Prom 9: The Two Scheherazades (21.07.22)

[cloughie]

It’s a very fine work. People often knock it because it’s popular, but it happens to be very good, nevertheless.
I also like Rimski-Korsakov’s revisions of certain works of Mussorgsky, for which he’s so often slated.

…and along with Glazunov his helping completion of Borodin’s P Igor!

[Master Jacques]

I also like Rimski-Korsakov’s revisions of certain works of Mussorgsky, for which he’s so often slated.

The academic attachment to Mussorgsky's original scoring of Boris Godunov is short-sighted and unartistic in equal degree. Rimksy gave his edition of that score a professional finish which is entirely lacking in the clumsy, badly balanced and occasionally unplayable originals by the genius-amateur who wrote them. As for the incomplete Khovanshchina, nobody would ever have bothered to perform it, if Rimsky hadn't taken great pains to fit the pieces together sensibly and score it beautifully.

We may prefer Shostakovich's Mussorgsky realisations (which are sparer, but even more "of their own time" than Rimsky's), but the musical world should be profoundly grateful to R-K for putting Mussorgsky on the map so brilliantly. But no, herd instinct chooses to no-platform him!

[Nick Armstrong]

Indeed so - a stepping stone for many of us in our appreciation of good sounding music

Indeed x2… The parental Beecham LP



(I still have it somewhere) was one of my first experiences of what orchestral music could sound like when there wasn’t a black-and-white old German chap on the record sleeve…

I’m always happy to give the piece a listen when it pops up on the radio.

[bluestateprommer]

Late catch-up post on Prom 9, after hearing the 1st half at the time and not being able to hear the 2nd half until much later (complicated, pointless story). The "novelty" is lacking in discussion here, which is unfortunate (and people wonder why The Proms management doesn't program more off-the-wall works and keep programming the same old same old, but I digress again). Having heard the new Sally Beamsh de facto harp concerto Hive twice on BBC Sounds, I'll admit that the 'bees buzzing' aspect of the work was more apparent on the second listen. Perhaps no really "big tunes" to remember, but then her "Reed Stanzas" String Quartet from several years back was kind of the same, and many folks here reacted favorably to that work at the time, myself included.

In terms of optics, the curtain call for Hive one-ups Zosha Di Castri's world premiere at The First Night from 2019 in having (a) the composer, (b) the soloist, (c) the conductor, and (d) the orchestra leader as all female, without making a big fuss about it (even if Lesley Hatfield is tucked on the side in this particular photo):

https://twitter.com/bbcproms/status/1550226371120603143/photo/3

LH also did very well as the "title character" in R-K's Scheherazade, where again it seems that this work doesn't often feature female violinists in the title solo spotlight, which in turn (as mentioned in the Oslo Phil thread, with respect to Elise Båtnes) may reflect the relative paucity of female leaders / concertmasters out there. Ariane M.'s reading, however, struck me as a bit episodic and lingering in places, rather than sweeping the story forward in one go. But as others have noted, R-K. symphonic suite is a great work, and it can stand the lingering treatment. I got the same episodic sense from AM in the Ravel Shéhérazade overture, although that may be an instance more of the work itself.

Very enjoyable to hear Sally B. and the scientist Lars Chittka during the interval discussion with NHT. If anyone wants to read a bit more about Lars C.:

http://chittkalab.sbcs.qmul.ac.uk/Lars.html

[smittims]

Ah, ASD 251, the first HMV stereo LP. Thanks for the picture. I still have my copy, and it's still my favourite performance of this work, though there's an old Columbia of Issay Dobrowen worth hearing for the sumptuous third movement.

[Bryn]

Ah, ASD 251, the first HMV stereo LP. Thanks for the picture. I still have my copy, and it's still my favourite performance of this work, though there's an old Columbia of Issay Dobrowen worth hearing for the sumptuous third movement.

RCO/Kondrashin for me, in this work.

[Maclintick]

Ah, ASD 251, the first HMV stereo LP. Thanks for the picture. I still have my copy, and it's still my favourite performance of this work, though there's an old Columbia of Issay Dobrowen worth hearing for the sumptuous third movement.

This was one of my first LPs. Recorded a year after the Beecham, and at least as impressive IMHO.
Fabulous solos from Hugh Bean.

[smittims]

Thanks for that picture too, MacLintick. Kletzki was yet another underrated conductor. I value his Sibelius 1 to 3, and his Rachmaninov 2, the first complete recording, inthe West, anyway (1967). I first heard it on Radio 4 on a Saturday Afternoon, in the days when Radio 3 had Sport at that time.

And dear old Hugh Bean... I liked his Elgar, and his Four Seasons with Stokowski. I once heard him play the Delius Concerto, and regret that he wasn't asked to record it. I expect he learnt both that and the Elgar for his teacher Albert Sammons.

[cloughie]

This was one of my first LPs. Recorded a year after the Beecham, and at least as impressive IMHO.
Fabulous solos from Hugh Bean.

…his Tchaik 6 of similar vintage was also superb!