Prom 13 (10.08.21) - Parallel Universes

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:30 Tuesday 10 August 2021
Royal Albert Hall

Britta Byström: Parallel Universes BBC commission: world première
Jean Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D minor, op. 47
Robert Schumann: Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, ‘Rhenish’

Jennifer Pike violin
BBC Philharmonic
John Storgårds conductor

Liza Ferschtman makes her BBC Proms debut with the BBC Philharmonic and their Chief Guest Conductor John Storgårds in Sibelius’s Violin Concerto, which seemingly opens with the breath of a mystical legend and ends with what one commentator described as ‘a Polonaise for polar bears’.

The programme opens with a new BBC commission from Swedish composer Britta Byström inspired by Cosmologist Max Tegmark’s notion of a ‘hierarchical multiverse’, and closes with Schumann's uplifting third Symphony, the 'Rhenish'.

[jayne lee wilson]

Nowhere to hide for the performers tonight ,with two familiar masterworks to get right.

The Schumann needs to balance a clear rhythmic definition within, or across, its singing lines. The very opening is a challenge, as too much of a stamping emphasis through the main, much-repeated theme can impede the flow. It needs a careful phrasing. Not many conductors get this right....

Its a pity the premiere is yet another short opening item; how one longs for some half-hour contemporary blockbuster to knock us us all out of our chairs...
There isn't much Bystrom on record, but I did buy her "Invisible Cities" album a few years ago, a sequence of works for Orchestra including a Viola Concerto, and very engaging it was. Just wish tonight's piece was longer...

[jayne lee wilson]

That was a much better premiere wasn't it?

A brilliant opening flourish (Bystrom knows the orchestra and handles it very well), then a soft "walking pizzicato" ("Walk" occurs often in her titles and notes) which wanders into mysterious spectral chords; a brief folk dance on divisi strings; the floating chords return, with an "in my end is my beginning" feel to the conclusion.

Played with effortless confidence tonight by this fine band.( Do seek out "Invisible Cities", its well worth any listener's time....(the Calvino text isn't bad either......))

[Ein Heldenleben]

Have to say that Jennifer Pike played that magnificently . I heard her playing it live nearly 10 years ago and this was even better.

Except it wasn’t Jennifer Pike and I didn’t catch the name of the last minute replacement!

[jayne lee wilson]

Have to say that Jennifer Pike played that magnificently . I heard her playing it live nearly 10 years ago and this was even better.

Except it wasn’t Jennifer Pike and I didn’t catch the name of the last minute replacement!

Liza Ferschtman, whose Korngold/Bernstein album I bought and gloried in....
Yes, she projected the Sibelius with a wonderful range of power, delicacy and freedom of phrase, with Storgards a very faithful accompanist...

[Ein Heldenleben]

[QUOTE=jayne lee wilson;857687]Liza Ferschtman, whose Korngold/Bernstein album I bought and gloried in....
Yes, she projected the work with a wonderful range of power, delicacy and freedom of phrase, with Storgards a very faithful accompanist...[/

Thanks - I honestly think it’s my favourite violin concerto (with the possible exception of the Elgar ) . This encore is eyewateringly difficulty and so well played.

[jayne lee wilson]

Well that was a glorious, warmly idiomatic Schumann 3rd, a fine end to a great concert.....!
Storgårds changed the sound-palette to match the music, very impressively...

More on Schumann later I hope...Cats & I have to eat occasionally (OK, Cats more often!)....2nd hearing of the Bystrom well worth it too....

[edashtav]

Liza Ferschtman, whose Korngold/Bernstein album I bought and gloried in....
Yes, she projected the Sibelius with a wonderful range of power, delicacy and freedom of phrase, with Storgards a very faithful accompanist...

I sometimes wish that I were as generous hearted as you clearly are, Jayne.
I agree, at one level, with the virtues that you identify in Liza’s big-boned interpretation. Let me also agree without reservation and with real admiration with your assessment of Stogards faithful accompaniment. Had she led him down to Hell, itself, I believe his loyalty and self-effacement would not have failed and he would have held her hand as they were both enveloped in flames. Beyond the call of duty? Perhaps, but a concerto can have only one boss and I prefer it to be a Concert -0, not a fight between two protagonists which the conductor must win given the size of the forces under his/her command.

