Prom 14 (11.08.21) - Rachmaninov & Stravinsky

[jayne lee wilson]

WOW! How wonderful was that?

Stunning Pag-Rhap from Kolesnikov, very free with power, precision and ultra-soft pps to spare; Collon's Aurora his infinitesimally faithful collaborators with whiplash responses and a very wide dynamic range. But so tenderly expressive....in The Great Eighteenth, they took me to heaven.....

Wonderful sound on the live web stream....
(If this had been a BaL contender a few weeks back it would surely have won).

Sensational...! .... and for their next trick....

[Alison]

Wonderful encore too.

[Ein Heldenleben]

WOW! How wonderful was that?

Stunning Pag-Rhap from Kolesnikov, very free with power, precision and ultra-soft pps to spare; Collon's Aurora his infinitesimally faithful collaborators with whiplash responses and a very wide dynamic range. But so tenderly expressive....in The Great Eighteenth, they took me to heaven.....

Wonderful sound on the live web stream....
(If this had been a BaL contender a few weeks back it would surely have won).

Sensational.... and for their next trick....

Yes wonderful .
That Raindrop prelude encore was quite incredibly well played …the dynamic gradation , phrasing , the agogics : everything …

[jayne lee wilson]

Yes wonderful .
That Raindrop prelude encore was quite incredibly well played …the dynamic gradation , phrasing , the agogics : everything …

Which is the Groundhog Day Variation? Is I got you Babe in there somewhere...?....

[Ein Heldenleben]

Which is the Groundhog Day Variation? Is I got you Babe in there somewhere...?....

In the movie Bill Murray , bored out of his mind , takes up the piano. After hundreds more days he’s learnt to play the 18th variation to the delight of his piano teacher who’s never had a beginner get to -what - grade 8 + in a day. He then spoils it all (in my view) in playing a jazzed up version at the party where ( I think ) he finally gets the girl and after a day of good works …..well you know the rest.

[jayne lee wilson]

My delicate musiclover's sensibilities must have been so stunned I blanked it out......

[Ein Heldenleben]

My delicate musiclover's sensibilities must have been so stunned I blanked it out......

Yep it’s a grim moment ….the audience at the dance obviously love it…

[jayne lee wilson]

I'm afraid I found the Stravinsky a little too far beyond familiarity's pallor, but was it a shade cool in its expressions anyway, for all the spectacular brass?

I began to fantasise about....Danses Concertantes and the Concerto in D.... Symphony in C ..... a better match for the Auroras' talents surely....
So it goes. Such is concert life today....

But the Rachmaninov really was one to remember! Worth a look on BBC4 later this week.

[ostuni]

I've heard Kolesnikov play that Chopin as an encore before (at the Wigmore, I think): he does play it very beautifully. I'm looking forward to his recital of sonatas by Ustvolskaya & Schubert this Saturday (in an ex-car park in Peckham!).

I was there for the 3.30 performance this afternoon: stunning performances of both pieces, I thought. Apart from Monday lunchtime's Josquin at Cadogan, today’s is the only prom I've been to this year, so don’t know if my experience is common. But when I got up to the Rausing Circle and showed my ticket, the usher offered me an upgrade to any of the boxes of my choice (I went for a Grand Tier one) - maybe it was just to make it seem fuller for the TV cameras (the 3.30 audience wasn’t huge).

[Ein Heldenleben]

I've heard Kolesnikov play that Chopin as an encore before (at the Wigmore, I think): he does play it very beautifully. I'm looking forward to his recital of sonatas by Ustvolskaya & Schubert this Saturday (in an ex-car park in Peckham!).

I was there for the 3.30 performance this afternoon: stunning performances of both pieces, I thought. Apart from Monday lunchtime's Josquin at Cadogan, today’s is the only prom I've been to this year, so don’t know if my experience is common. But when I got up to the Rausing Circle and showed my ticket, the usher offered me an upgrade to any of the boxes of my choice (I went for a Grand Tier one) - maybe it was just to make it seem fuller for the TV cameras (the 3.30 audience wasn’t huge).

That’s not a bad upgrade . I used to amuse myself walking round the boxes looking at the labels and conjecturng just how much the business moguls and Aristos were enjoying the Bruckner or Boulez - good to know a genuine music lover got in!

[edashtav]

Wonderful encore too.

I was amazed by Kolesnikov’s Chopin encore: it was a fragile thing of great beauty spun without weight and so wistful. The standout performance so far of this Prom season. I have not heard such poetry at the keyboard for many a year and I
spent the interval imagining Pavel spinning one of Sorabji’s endless yarns. We are so lucky that Pavel and his partner make Britain their base.

I enjoyed Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody, too, for Pavel is not just a delicate poet but he’s just as good at storming the barricades. With the Aurora orchestra on wonderful form, too, and conductor Collon as mercurial as ever, the alchemy was perfect, and what a witches’ brew they concocted! this team should rush to the recording studio and make a CD of this work for tonight’s performance would put most others to flight in a BaL situation.

[kernelbogey]

Watcching the BBC4 broadcast. Clever, admirable introduction by TS, Collon and the orchestra.

Genuine appreciation here....

But you could have heard the whole introduction, barely aware that this is music for, ahem, the ballet.

Yes, Stravinsky is great - but never forget there are dancers here dancing to this music!

[ucanseetheend]

Switched off after the great Rach Paganini by Kolesnikov . Particularly as the Chopin encore was omitted . Don't want to hear Service lecturing about what the Stravinsky Firebird suite is . ....I know

[mikealdren]

Just watched on catch up TV so I could fast forward TS etc. I found the Rach very unimpressive after some on the fine performances on Record Review the other week, I though he played it like a study, lots of technique and no poetry but I guess that's personal taste. The Firebird was very impressive indeed and from memory too, extraordinary.

[ucanseetheend]

Still don't know exactly what was the Chopin encore