Prom 5 (2.08.21) - Ryan Bancroft conducts the BBC National Orchestra of Wales

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:30 Monday 2 August 2021 ON TV
Royal Albert Hall

Henry Purcell: Dido and Aeneas – ‘When I am laid in earth’ (Dido’s Lament) arr. Stokowski
Elizabeth Ogonek: Cloudline (BBC co-commission: world première)
Camille Saint‐Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor
Johannes Brahms: Symphony No 4 in E minor


Guy Johnston (cello)
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Ryan Bancroft (conductor)

Musical borrowings, reworkings and reinventions run through this season’s Proms. The invisible thread linking tonight’s concert really begins with Bach. A lilting chaconne from his Cantata No. 150 underpins the finale of Brahms’s Symphony No. 4, and the latter’s elegant synthesis of heart and head is itself the inspiration for American composer Elizabeth Ogonek’s Cloudline, a lyrical homage to ancient musical forms and techniques. The chaconne’s repeating patterns are echoed elsewhere in the circling bass line of Purcell’s powerful Lament from Dido and Aeneas. Cellist Guy Johnston is the soloist in anniversary-composer Saint-Saëns’s Cello Concerto No 1.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Not the usual kind of programme for classical music on television these days. Credit where it's due.

[HighlandDougie]

I saw Elim Chan in Hong Kong just before everything shut down last year. One of the best performances of Petrushka I've ever heard. She is, if I'm allowed to use such a phrase, quite "petite", but compensates in terms of being a real dynamo on the podium. I will much look forward to this Prom

[LHC]

I saw Elim Chan in Hong Kong just before everything shut down last year. One of the best performances of Petrushka I've ever heard. She is, if I'm allowed to use such a phrase, quite "petite", but compensates in terms of being a real dynamo on the podium. I will much look forward to this Prom

Unfortunately, both Elim Chan and Sol Gabetta have had to pull out of this Prom (the pandemic is cited as the cause, so I suspect they would have fallen foul of quarantine requirements, either here or elsewhere if they came here). The new conductor and soloist are now listed in Alpie’s original post.

[jayne lee wilson]

A lovely Part One wasn't it?.....

A dark and elegiac prelude, then the floating, shimmering nuages, interspersed with brassy outbursts, like a brilliant light shafting through the clouds, of the Ogonek: certainly a piece to return to later.
The Saint-Saens was brought off with great polish. A perfectly deft, light touch until the final surge. Beautifully done by orchestra, conductor and soloist.

Excellent sound balances on the webcast. Fine upbeat to the more substantial second half....

[Ein Heldenleben]

A lovely Part One wasn't it?.....

A dark and elegiac prelude, then the floating, shimmering nuages, interspersed with brassy outbursts, like a brilliant light shafting through the clouds, of the Ogonek: certainly a piece to return to later.
The Saint-Saens was brought off with great polish. A perfectly deft, light touch until the final surge. Beautifully done by orchestra, conductor and soloist.

Excellent sound balances on the webcast. Fine upbeat to the more substantial second half....

Yes excellent - Superb Saint-Saëns . Pity it isn’t performed more often - amazing to think it was played so many times in the early days of the Proms. It’s been a very strong start to the season I think ..

[jayne lee wilson]

What a deeply rewarding, fascinatingly distinctive Brahms 4th that was, full of interpretive interest and with notably open textures, never too warm or dense, almost like a large chamber-orchestra sound......

Terrific evening then! More on the Brahms later....

[Goon525]

Jayne, I’m coming a bit late to this year’s proms. When you refer to the webcast, do you mean the BBC Proms website or BBC Sounds? Or some other means of listening? Anything comparable with that FLAC stream we got three or four years ago?

[jonfan]

We're only on Prom 5 and what consistently superb sound balances we've enjoyed. The BBC groups and SCO obviously relishing playing live to an in-hall audience; you can hear it in the enjoyment and commitment of the players.

[oddoneout]

What a deeply rewarding, fascinatingly distinctive Brahms 4th that was, full of interpretive interest and with notably open textures, never too warm or dense, almost like a large chamber-orchestra sound......

