Prom 37 (3.08.21) - Semyon Bychkov Conducts the BBC SO & Kirill Gerstein

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:30 Friday 3 September 2021
Royal Albert Hall

Ludwig van Beethoven: Overture ‘Coriolan’
Robert Schumann: Piano Concerto in A minor
Felix Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 in A minor, 'Scottish'

Kirill Gerstein (piano)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Semyon Bychkov (conductor)

Russian-American pianist Kirill Gerstein returns to the Proms following his thrilling 2017 performance of Rachmaninov’s First Piano Concerto, rekindling his partnership with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the holder of the orchestra’s Günter Wand Conducting Chair, Semyon Bychkov.

[jayne lee wilson]

Overture, Concerto and Symphony? Gosh, why didn't we think of that?
Another stunning example of this year’s brilliantly innovative programming….!

Wait a minute though… wouldn't it be better the other way around? To have the Symphony first, while our concentration is sharpest? So when we’re all a bit happy after interval drinks, the entertainment arrives to dazzle us all with their virtuosity, then we finish with a flourish!

Why didn't the management think of that?


****
Still, the Mendelssohn is a Great Symphony, a pinnacle of 19thC cyclical form, surfing upon waves of thematic reference and transformation at times subtle, sometimes loud.

[oddoneout]

Overture, Concerto and Symphony? Gosh, why didn't we think of that?
Another stunning example of this year’s brilliantly innovative programming….!

Wait a minute though… wouldn't it be better the other way around? To have the Symphony first, while our concentration is sharpest? So when we’re all a bit happy after interval drinks, the entertainment arrives to dazzle us all with their virtuosity, then we finish with a flourish!

Why didn't the management think of that?


****
Still, the Mendelssohn is a Great Symphony, a pinnacle of 19thC cyclical form, surfing upon waves of thematic reference and transformation at times subtle, sometimes loud.

Judging by what has increasingly been happening on Afternoon Concert broadcasts (not currently with the Proms repeats - or not quite) "they" have thought of it and have already been experimenting with the idea. Buy in a perfectly good concert programme, dissassemble it, then throw the bits at the (not published version)schedule and see if what sticks is sufficiently disarranged and awkward to pass muster for broadcast. Great fun for the listeners trying to guess when what they thought they were going to hear might turn up and what in the meantime is actually playing. The novelty, if it ever had any value in the first place, wears off after a while...

[cloughie]

Overture, Concerto and Symphony? Gosh, why didn't we think of that?
Another stunning example of this year’s brilliantly innovative programming….!

Wait a minute though… wouldn't it be better the other way around? To have the Symphony first, while our concentration is sharpest? So when we’re all a bit happy after interval drinks, the entertainment arrives to dazzle us all with their virtuosity, then we finish with a flourish!

Why didn't the management think of that?


****
Still, the Mendelssohn is a Great Symphony, a pinnacle of 19thC cyclical form, surfing upon waves of thematic reference and transformation at times subtle, sometimes loud.

No Jayne - Overture is what it says and is the orchestral aperitif to warm your ears up! …and I want the wonderfully uplifting finale of the Mend 3 to leave me with the feelgood factor of the concert and the Schumann PC is a welcome middle to any concert! I guess Bychkov and the BBCSO can be trusted to give us a full-bodied sound befitting the ingredients.

[Alison]

Insufficient propulsion in Coriolan; too heavy.

[jayne lee wilson]

Fine attack, power and tonal cohesion in the Coriolan, but I felt the very steadily-maintained moderate tempo held this performance back from greater heights. Not exactly Allegro Con Brio, was it?

Everyone's making nice enough sounds in the Schumann, but is there isn't much affettuoso, grazioso or vivace here, is there? Howsoever you define it.
Not terrible, but all too warmly complacent for me, missing that essential Schumannesque volatility and playfulness....

Lets hope for a higher inspiration-quotient in Part Two.

