adagietto faded in from silence, the way the violins hang on the note without dragging - how does he get that just by ‘baton waving’ ? .....astonishing but he’s really just following Mahler’s amazingly detailed score so superbly ....

I agree...

Mozart's Clarinet Concerto should have been in safe hands with Peter Schmidl, chief clarinet with the VPO, an orchestra in which his father and grandfather had also played clarinet. I found the opening movement adequate but uninvolving, the slow movement too slow, and leaden. The finale, still a tad slow, had some pleasant folksy turns and some careful but affectionate solo playing. An interpretation true to the Schmidl family's traditions but rather passé to 21st century ears. Bernstein gave the soloist good support and sometimes shaped phrases rather more elegantly than the soloist managed to do.

Bernstein in Mahler's 5th Symphony with the VPO is reputedly one of the Proms' greatest performances. The trumpet solo announced the funeral march with suitable gravitas. The strings responded with more emotion and telling detail from the inside parts. Later, the music dragged but for once, I felt Bernstein was right: I've seen the slow, painful, unequal steps of old folk attending funerals of their contemporaries, consumed by loss and full of trepidation that their time may be next. The breadth and depth of emotion that Bernstein conjured in the opening movement was astonishing and the extinction of its ending was chilling.

The second movement had everything from frenetic maelstroms to celli intoning a slow prayer to peace in a manner that taught so much to Shostakovich. The ebb and flow of tempi were organic and natural, such a contrast to some of Bernstein's performances where he over-egged such matters leading to separation and alienation of his audience.The brass chorale was glorious. The most convincing performance of this movement that I've heard.

The first two movements were played as a whole and it was sensible to have a moment for tuning before the lumbering, rustic Scherzo. I loved Bernstein's playfulness. I delighted in details heard for the first time. The mock Baroque dance for strings was too slow and exaggerated for my temperament, but the succeeding fugue was wonderful. Then, the horns swung in, pre-echoing similar DSCH moments in another's 10th symphony, and the response from the lovely VPO celli was sublime. The pizzicato section reminded me of Britten's debt to Gustav. I loved those moments where LB allowed his Viennese orchestra to discover the lilt of half submerged waltzes. Altogether, a winning performance, climaxing, if that's the right word, in a powerfully, tragic ending

With Bernstein's execrable performance of Nimrod with the BBC SO ringing in my ears, I approached the Adagietto with fear as I have a low tolerance for saccharine sentiment. The start was too slow but I've heard some veritable adagios in my time. The virtuoso legato playing sustained my interest and the tender violin lead was like silk.The structure and variety of the music were well drawn, so I was drawn into the subtle drama of the story.

The finale started with some woodwind and brass solos of supernal virtuosity and character. By gosh was the fugato full of excited chatter. Bernstein shaped the movement in a way that made it self sufficient: a symphony in itself.Orchestra and conductor threw everything they knew into its melting pot. Some stretches seemed to have guided Havergal Brian into his often- repeated method of leading everything from the bass instruments. So, incident packed was the canvas that I found time was dashing by. The increasing excitement and tension was sustained.

A great, live performance to put alongside other jewels in Bernstein's canon such as Roy Harris's 3rd Symphony and Copland's El Salon Mexico.

[Alison]

‘By gosh was the fugato full of excited chatter’

Excellent turn of phrase. Liked the Havergal Brian point too