Prom 54 (30.08.20) Sir Simon Rattle - live

[edashtav]

Well, Adès’s concise Dawn, with its insistent four-note descending motif over an extended pedal, sounded like a companion piece to Pärt’s Cantus In Memoriam Benjamin Britten. Definitely wasn’t expecting that. And no wonder Klein considered it an "instant classic".

Especially good to see Odaline de la Martinez, whom I would have preferred to see in Klein's role.

100% in agreement over the Pärt resemblance.

I thought the Elgar surpassed my favourite recording with Barbirolli conducted .

Uchida 'moonlighted' with great effect and I thoroughly enjoyed the Kurtag.

I should have liked to hear the Gabrieli in situ.

RVW started too quickly and with too little give and take ( I heard Barbirolli conduct the Hallé in the work twice live when I was young.) Unfortunately, dinner was ready after the first movement so I must catch up on SOUNDS.

[DracoM]

Ades seemed amazingly derivative to me - and I mean derivative / imitative of older and far less recent pieces, Part being just one example.
i.e. if you had not known it was a 'world premiere', would you not have ascribed it to Part etc?

[Pulcinella]

100% in agreement over the Pärt resemblance.

I thought the Elgar surpassed my favourite recording with Barbirolli conducted .

Uchida 'moonlighted' with great effect and I thoroughly enjoyed the Kurtag.

I should have liked to hear the Gabrieli in situ.

RVW started too quickly and with too little give and take ( I heard Barbirolli conduct the Hallé in the work twice live when I was young.) Unfortunately, dinner was ready after the first movement so I must catch up on SOUNDS.

Yes, the magic and mystery were missing, but I was able to forgive that in the circumstances.
Rather oddly, my Eulenberg edition of the score does not have an instrumentation list, nor does it give numbers against the parts on the first page, but I see elsewhere that the orchestra is:
2 flutes (second doubling piccolo)
Oboe
Cor anglais
2 clarinets
2 bassoons
2 horns
2 trumpets
3 trombones
Timpani
Strings

So, a good choice in terms of being able to get decent spacing between players as not that many wind and brass required. Indeed, I'm not sure that I saw a second clarinet, but the chap we did see playing seemed to be particularly pleased to be there, from the joyous expression on his face.

I wonder when Ades was told what the rest of the programme would be: he was able to use the cimbalon that Kurtag had (which might limit future performances, though).
And I spotted a harmonica in the Kurtag too; we'd had one in Friday night's commission as well.

[Constantbee]

I should have liked to hear the Gabrieli in situ.

I agree. When I saw Gabrieli on the programme I wondered why it was there. Didn't realise until I saw the televised version that the empty hall gave the perfect opportunity to demonstrate the Venetian polychoral style. It worked wonderfully well, even on the telly. Must watch again

[jonfan]

Ades seemed amazingly derivative to me - and I mean derivative / imitative of older and far less recent pieces, Part being just one example.
i.e. if you had not known it was a 'world premiere', would you not have ascribed it to Part etc?

Having heard the composer talking to Ian Skelly just before the piece, the meaning of it falls into place. It is a passacaglia in the style of Purcell and Ades just went with a freedom with each repetition of the ground bass, as a continuo player would have in the baroque period. A very simple piece without a wasted note; I liked the thought of a continuous dawn happening somewhere on earth all the time.

[Pulcinella]

Having heard the composer talking to Ian Skelly just before the piece, the meaning of it falls into place. It is a passacaglia in the style of Purcell and Ades just went with a freedom with each repetition of the ground bass, as a continuo player would have in the baroque period. A very simple piece without a wasted note; I liked the thought of a continuous dawn happening somewhere on earth all the time.

A verse of a well-known hymn often sung at evensong came to my mind, as I'm sure it did to yours!

[oddoneout]

Ades seemed amazingly derivative to me - and I mean derivative / imitative of older and far less recent pieces, Part being just one example.
i.e. if you had not known it was a 'world premiere', would you not have ascribed it to Part etc?

