Prom 71 (10.09.20) Aurora Orchestra plays Beethoven

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Richard Ayres: No. 52 (Three pieces about Ludwig van Beethoven: dreaming, hearing loss and saying goodbye)
BBC co-commission: world premiere
Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A major

Tom Service presenter
Aurora Orchestra
Nicholas Collon conductor

Beethoven’s hearing loss plunged the composer into isolation and despair, so it’s hard to believe him capable of producing a symphony such as his Seventh, which pulses with restless energy – and which the Aurora Orchestra plays from memory. It’s a work with a special place in Proms history, too: it was the last piece Proms founder-conductor Henry Wood directed before his death in 1944.

Richard Ayres opens the concert with a deeply personal new work inspired both by Beethoven’s journey into deafness and his own experience of hearing loss, a vivid soundscape in which clarity gradually gives way to confusion.

Radio 3’s Tom Service and Aurora Orchestra Principal Conductor Nicholas Collon guide us through the programme with their customary lively and expert introductions.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Excellent performance of the Beethoven - they really are a tremendous band. The whole social distancing need Also seems to have led to some telling spatial effects. I’m also enjoying the silence between movements. Also enjoyed the extended intro which , by some way , must have been the most demanding piece of musical analysis on BBC TV in quite a few years ...Almost like the seventies all over again.

[bluestateprommer]

Excellent performance of the Beethoven - they really are a tremendous band. The whole social distancing need Also seems to have led to some telling spatial effects. I’m also enjoying the silence between movements. Also enjoyed the extended intro which , by some way , must have been the most demanding piece of musical analysis on BBC TV in quite a few years ...Almost like the seventies all over again.

That's a good point about the intro and how much of a comparatively deep-dive that it was intellectually. I obviously can't speak to past BBC TV relays, but certainly in the present day, such discussion is far from the norm (and nowhere even close to a gleam in the eye on this side of the pond). This fuller context makes the one verbally spastic outlandish moment from TS from just before the start of the music, after the analysis, almost (but perhaps not quite) forgivable. Normally, the buzz of an audience, like with the Berlioz "classical for starters" Prom last season, would add to the "edutainment" atmosphere of the talk, but knowing that TS and NC are speaking to an empty hall made things feel just a bit weird. Generally fine LvB 7 from the Aurora Orchestra, as Heldenleben noted. As is customary with recent performances from them, the HIPP influence is very much audible with trimmed vibrato. Also generosity with repeats, including in the 3rd movement.

I wasn't aware that Richard Ayres has had his own hearing loss issues; most unfortunate, sad to learn of that. His new work sounds an amalgam of standard orchestral music, in a mostly "audience-friendly" idiom, with "sampled" sounds, and the tinnitus-like buzz present in places.

[Ein Heldenleben]

That's a good point about the intro and how much of a comparatively deep-dive that it was intellectually. I obviously can't speak to past BBC TV relays, but certainly in the present day, such discussion is far from the norm (and nowhere even close to a gleam in the eye on this side of the pond). This fuller context makes the one verbally spastic outlandish moment from TS from just before the start of the music, after the analysis, almost (but perhaps not quite) forgivable. Normally, the buzz of an audience, like with the Berlioz "classical for starters" Prom last season, would add to the "edutainment" atmosphere of the talk, but knowing that TS and NC are speaking to an empty hall made things feel just a bit weird. Generally fine LvB 7 from the Aurora Orchestra, as Heldenleben noted. As is customary with recent performances from them, the HIPP influence is very much audible with trimmed vibrato. Also generosity with repeats, including in the 3rd movement.

I wasn't aware that Richard Ayres has had his own hearing loss issues; most unfortunate, sad to learn of that. His new work sounds an amalgam of standard orchestral music, in a mostly "audience-friendly" idiom, with "sampled" sounds, and the tinnitus-like buzz present in places.

I can remember Hans Keller analyses on BBC Two in the 70’s which pretty much assumed a grade 3-4 knowledge of music theory . To hear Tom Service use words like ‘suspension’ without any clarification bought a strange kind of joy. Yes the way TS repeated Beethoven was Maybe some kind of rhythmic introduction to this most rhythmic of symphonies . Trouble is it’s not quite the right rhythm . Am -ster - dam is better .

[edashtav]

I can remember Hans Keller analyses on BBC Two in the 70’s which pretty much assumed a grade 3-4 knowledge of music theory . To hear Tom Service use words like ‘suspension’ without any clarification bought a strange kind of joy. Yes the way TS repeated Beethoven was Maybe some kind of rhythmic introduction to this most rhythmic of symphonies . Trouble is it’s not quite the right rhythm . Am -ster - dam is better .

I like Tom Service's erudition and enthusiasm and tonight's analysis was one of his best BUT how sad it was that it ended bathetically. Nicholas Collon's interpretation of the symphony with the Aurora orchestra was very fine.

[jonfan]

Agree with all the positives above. A worthy celebration of LvB, plus the eerily appropriate commission that preceded the symphony.
The extreme pianissimos and the almost stationary sections in the symphony were very effective. Why do we have to wait for the prom season to get such an offering from NC and Aurora? Can they offer a similar programme for TV half way through the year?

[Ein Heldenleben]

Agree with all the positives above. A worthy celebration of LvB, plus the eerily appropriate commission that preceded the symphony.
The extreme pianissimos and the almost stationary sections in the symphony were very effective. Why do we have to wait for the prom season to get such an offering from NC and Aurora? Can they off a similar programme for TV half way through the year?

I know that to purists this shouldn't make a difference but it was such a pleasure to see an orchestra so visibly enjoying performing. It was also noticeable how engaged they were with the conductor. I guess having the notes under your fingers helps hugely with this (and having huge respect for the baton-wielder as well of course)

[oddoneout]

I thought this threrad was about the Prom??!!

We decided to put an interval in... Would you like to sound the bell to haul everyone out of the bar now?

[Barbirollians]

We decided to put an interval in... Would you like to sound the bell to haul everyone out of the bar now?

I saw Nicholas Collon conduct anoutstanding Seventh with the Halle a few years back. An Aurora/Collon Beethoven Symphony cycle would be worth hearing and recording.