Prom 60 (3.09.20) Nicola Benedetti with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The cavernous Royal Albert Hall auditorium is an ideal space to explore the clean harmonies and decorative melodies of the Baroque concerto. Period-instrument ensemble the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment is joined by leading violinist Nicola Benedetti to perform double violin concertos by Vivaldi and Bach. In addition to one of only three concertos Vivaldi wrote for two oboes, we hear concerti grossi by Handel and Newcastle-born Charles Avison.


Antonio Vivaldi: Concerto in D major for two violins, RV 513
George Frideric Handel: Concerto grosso in B flat major, Op 3 No 2
Antonio Vivaldi: Concerto in D minor for two violins, RV 514
George Frideric Handel: Radamisto – Passacaglia
Antonio Vivaldi: Concerto in A minor for two oboes, RV 536
Charles Avison: Concerto grosso No 5 in D minor (after Scarlatti)
Johann Sebastian Bach: Concerto in D minor for two violins, BWV 1043

Nicola Benedetti (violin)
Kati Debretzeni (violin in Vivaldi, RV 514)
Rudolfo Richter (violin in Vivaldi, RV 513)
Matthew Truscott (violin in Bach)
Katharina Spreckelsen (oboe)
Sarah Humphrys (oboe)
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Jonathan Cohen (director/harpsichord)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I put the BBC blurb in italics just to distance myself from it.

[oddoneout]

My kind of concert but it will be interesting to hear this as three of the soloists are standing in at short notice for Ms Ibragimova. I imagine that perhaps thee will be more differences in approach than would be the case with having the same pairing for all?

[Tony Halstead]

I put the BBC blurb in italics just to distance myself from it.

Yes indeed do (distance yourself from the BBC blurb)!
I well remember The Hanover Band's 'all Bach' RAH Prom in the 1990s.
A well known critic opined that 'the sound of a pin dropping would have been louder than (my) harpsichord'.
That 'quiet' harpsichord was actually Trevor Pinnock's; he very kindly let me have it on loan: one of the most richly sonorous and LOUD harpsichords that I've ever been privileged to play.

Quite sobering, too, was the massed prommers' 'chant' in the interval:
" This concert can be HEARD on Radio 3 ".

[Pulcinella]

So can we WATCH (as well as hear!) live on iPlayer, or do we have to wait a day again to track it down?

PS! Just spotted that it's on BBC4 at 8 pm.
We'll be watching here at Casa Pulcinella.

[gurnemanz]

So can we WATCH (as well as hear!) live on iPlayer, or do we have to wait a day again to track it down?

PS! Just spotted that it's on BBC4 at 8 pm.
We'll be watching here at Casa Pulcinella.

I tuned in to iPlayer stream last night about 10 minutes after the Prom had started and had the option of watching live or playing from the start. I think the problem comes if you try to watch it after the live stream has finished. As stated above, you then have to wait till the next day. Not sure why that needs to be the case.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Just caught some of the Bach double conc as I drove home from a concert (yes, a live concert - 10 performers and audience limited to 30 ). Was very pleased to hear the name of Matthew Truscott, once 2nd violin of the Dante Quartet as Benedetti's co-soloist. Nice coincidence as the concert was at the Cornish home of Krysia Osostowicz, the quartet's founder-leader, though on this occasion she wasn't playing.

[jonfan]

Incredible playing from the 3 musicians who took over from Alina at very short notice. There must have been very little time to get into playing together in such complex pieces. Maybe a little lack of soloist magic that NB had in spades and AI would have matched and sparked something extra special on the night? Not ideal microphone balances in the double violin concertos to my ears with the soloists swamped a little.
On TV Danielle de Niese way over the top and the wrong person for the concert IMO. Normally I think she's fun when doing intros to proms but very annoying tonight.

[edashtav]

I agree with jonfan: "Maybe a little lack of soloist magic that NB had in spades and AI would have matched and sparked something extra special on the night? Not ideal microphone balances in the double violin concertos to my ears with the soloists swamped a little. "

As for the cavernous RAH being the ideal space for baroque music (BBC Blurb) I, like many others, am speechless.

[LMcD]

I agree with jonfan: "Maybe a little lack of soloist magic that NB had in spades and AI would have matched and sparked something extra special on the night? Not ideal microphone balances in the double violin concertos to my ears with the soloists swamped a little. "

As for the cavernous RAH being the ideal space for baroque music (BBC Blurb) I, like many others, am speechless.