Perhaps that's why I rather liked it! One thing that I didn't like was the repeated and rather prominent woodwind( flute in upper register?) notes at the end - they sounded unpleasantly rough and not quite in tune. That may be due in part at least to my hearing being particularly troublesome at present, but even allowing for that it seemed to me rather intrusive in an otherwise gentle piece.

[Pulcinella]

Perhaps that's why I rather liked it! One thing that I didn't like was the repeated and rather prominent woodwind( flute in upper register?) notes at the end - they sounded unpleasantly rough and not quite in tune. That may be due in part at least to my hearing being particularly troublesome at present, but even allowing for that it seemed to me rather intrusive in an otherwise gentle piece.

Wasn't that just the full glory of the blaze of sunlight after dawn? I think he described it as such in his introduction.

[jonfan]

A verse of a well-known hymn often sung at evensong came to my mind, as I'm sure it did to yours!

Yes; singing it now, socially distanced of course!

[oddoneout]

Wasn't that just the full glory of the blaze of sunlight after dawn? I think he described it as such in his introduction.

That makes sense and would explain the volume, but it was the sound I found difficult - as I say though that could be down to problems at the receiving end!

[edashtav]

Ades seemed amazingly derivative to me - and I mean derivative / imitative of older and far less recent pieces, Part being just one example.
i.e. if you had not known it was a 'world premiere', would you not have ascribed it to Part etc?

You're right, DracoM: it was Ades-lite and, I for one, found his final blaze of sun less convincing than Ravel's in Daphnis.

[Stanfordian]

Just the RVW 5 for me on I player just now.
Absolutely wonderful performance,so many great moments,how exquisite were those closing bars for example ?
The fact that there was no audience seemed to give the music unbearable poignancy for me,strange.
Ralph Vaughan Williams is most definitely THE composer for troubled times

I agree Edgy 2. I rarely listen to Classical music on TV or the radio, and the Proms never. Nevertheless, I just happened on the programme. The VW made me sit up and I ran it back to the start. It was for me a compelling performance by Rattle.

[LMcD]

Wasn't that just the full glory of the blaze of sunlight after dawn? I think he described it as such in his introduction.

On balance, I'm rather glad that I'm nowhere near clever enough to have noticed the deficiencies in composition/performance that have been mentioned by others. I just wallowed in the beauty of the sound worlds which the various composers created. In the Vaughan Williams, I did manage to notice and appreciate the telling contrasts between the passages for massed strings/brass or full orchestra and the passages for soloists. I think I may have even spotted a phrase or two that also occurs in the 6th symphony, and I DEFINITELY recognized the return of the horn phrase from the very opening in the last movement. So maybe there's hope for me yet, simple soul as I may be in these matters (Lower 2nd in modern languages - redbrick )

I found Rattle's justification for the inclusion of the work utterly convincing and immensely moving. I personally didn't require further comment, but, as it was deemed necessary, my ideal choice would have been that stoutest of champions of English music, well and lesser know, Simon Heffer.

[Bryn]

On balance, I'm rather glad that I'm nowhere near clever enough to have noticed the deficiencies in composition/performance that have been mentioned by others. I just wallowed in the beauty of the sound worlds which the various composers created. In the Vaughan Williams, I did manage to notice and appreciate the telling contrasts between the passages for massed strings/brass or full orchestra and the passages for soloists. I think I may have even spotted a phrase or two that also occurs in the 6th symphony, and I DEFINITELY recognized the return of the horn phrase from the very opening in the last movement. So maybe there's hope for me yet, simple soul as I may be in these matters (Lower 2nd in modern languages - redbrick )

I found Rattle's justification for the inclusion of the work utterly convincing and immensely moving. I personally didn't require further comment, but, as it was deemed necessary, my ideal choice would have been that stoutest of champions of English music, well and lesser know, Simon Heffer.

Sorry to report, Dawn lived down to my expectations of Adès. For me, as a composer, Adès is a fine piano accompanist.

[Alison]

Loved this concert, what an atmosphere in the hall. SSR at his very best in coming up with that programme.
Classy playing throughout and fussy micromanaging noticeable by its absence. A rare eloquence in the Symphony.

Looking forward to rehearing the Adès.

Odaline a surprise and most welcome guest to seal the deal.