Prom 17 (14.08.21) - Prokofiev, Bach, Mozart & Shostakovich

[Ein Heldenleben]

I have the Queen's Hall Orchestra/Roy Goodman recording to Holst's Planets and St Paul's Suite, and very fine it is. too.

Have they disbanded? haven’t heard of them lately ..

[Bryn]

Have they disbanded? haven’t heard of them lately ..

There is an FB page for them. It's "About" section reads:

The New Queen’s Hall Orchestra was revived in 1992 for very specific reasons. Before recording standardized orchestral sound and playing habits worldwide, every orchestra and most solo artists used the instruments of their particular region and offered an individual approach to style. In this more uniform age, the NQHO stands alone in its willingness to risk spontaneity and individuality by giving back to its players the joy of music making, real expression and communication with their audience – that all important, rarely heard and transitory constituent of a really great concert.

However, the most recent contribution there was back in 2012, so I guess the orchestra is itself now history.

[jayne lee wilson]

This has been discussed before, but at what point in the Historical Timeline do we stop referring to a performance as HIPP? Roth and his band clearly are, but Schiff and Brahms? I’ve listened to the Schiff a few times now with pleasure but is it HIPP? Yes, the Piano is less imposing than a modern Bechstein but you wouldn’t mistake it for a fortepiano. The Orchestra makes the odd sound occasionally but this sounds a lot closer to “mainstream “ Brahms of yore than say, comparing Roth’s Eroica to a recording by Ormandy and Philadelphia.

"HIPP" simply means what it says: Historically Informed Performance Practice, where a given recording or performance makes use of extensive research into instruments of the time, orchestral constitutions, and styles of play - articulation, dynamics, freedom of phrase - rubato etc.
So of course the Schiff/Brahms, on an 1859 Blüthner, is exactly that. Just as his Schubert solo albums are, played on an 1820 Brodmann, of which he describes the technical and musical benefits in great detail in his note. .
Remember, there is a timeline-continuum of piano design and development dating back to at least the 1780s; not some sharp cut-off somewhere between fortepiano and modern grand. Bosendorfer began in the Brodmann workshop, taking over the firm in 1828.
There are many 1890s Steinways in use today. Remember too, that Harnoncourt was a cellist in the VSO for 17 years; he was compelled by that experience to seek out new approaches to classical performance; but- he began with the Baroque, and his own recordings, e.g. of Telemann, show a fascinating development, from a more "Romantic" approach in the 1960s to something much cleaner and crisper.

****

Babies and bathwater, etc....
There are some ensembles we know a great deal about: Haydn at Esterhazy or in Paris, Brahms in Meiningen - and we can both learn from, and take much pleasure in, recordings based on such researches, howsoever strict or free may be the modern reconstitutions. It isn't just a matter of subjective preference. Any musiclover can enjoy whatever they want, but surely any curious listener will want to hear such sounds, interpretations; enjoy and learn from insights and knowledge whether detailed or speculative, that Historically-researched performances can offer. The wider and deeper your experience of performance and recordings, one would hope the less inclination to categorical dismissal or misjudgement you will be tempted into....

I loved the ASMF/Bell Vivaldi/Piazzolla Prom the other night; but that doesn't devalue, in any way, or reduce to some ignorant subjective relativism, performances on the instruments of their own time. I would add that the the further back you go, from the earlier Haydn Symphonies e.g. 6-8, back through the Baroque of Telemann and Rameau and Zelenka, the more technically and expressively apt the instruments of the time - yes, "authentic" if you like - tend to sound.

[french frank]

whether detailed or speculative

And isn't that key? Even speculations can be historically informed and, as such, hold an interest and a validity.