Prom 18: Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony (29.07.22)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:30 Friday 29 July 2022
Royal Albert Hall

Nicole Lizée: Blurr is the Colour of My True Love’s Eyes (BBC co-commission: European première)
Anton Bruckner: String Quintet in F major – Adagio (arr. Skrowaczewski)
Dmitry Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 in D minor

Colin Currie, percussion
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Alpesh Chauhan, conductor

Music and politics don’t mix, or so we’re told. But Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony was written in direct response to an attack on the composer from Stalin himself, and the stakes – in 1930s Russia – could hardly have been higher. That’s the history; its legacy is a shattering musical testament of humanity against oppression. The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra is led by its young Associate Conductor Alpesh Chauhan. First, a vision of pure beauty from Anton Bruckner, before Colin Currie (‘the world’s finest and most daring percussionist’ – The Spectator) takes the spotlight in a new concerto by Nicole Lizée: the Canadian sonic magician who lists MTV, Alexander McQueen, early video games and thrash metal among her influences.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Goading Shostakovich into writing his 5th Symphony was probably the only good thing Stalin ever did, if perhaps for the wrong reasons?

[Nick Armstrong]

IMO one of the very best live perfs of the Shostakovich 5th I've heard in a very long while. Bravo BBCSSO.

I only came in for the latter part of the slow movement and the final movement - but yes! it seemed tremendous to me, including a perfectly judged conclusion.

One to catch up with.

[Maclintick]

A terrific Shostakovich 5th, and the Bruckner Adagio a nice tribute to Stan The Man by Alpesh Chauhan, who spoke very engagingly in a brief interview with the announcer. I can't really comment on the percussion piece, as I failed to grasp the compositional processes in play, except to say that it seemed a tad overlong for the material.

[Pulcinella]

Times review here:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/bbc-scottish-symphony-orchestra-review-alpesh-chauhan-and-colin-currie-light-up-the-proms-jlnjhkmgr?shareToken=5bfc7e2267afad8bee945b8652d96c0c

[Andrew]

A terrific Shostakovich 5th, and the Bruckner Adagio a nice tribute to Stan The Man by Alpesh Chauhan, who spoke very engagingly in a brief interview with the announcer. I can't really comment on the percussion piece, as I failed to grasp the compositional processes in play, except to say that it seemed a tad overlong for the material.

Agreed 100%! The Shostakovich piece was superb, and I liked the explanation regarding the situation Shostakovich found himself in during the Stain era. I'm with you on the first piece, too, although not as "off the wall" as some I've heard...

[antongould]

A terrific Shostakovich 5th, and the Bruckner Adagio a nice Edtribute to Stan The Man by Alpesh Chauhan, who spoke very engagingly in a brief interview with the announcer. I can't really comment on the percussion piece, as I failed to grasp the compositional processes in play, except to say that it seemed a tad overlong for the material.

Liked the Bruckner which, shamefully I hadn’t heard before …..

[Maclintick]

Liked the Bruckner which, shamefully I hadn’t heard before …..

I'm also mired in Brucknerian ignominy, Anton; my disgrace now tempered by a resolution to acquire a recording of the whole quintet. AFAIK it's never been covered in BAL, but a cursory search suggests that L'Archibudelli, Raphael Ens, Fitzwilliam & Leipzig are front-runners. I'm sure Forumites will have views...

[Master Jacques]

I'm also mired in Brucknerian ignominy, Anton; my disgrace now tempered by a resolution to acquire a recording of the whole quintet. AFAIK it's never been covered in BAL, but a cursory search suggests that L'Archibudelli, Raphael Ens, Fitzwilliam & Leipzig are front-runners. I'm sure Forumites will have views...

My most cherished CD of the Bruckner Quintet is the classic recording by the Vienna Philharmonia Quintet, on Decca, coupled with an equally warm and winning version of Franz Schmidt's Piano Quintet in G Major, another obsession of mine. I have the (clean and rich) Eloquence remastering from 2013, but this older Decca issue seems to be available second-hand, and more cheaply:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bruckner-String-Quintet-Franz-Schmidt/dp/B00000E4LP

The Fitzwilliams are good, too, more passionate if a little fallible as to tuning; but the Raphael's disc left me unmoved. I don't know the other two recordings you mention.

[Maclintick]

My most cherished CD of the Bruckner Quintet is the classic recording by the Vienna Philharmonia Quintet, on Decca, coupled with an equally warm and winning version of Franz Schmidt's Piano Quintet in G Major, another obsession of mine. I have the (clean and rich) Eloquence remastering from 2013, but this older Decca issue seems to be available second-hand, and more cheaply:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bruckner-String-Quintet-Franz-Schmidt/dp/B00000E4LP

The Fitzwilliams are good, too, more passionate if a little fallible as to tuning; but the Raphael's disc left me unmoved. I don't know the other two recordings you mention.

Many thanks, M-J. I'd sort of discounted the Vienna Philh. version as a historical choice, but will investigate further. A coupling with the AB quartet is more persuasive than the Schmidt, methinks ...

[Master Jacques]

Many thanks, M-J. I'd sort of discounted the Vienna Philh. version as a historical choice, but will investigate further. A coupling with the AB quartet is more persuasive than the Schmidt, methinks ...

Both couplings make good sense. Having both Bruckner pieces together is a sensible "library" choice for sure, though the Quartet is perhaps mostly interesting as a 'prentice curiosity. Having the Schmidt follow the Bruckner is satisfying artistically, given the younger composer's musical debt to Bruckner, and the two pieces fit together like hand and glove. You may well feel you don't need another recording of the Schmidt, though - I'm biased, as I can't get enough of them!

[bluestateprommer]

Yet another late catch-up listen; good, solid work from AC and the BBC SSO, and of course, terrific percussion work from CC in the new Nicole Lizee concerto. Her concerto is kind of par for the course on percussion concerti, in its relatively diffuse form (at least IMHO) and argument. But that seems almost to be baked into the nature of percussion, since in general by default, the inherent quick decay of so much percussion prevents the potentially long, singing line that other instruments can more readily achieve either with the arm (strings) or breathing (winds, brass). It was only based on one listen, though.

Bruckner is one of my own self-admitted blind-spots, but AC and the BBC SSO strings did a very fine job with the Skrowaczewski arrangement of the Bruckner string quintet movement. As Maclintick noted, a most excellent tribute from AC and Martin Handley to "Stan", which is how one refers to Skrowaczewski at least in the neighborhood of the Minnesota Orchestra, to my understanding. On this side of the pond, the name "Stan the Man" generally refers to someone rather different :) .

With DSCH 5, to my ears, a good, solid, though not necessarily stellar, interpretation by AC. My guess is that at the end, AC did try to go somewhat close to the original tempo marking, with the tempo slowed down for the "forced rejoicing" interpretation. I once heard Yakov Kreizberg take the end of DSCH 5 that slow, which puzzled me at the time in the moment - until the penultimate bar, when the timpanist blew the roof off the hall, really stretching it out, and it all suddenly made sense. Excellent interval discussion between MH and Rosamund Bartlett about DSCH and the climate at the time (and the resonances now).