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

[Ein Heldenleben]

Do you have any particular recommendations on CD, Helden?

Feel I need an early corrective to last night!

Do you know I very rarely listen to it ? I have a very fine Solomon recording . Also a Perahia recording I’ve only listened to a couple of times. Even though I am his biggest fan ( I am very much of the legato / cantabile school not piano bashing -Russian - school ) - I don’t think it’s his best disc. I have heard but don’t have an excellent Arrau recording with Davis . Kovacevich is also excellent in this . I am not a huge Argerich fan but I’m told her performance is highly rated . To be honest there’s a vast choice I think.

Forgot - LIPATTI - there’s your corrective !

[LHC]

Do you have any particular recommendations on CD, Helden?

Feel I need an early corrective to last night!

You could do worse than the LSO Live CD with JEG and Maria Joao Pires performing an almost identical programme, the only difference being Mendelssohn's Hebrides overture rather than Beethoven's Coriolan. All three pieces are performed superbly, with both the Scottish symphony and the Piano Concerto being up there amongst the best (in my view). It is also one of the very best LSO live recordings, especially in its SACD or Blu Ray audio version. As a bonus, the blu ray includes a video of the whole concert at no extra cost.

[jayne lee wilson]

Do you have any particular recommendations on CD, Helden?

Feel I need an early corrective to last night!

Recents.....
Melnikov (1837 Erard)/Freiburg Baroque/Heras-Casado on HM.....
Varjon/WDR/Holliger on Audite (C/W Kopatchinskaja in the Fiddle Concerto, a great album)...

One instruments d'époque, one moderne..... take your pick...
Both part of wonderful, deeply considered Schumann series, and musically very much the better and fresher for it.

Further back, you have a pretty much legendary Argerich/COE/Harnoncourt (Teldec); though c/w a Violin Concerto from Kremer which I also love, but which proved critically controversial to say the least.

(LSO Live from LHC above - another vote here, the Mendelssohn 3 is marvellously done - another necessary corrective!).

[Alison]

Thanks all, will try some of these.

FWIW I’d say that RPO/Petrenko made a much better case for big band Mendelssohn (the Reformation) than Maestro Bychkov last night.

[Nick Armstrong]

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 .

I have mentioned this on the Forum before, but I went to see the film Shine with a concert pianist I used to hang out with back then. He snorted at the trope in the movie that “the Rach 3” is the most difficult concerto of all. I asked which he thought was the hardest: “the Schumann” was the reply

[Ein Heldenleben]

I have mentioned this on the Forum before, but I went to see the film Shine with a concert pianist I used to hang out with back then. He snorted at the trope in the movie that “the Rach 3” is the most difficult concerto of all. I asked which he thought was the hardest: “the Schumann” was the reply

Although technically Rach 3 is much more demanding than the Schumann - the musical challenges of the Schumann are more demanding.
I see it’s one of the set concerti for Leeds (Rach 3 isn’t ! And nor is 2 ! Yippee ) . I bet it has as many takers as Brahms 2 - that is very few.But there’ll be quite a few Ravels , Beethoven 4’s and Rach Rhaps. I must sit down one day and work out statistically what is the best concerto to win with - excluding those competitions where you more or less have to bash out Tschaikovky Bflat minor yet again - I bet it’s Beethoven 4 .

Schumann and Mozart - MUCH more tricky to create an impact.

[jayne lee wilson]

Thanks all, will try some of these.

FWIW I’d say that RPO/Petrenko made a much better case for big band Mendelssohn (the Reformation) than Maestro Bychkov last night.

Absolutely, Alison....

The first fortnight of these Proms were remarkable for the vivacity, originality and freshness of the Mozart, Brahms, Beethoven and Mendelssohn Symphonies played....
The BBC Orchestras involved responded marvellously well (remember Brabbins with the BBCSO in the Pastoral). So I guess last night was a bit disappointing. It felt a shade dull and routine by comparison. But its never easy to bring such familiar music to life, really.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Absolutely, Alison....
The first fortnight of these Proms were remarkable for the vivacity, originality and freshness of the Brahms, Beethoven and Mendelssohn Symphonies played.... the BBC Orchestras responded marvellously well. So I guess last night was a bit disappointing. It felt a shade dull and routine by comparison. But its never easy to bring such familiar music to life, really.

I think things have generally dipped in the last ten days or so - some odd programming . If you are going to programme film music for example I don’t see the point of choosing such very unfamiliar and variable quality music. The first two weeks were outstanding though.

[jayne lee wilson]

I think with Schumann especially, I've come to prefer smaller orchestras of whatever instrumental vintage as their sheer agility, often with conductors who relate to and work closely with them, makes it easier to get that mood-swinging volatility across, not to mention coloristic range.

[cloughie]

Thanks all, will try some of these.

FWIW I’d say that RPO/Petrenko made a much better case for big band Mendelssohn (the Reformation) than Maestro Bychkov last night.

Had a listen this afternoon, Alison - all three performances lacked sparkle - Abbado provides the answer - Coriolan with VPO choice of Pollini, Perahia, Pires or Brendel for the concerto and either the 1968 or 1984 LSO recordings of the Symphony. Bychkov fared much better with a much more lively performance in the earlier recording with the LPO! Mind you LSO Maag will always stand up well to any competition.

[jayne lee wilson]

I wax and wane with Scottish favourites (Maag was in fact my first love, long ago on a gold CD - remember them...?.), but its a pity that MDG often fly under the radar - Holliger's 3rd with the oldest orchestra in Switzerland (one of the oldest in Europe) is my current go-to (part of an outstanding multi-conductor cycle).....you also get the fascinating revised 4th, with many differences of detail from the earlier version...

https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/mendelssohn-symphonies-no-3-4-heinz-holliger-musikkollegium-winterthur/smru6kqnhmima

But as well as JEG (Barbican acoustic notwithstanding) for great modern SO versions of this wonderful composer, there's not much to beat the CBSO/Gardner Cycle, Chandos sound as fine as ever...

Both MDG and Chandos are SACD/CD, if that is your thing....sound utterly spotless...

[jonfan]

I was brought up on the Maag, beautiful engineering with the Decca Tree! Gardner's cycle of the symphonies and violin concerto is a consistent pleasure; I wonder if he can be persuaded to go for the oratorios - it's surely time for them to be reassessed?
Petrenko's 5th Symphony was a joy to hear and he did a stunning Elijah in Huddersfield a few years ago.