Proms at Sage Gateshead: Folk Connections (23.07.22)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Proms at Sage Gateshead: Folk Connections
19:30 Saturday 23 July 2022
Sage Gateshead

Live at the BBC Proms from Sage Gateshead: The Royal Northern Sinfonia conducted by Dinis Sousa in symphonies by John Adams and Dvořák and a world premiere by Judith Weir, in collaboration with the community choir Voices of the River’s Edge and the folk ensemble Spell Songs


John Adams: Shaker Loops
Judith Weir: Indelible Miraculous, a poem by Julia Darling (world premiere)
Spell Songs: Thrift (Dig In, Dig In)
Spell Song:s Acorn
Spell Songs: Little Astronaut
Spell Songs: Moth
Traditional: Water of Tyne
Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, ‘From the New World’

Spell Songs
Voices from the River's Edge
Royal Northern Sinfonia
Dini Sousa (conductor)

For John Adams, driving rhythms and clean textures were a path to the musical future, with a surprising link to the idealism of America’s frontier past. Dvořák meant his Ninth Symphony as a salute to his American hosts, and yet every note glows with passionate longing for his home, far away in rural Bohemia. The common thread is folklore, and in this Prom from Sage Gateshead, Dinis Sousa and Royal Northern Sinfonia collaborate with the choir Voices of the River’s Edge and Karine Polwart, Rachel Newton and Jim Molyneux from the folk ensemble Spell Songs. A world premiere from Master of the Queen’s music Judith Weir completes the programme.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

A real Prom outside the capital. Sensibly overlapping the second CBeebies Prom, so that this one can be broadcast live. (The first - identical -CBeebies Prom will have been broadcast a few hours earlier.) This is well thought out programming, so the BBC deserves credit.

[bluestateprommer]

A real Prom outside the capital. Sensibly overlapping the second CBeebies Prom, so that this one can be broadcast live. (The first - identical -CBeebies Prom will have been broadcast a few hours earlier.) This is well thought out programming, so the BBC deserves credit.

Sage Gateshead set up the "Arena" as follows, from the concert listing:

"Promming (standing) £7 (standing is located on Level One stalls)"

The general seating plan page at Sage Gateshead elaborates, a bit:

"For concerts with 'Standing Available' the floor is lowered at the front of the Hall to create a standing/dancing area."

If anyone needs the text of Julia Darling's "Indelible, Miraculous": http://juliadarling.co.uk/works/poet...le-miraculous/

Very fine first half to this Prom, with RNS on excellent form in Shaker Loops to start things off. The new Judith Weir choral work (I gather that JW wasn't present) made for a nice transition to the Spell Songs "set". The one mild blemish in the last, at least IMVHO and thus very much a matter of personal taste, was the use of drum kit in 'Moth', which I personally didn't think necessary. That aside, the choir and the Spell Songs artists all did very well. This program is indeed an interesting mash up of different styles, as EA alludes to.

[oddoneout]

I don't have anything to say about the music but the audience was obviously happy with what they were seeing and hearing - and no I'm not being snide. It will have been rewarding for the performers to have had such an enthusiastic reception.

[ardcarp]

I agree with the above. The choir sounded more 'at home' with the Spell Songs than with the opening Adams and Weir, I thought. It is great that a young choir is given a Proms opportunity, and even more remarkable given their inability to gather together in the lock-downs.

[RichardB]

I don't have anything to say about the music but the audience was obviously happy with what they were seeing and hearing - and no I'm not being snide. It will have been rewarding for the performers to have had such an enthusiastic reception.

I noticed that too, it was good to hear. I caught only the first and last items on the programme. Every time I hear the Adams piece I seem to have completely erased all previous knowledge of it and have a certain curiosity to hear how it goes, but this doesn't last long once it actually begins. On the other hand I don't think I've ever enjoyed hearing Dvořák's 9th Symphony as much as this evening, which was a very pleasant surprise.

[bluestateprommer]

This picture from the BBC Proms' Twitter feed shows more clearly the set-up of the "Arena" at Sage Gateshead, Level One, for this evening's Prom:

https://twitter.com/bbcproms/status/1550891264190676992/photo/2

The second half of Dvorak 9 was OK, nothing special to me at least, although points to DS for including the 1st-movement exposition repeat. The RNS personnel don't list a cor anglais player, but Elizabeth Alker mentioned the name of Max Pearce (or maybe Max Pierce), to give credit where credit is due.

From oddoneout's and ardcarp's comments, the full ramifications of this particular choir didn't really register with me, going into listening to this Prom. With all that in mind (amateur status, lockdown crimps on rehearsal, some of the younger folks acknowledging that they can't yet read music), their work in this Prom is all the more remarkable. I also wonder if JW had the status of this choir in mind, in keeping her work very mellifluous and "easy to grasp". Likewise, I'm with oddoneout and ardcarp in noting the audience enthusiasm. I half-expected applause between the movements of the Dvorak, but very understandable here, with the distinct possibility that for quite a number of the audience there, this concert might have been their first experience of live classical music at top professional level.

[oddoneout]

This picture from the BBC Proms' Twitter feed shows more clearly the set-up of the "Arena" at Sage Gateshead, Level One, for this evening's Prom:

https://twitter.com/bbcproms/status/1550891264190676992/photo/2

The second half of Dvorak 9 was OK, nothing special to me at least, although points to DS for including the 1st-movement exposition repeat. The RNS personnel don't list a cor anglais player, but Elizabeth Alker mentioned the name of Max Pearce (or maybe Max Pierce), to give credit where credit is due.

From oddoneout's and ardcarp's comments, the full ramifications of this particular choir didn't really register with me, going into listening to this Prom. With all that in mind (amateur status, lockdown crimps on rehearsal, some of the younger folks acknowledging that they can't yet read music), their work in this Prom is all the more remarkable. I also wonder if JW had the status of this choir in mind, in keeping her work very mellifluous and "easy to grasp". Likewise, I'm with oddoneout and ardcarp in noting the audience enthusiasm. I half-expected applause between the movements of the Dvorak, but very understandable here, with the distinct possibility that for quite a number of the audience there, this concert might have been their first experience of live classical music at top professional level.

I assumed this could well be the case - the friends and family contingent will have featured I expect - in which case this was probably a pretty good programme for a first introduction. The experience will stay with them for a good while and with luck might have sparked interest in some to explore music not previously considered.

[hmvman]

I noticed that too, it was good to hear. I caught only the first and last items on the programme. Every time I hear the Adams piece I seem to have completely erased all previous knowledge of it and have a certain curiosity to hear how it goes, but this doesn't last long once it actually begins. On the other hand I don't think I've ever enjoyed hearing Dvořák's 9th Symphony as much as this evening, which was a very pleasant surprise.

Having just caught up with this concert I would agree with Richard B. The RNS under Dini Sousa produce a great sound and the Dvořák was really enjoyable with plenty of lovely detail brought out in this performance, aided by excellent audio engineering. I don't often listen to this symphony nowadays but I thought this was a refreshing performance. As others have said, good to hear an enthusiastic audience!