However, big-boned is not synonymous with beautiful, some of Liza’s playing on her G and D strings sounded strained and, occasionally, ill tuned as she strained every horse-hair to turn her violin into a viola. At the other end her pianissimos were almost inaudible and, I fear, would have not travelled to the circle and higher in the RAH. Also, I found her projection, whilst ‘in yer face’, free of passion, and akin to a latter day Heifetz. Bags of potential…

I must have copies of than half a dozen CDs of the Sibelius on my heaving shelves, and all bar one, move me in a deeper way than Liza’s version, with Christian Ferris with the BPO under Von Karajan coming out on top.

Now back to the future with Britta, the water purifier, Byström’s Parallel Universes ( a f.p.). Deary me, Cosmology has become so ubiquitous. Once upon a time ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ dominated the musical star charts, now galaxies are two a penny, almost as common as galaxy chocolate bars which are in mass production. And that is my complaint, young folk sometimes contact an essay-writing factory, when they need to meet a deadline and, incidentally, one of my colleagues, Chris, at the School in which I taught for 39 years might have been the Daddy of on-line essays to order, do young composers have the same facility?

I’m not charging Liza with plagiarism but this listener can’t take any more ‘twinkle twinkle many galaxies’ for the time being.

I think I enjoyed Schumann’s Rhenish Symphony, but I was busy with this diatribe and merely overheard it. I bet Jayne loved it - she’s such an admirer of Robert’s music.

[jayne lee wilson]

I sometimes wish that I were as generous hearted as you clearly are, Jayne.
I agree, at one level, with the virtues that you identify in Liza’s big-boned interpretation. Let me also agree without reservation and with real admiration with your assessment of Stogards faithful accompaniment. Had she led him down to Hell, itself, I believe his loyalty and self-effacement would not have failed and he would have held her hand as they were both enveloped in flames. Beyond the call of duty? Perhaps, but a concerto can have only one boss and I prefer it to be a Concert -0, not a fight between two protagonists which the conductor must win given the size of the forces under his/her command.



However, big-boned is not synonymous with beautiful, some of Liza’s playing on her G and D strings sounded strained and, occasionally, ill tuned as she strained every horse-hair to turn her violin into a viola. At the other end her pianissimos were almost inaudible and, I fear, would have not travelled to the circle and higher in the RAH. Also, I found her projection, whilst ‘in yer face’, free of passion, and akin to a latter day Heifetz. Bags of potential…

I must have copies of than half a dozen CDs of the Sibelius on my heaving shelves, and all bar one, move me in a deeper way than Liza’s version, with Christian Ferris with the BPO under Von Karajan coming out on top.

Now back to the future with Britta, the water purifier, Byström’s Parallel Universes ( a f.p.). Deary me, Cosmology has become so ubiquitous. Once upon a time ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ dominated the musical star charts, now galaxies are two a penny, almost as common as galaxy chocolate bars which are in mass production. And that is my complaint, young folk sometimes contact an essay-writing factory, when they need to meet a deadline and, incidentally, one of my colleagues, Chris, at the School in which I taught for 39 years might have been the Daddy of on-line essays to order, do young composers have the same facility?

I’m not charging Liza with plagiarism but this listener can’t take any more ‘twinkle twinkle many galaxies’ for the time being.

I think I enjoyed Schumann’s Rhenish Symphony, but I was busy with this diatribe and merely overheard it. I bet Jayne loved it - she’s such an admirer of Robert’s music.

Briefly Ed - please try "Invisible Cities".... maybe you know the wonderful Calvino book, but it isn't essential to enjoy it.....
This one....

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/britta-bystrom-invisible-cities-ellen-nisbeth-daniel-blendulf-malmo-symphony-orchestra/y0awyg2i0f5lb

CD still widely available....

I did notice a few raw notes in Ferschtman's Sibelius, but I loved the wide-ranging, wild and free approach, especially those vanishing-point pps...
As one who suffered for years at the hands, or the sounds, of FM Optimod Compression, then the dashed hopes and coarseness of DAB, I'll happily take all the 320kbps AAC webstream threshold-of-audibility pianissimos or pianississimos I can get....

[edashtav]

Well that was a glorious, warmly idiomatic Schumann 3rd, a fine end to a great concert.....!
Storgårds changed the sound-palette to match the music, very impressively...

More on Schumann later I hope...Cats & I have to eat occasionally (OK, Cats more often!)....2nd hearing of the Bystrom well worth it too....

You got in first, I was still consulting my star charts ( see #8). It’s great to see that you LISTENED to the Rhenish and found it full of vintage wine.