[Alison]

This Schumann reminds me of one of my dad’s favourite cliches:

‘Not enough light and shade’.

You’re getting your full bodied qualities, Cloughmeister.

[Ein Heldenleben]

This is the third prom where the encore has been better than the piano concerto ( in terms of playing ) . The others being the Rach Rhap with the amazing Chopin Prelude that had way more Rhapsody in it than the Rhapsody and the Ravel where Pierre L-A bought so much verve and vigour to Benjamin’s rag piece. I wonder whether the conductors are giving them enough freedom. Conducting an orchestral accompaniment is a real test isn’t it ?

[Alison]

This is the third prom where the encore has been better than the piano concerto ( in terms of playing ) . The others being the Rach Rhap with the amazing Chopin Prelude that had way more Rhapsody in it than the Rhapsody and the Ravel where Pierre L-A bought so much verve and vigour to Benjamin’s rag piece. I wonder whether the conductors are giving them enough freedom. Conducting an orchestral accompaniment is a real test isn’t it ?

[edashtav]

This is the third prom where the encore has been better than the piano concerto ( in terms of playing ) . The others being the Rach Rhap with the amazing Chopin Prelude that had way more Rhapsody in it than the Rhapsody and the Ravel where Pierre L-A bought so much verve and vigour to Benjamin’s rag piece. I wonder whether the conductors are giving them enough freedom. Conducting an orchestral accompaniment is a real test isn’t it ?

Kirill Gerstein is a wonderful, muscular virtuoso. Schumann demands caresses, be rarely demand big levers.
Wrong choice of concerto?

His encore was brilliant : full of Busoni with Bach as mere accomplice.

Full Marks to the Interval Discussion: I thought that William Mival’s contribution stood head and shoulders above most his Rivals’ during the present Prom season.
However, I had to look him up: William Mival is a composer, broadcaster, writer and teacher and Head of Composition at the Royal College of Music, London. One of the many musicians who were taught by the delightful Anthony Milner.

[BBMmk2]

For me, not an ideal Prom.

[Alison]

Plenty to enjoy in the Scottish even if once again Bychkov sounds as if he’s conducting with boxing gloves on.

Too much careful control over a work that needs to sound fresh and spontaneous.

The now excellent orchestra sounding a little tired too.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Kirill Gerstein is a wonderful, muscular virtuoso. Schumann demands caresses, be rarely demand big levers.
Wrong choice of concerto?

His encore was brilliant : full of Busoni with Bach as mere accomplice.

Full Marks to the Interval Discussion: I thought that William Mival’s contribution stood head and shoulders above most his Rivals’ during the present Prom season.
However, I had to look him up: William Mival is a composer, broadcaster, writer and teacher and Head of Composition at the Royal College of Music, London. One of the many musicians who were taught by the delightful Anthony Milner.

I’m beginning to think Schumann is the ultimate test . It’s got to be so much more than virtuosity - but also that in spades . Above it all it has to have charm…so many lyrical sequences after very demanding passage work except it isn’t passage work it’s so much more musical than that term implies . And it’s all awkward under (my ) fingers . One of those pieces I’ve given up even having a stab at - except weirdly the first movement cadenza which is in the short list of cadenzas that is less difficult than the rest of the movement. Even the very opening which looks not much on the page is eminently muck-upable .

[edashtav]

[Alison]

I’m beginning to think Schumann is the ultimate test . It’s got to be so much more than virtuosity - but also that in spades . Above it all it has to have charm…so many lyrical sequences after very demanding passage work except it isn’t passage work it’s so much more musical than that term implies . And it’s all awkward under (my ) fingers . One of those pieces I’ve given up even having a stab at - except weirdly the first movement cadenza which is in the short list of cadenzas that is less difficult than the rest of the movement. Even the very opening which looks not much on the page is eminently muck-upable .

Do you have any particular recommendations on CD, Helden?

Feel I need an early corrective to last night!