A humble viewer and music lover writes:

I now realize that I clearly wasn't paying sufficient attention to, or was blissfully unaware of, what were clearly serious deficiencies, and am beginning to wish I hadn't watched it. Honestly, is that the best they can come up with? We could have had 100 minutes from the TOTP archive instead of being subjected to a clearly less than perfect live concert. I've arranged an emergency summit with the lady wife for 10.00 in order that we can discuss how we mistakenly came to enjoy it so much. In particular, we shall have to reassess our admiration of the replacement soloists and the resulting lamentable 'little lack of soloist magic'.


And another thing - surely the musical director could have found the time to shave beforehand (!?*)

IF A THING'S WORTH DOING, IT'S WORTH DOING WELL - LET'S HOPE SOCKS ARE PULLED UP IN TIME FOR THE LAST NIGHT!!! I'V JUST PAID OUT £157.50 FOR A TV LICENCE, SO I'M ENTITLED TO CARP!

Oh yes - mustn't forget to mention the most regrettable sight of a TV camera trundling into position. This was completely unacceptable - did they put a rookie director in charge of the programme?

[kernelbogey]

I forgot about the BBC4 transmission and listened to R3, as I couldn't get the iPlayer stream to load. There was something odd about the presentation. At one point Martin Handley could not be heard - then he later apologised for having forgotten to switch his mic on. There seemed to be quite a lot of conversations going on between pieces. None of this mattered much given the wonderful playing.

Sad not to be able to hear Alina, but feeling sympathy for her loss of her Dad.

[Bryn]

A humble viewer and music lover writes:

. . . . . . I'V[sic] JUST PAID OUT £157.50 FOR A TV LICENCE, SO I'M ENTITLED TO CARP!

With the water-feature no longer in place, it would be a fish out of water, or did you want it served up on a platter? (Now where's me coat?)

[Pulcinella]

A humble viewer and music lover writes:

I now realize that I clearly wasn't paying sufficient attention to, or was blissfully unaware of, what were clearly serious deficiencies, and am beginning to wish I hadn't watched it. Honestly, is that the best they can come up with? We could have had 100 minutes from the TOTP archive instead of being subjected to a clearly less than perfect live concert. I've arranged an emergency summit with the lady wife for 10.00 in order that we can discuss how we mistakenly came to enjoy it so much. In particular, we shall have to reassess our admiration of the replacement soloists and the resulting lamentable 'little lack of soloist magic'.


And another thing - surely the musical director could have found the time to shave beforehand (!?*)

IF A THING'S WORTH DOING, IT'S WORTH DOING WELL - LET'S HOPE SOCKS ARE PULLED UP IN TIME FOR THE LAST NIGHT!!! I'V JUST PAID OUT £157.50 FOR A TV LICENCE, SO I'M ENTITLED TO CARP!

Oh yes - mustn't forget to mention the most regrettable sight of a TV camera trundling into position. This was completely unacceptable - did they put a rookie director in charge of the programme?

One for the new Grumble thread, perhaps?


I felt it didn't quite work in the RAH (I kept wishing for a resonance more like what the Ospedale della Pietà is likely to have, and regretting that I'd never been inside, despite several visits to Venice), and I too thought that the balance (especially in the Bach) was not great. To have two harpsichords seemed a little odd, and were the plucked instruments (theorbo/what else?) likely to have been used as part of the continuo group as well as harpsichords?

Mrs Christie might be more suited to introducing operas, but at least she seemed involved in what she was doing, rather than presiding over it, as another presenter might have done.

[oddoneout]

With one of the soloists pulling out at such short notice(and in such sad circumstances) this concert was always going to face problems, in addition to the already known ones of distancing etc. In terms of the performance, and given the caveats, the only bit I really couldn't like was the Bach. The solo violins both sounded 'scratchy' and harsh so in the end I switched off.
However over all I would like to say thank you to the musicians for their hard work(and adrenaline overload!)and making it possible for the concert to go ahead; the glitches(including losing Martin Handley) are part and parcel of a live broadcast even in normal times so I'm happy to discount them.

[jonfan]

With one of the soloists pulling out at such short notice(and in such sad circumstances) this concert was always going to face problems, in addition to the already known ones of distancing etc. In terms of the performance, and given the caveats, the only bit I really couldn't like was the Bach. The solo violins both sounded 'scratchy' and harsh so in the end I switched off.
However over all I would like to say thank you to the musicians for their hard work(and adrenaline overload!)and making it possible for the concert to go ahead; the glitches(including losing Martin Handley) are part and parcel of a live broadcast even in normal times so I'm happy to discount them.