Terrific evening then! More on the Brahms later....

Agreed, and I think the reason why I enjoyed this performance so much.

[Maclintick]

Agreed, and I think the reason why I enjoyed this performance so much.

This was a first-rate Brahms 4. Lovely playing, beautifully-judged tempi, and a sure overall grasp of the work's architectural and emotional thrust from Ryan Bancroft. A conductor to watch.

[jayne lee wilson]

Jayne, I’m coming a bit late to this year’s proms. When you refer to the webcast, do you mean the BBC Proms website or BBC Sounds? Or some other means of listening? Anything comparable with that FLAC stream we got three or four years ago?

Always the live BBC Sounds R3 feed, running at 320 kbps AAC. That 2017 FLAC stream ("Concert Sound") was tantalisingly short-lived!

Incidentally, the Berlin DCH has just implemented lossless on its archive recordings, and has said this will be available on live relays at some point. Currently only on mobiles/tablets iOS (iPhone/iPad etc) but they say it will be available via laptops later....

[edashtav]

The main interest in this programme for me was Saint-Saen’s 1st Cello Concerto which is a beautifully executed, economical piece that balances the cello wonderfully well against a cleverly scored orchestral counterpart. It was written for a viol de gamba maker and player and I sense that the composer’s love of the baroque comes across in its slow section which is, I feel, his first nod in the direction of neo-classicism. Twenty years later his Sarabande and Rigaudon for strings showed him to be the equal of Grieg in his Holberg music in pouring new wine into old bottles. Tonight’s affectionate performance by Guy Johnston, the BBC NOW and Ryan Bancroft fully justified the warm comments the work has received from Shostakovich, Rachmaninov and Yo-Yo Ma.

I listened to the Brahms 4th Symphony in the second half without being enthused as other boarders were by the performance. Tempi tended to be a little too easy going and the first two movements seemed as sunny and relaxed as I’d expect were I to be listening to the 2nd Symphony in D major. The whole interpretation lacked edge and majesty and left me underwhelmed.

[jayne lee wilson]

BRAHMS 4 BBCNOW/RYAN BANCROFT/ R3 AAC320 LIVE

Noticeably moulded approach to phrase and paragraph in (i), with subtle micro dynamics and a wide rubato, perhaps a slight loss of momentum here and there but of high interpretive interest. A more preludial and intimate feel than usual, with the main power-in-reserve held back for the coda.

Beautifully shaped andante, with outstanding horns and characterful wind solos. Lovely singing lines but with a firm, unambiguous rhythmic foundation. No smudging or excessive warmth. Impressive!
The giocoso exploded back to life yet still with brasses blended in, so when the finale began, they really made an impact. Energico e passionato, and here Bancroft drew a much more direct line through the variations, dynamically energised as apt to a finale. (What a touchingly fragile flute solo in variation 12; “while my flute gently weeps”, I thought…).
The great sonic eruption at the dramatic reprise-like variation 16 was truly shocking, the final chord terse - sharp and short just as it should be. No rhetorical prolongation here (or any such emphasis in the reading generally, fresh and youthful without conductorial posturing.)

So a very distinctive, individual Brahms 4. Athletic power and punch but with time to breathe and consider in softer passages, the songs among the peaks and valleys, always with the longterm structural view. The strikingly open textures reminded me of a chamber orchestra as per Mackerras or Venzago, an analytical sound never especially warm or blended; rather like Klemperer texturally, but with a Venzago-ish subtlety of dynamics and tempi, Bancroft could take the music right down to a soft, hesitant intimacy. This sound, allied to the expressive, very detailed approach to phrase and structure, made this a special Brahms 4 for me.

With fine sound balances displaying the orchestra’s individuality collectively and individually, this was very appealing to the ear, and very exciting!

[kernelbogey]

I too enjoyed the Brahms, the only item I heard. The woodwind playing frequently was exquisite, and I agree with Jayne about the lovely flute solo in iv: I hope the flautist got their own bow - Nicola Heywood-Thomas didn't mention them when describing Ryan Bancroft's 'go-around' afterwards. The horns, too, sounded splendid.