[edashtav]

Briefly Ed - please try "Invisible Cities".... maybe you know the wonderful Calvino book, but it isn't essential to enjoy it.....
This one....

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/britta-bystrom-invisible-cities-ellen-nisbeth-daniel-blendulf-malmo-symphony-orchestra/y0awyg2i0f5lb

CD still widely available....

I did notice a few raw notes in Ferschtman's Sibelius, but I loved the wide-ranging, wild and free approach, especially those vanishing-point pps...
As one who suffered for years at the hands, or the sounds, of FM Optimod Compression, then the dashed hopes and coarseness of DAB, I'll happily take all the 320kbps AAC webstream threshold-of-audibility pianissimos or pianississimos I can get....

We’re seriously out of synch … I did think that I’d better check my facts before Jayne clubs me with her Qobuz catalogue. I found a piece on YouTube by our Water-Carrier being used in a Malko Conductor competition. Twas nothing to do with stars and it kept my attention. I must be kinder! Perhaps , I’ll buy that CD!

[Quarky]

Well that was a glorious, warmly idiomatic Schumann 3rd, a fine end to a great concert.....!
Storgårds changed the sound-palette to match the music, very impressively...

More on Schumann later I hope...Cats & I have to eat occasionally (OK, Cats more often!)....2nd hearing of the Bystrom well worth it too....

Well so do I!

Enjoyed the Schumann and Bystrom greatly.....

[jayne lee wilson]

SCHUMANN 3/BBCPO/STORGÅRDS. R3 AAC WEBSTREAM LIVE.

The Schumann 3rd was beautifully balanced, with a flowing blend of singing line against clear rhythms. But I needed a higher volume setting to bring out the best in it, as it didn't project out into the hall as well as the earlier works, and dynamic range seemed restricted. Storgårds seemed to rein in the sound initially, more concerned in creating a warm idiomatic Schumann sonority rather than climactic excitement, but the first movement was beautifully paced toward a more powerful coda.

The Rhine-Romance swept along to an exuberant climax, as the performance began to gather momentum; sweetly songful in the interludial, reflective 3rd movement, then found grandeur in the Cathedral - but Storgårds kept things moving here, not too loud (**) or grandiloquent, thus better integrated symphonically. A terrific finale - fast, with tension, level and excitement building up, then wilder and off-the-hook in its final cadences just as it should be.
So a true Schumann sound here (there are many possibilities in this wonderful, shapeshifting music......) and a fine interpretation, impressively distinct from the coloristic and stylistic ranges in Part One.

(.(**).. if you really like conductors to "look encouringly at the brass" here in the 3rd & generally, just try the Hanover Band/Goodman....wow!)

[Quarky]

Many thanks Jane for that excellent analysis. My feelings about the performance resonated with that .

[bluestateprommer]

Another late catch-up, after a fashion, although I'd heard this Prom several weeks back after summer holiday. I wanted to give Britta Byström's Parallel Universes another chance before pontificating pointlessly here for the record. To be honest, the work didn't grow on me with the 2nd hearing. It's OK, but somewhat anonymous and wandering in places. But full marks to John Storgårds and the BBC Philharmonic for giving the work their best.

I got an overall sense of a slow-burn approach from Liza Ferschtman with Sibelius' Violin Concerto, which was confirmed with a second listen. Perhaps it had something to do with getting the late call to pinch-hit for Jennifer Pike, and I've no idea how long it had been since LF had performed the Sibelius. I also hadn't realized that this was LF's Proms debut (duly archived in the Forum Calendar, natch). I'm a big Sibelius fan, so it was a no-brainer to give the concerto a second listen as well. Terrific encore, as others have noted.

I understand that John Storgårds has a great personal affinity for Robert Schumann's music, so no surprise that he'd take the opportunity to conduct the 'Rhenish' at the RAH. He mentioned in his pre-performance chat with Petroc about taking the movements somewhat 'attacca', to minimize pauses between them. I admit that I'm not a big fan of that 'attacca' approach, but the jumps into the next movement were generally not as abrupt as I was expecting. But I do prefer my full pauses between the movements.

The icing on the cake for this Prom is the excellent interval discussion between Katy Hamilton and Petroc, about Robert Schumann and his mental illness, nost definitely worth a listen. Interestingly, weeks after this Prom, the subject ties nicely to this Grauniad article and a forthcoming R3 Sunday Feature connected to said article:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/sep/17/robert-schumann-mental-health-diagnosis-radio-3-phil-hebblethwaite

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000zssr