Prom 24: Ryan Bancroft conducts Mahler’s Fourth Symphony (3.08.22)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:00 Wednesday 3 August 2022
Royal Albert Hall

Caroline Shaw: Entr’acte
Felix Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 4 in G major

Clara-Jumi Kang (violin)
Miah Persson (soprano)
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Ryan Bancroft (conductor)

Mahler pictured his Fourth Symphony unfolding under skies that ‘shine eternally blue’ – and from the sleighbells with which it opens to its final, childlike vision of heaven, it is outwardly the happiest symphony he ever wrote. But he knew that life is more complicated than that, and in a Prom that begins with Caroline Shaw’s contemporary take on the music of the 18th century, and stars the ‘compelling’ Clara-Jumi Kang in Mendelssohn’s bittersweet Violin Concerto, there’s always something more, hidden just below the surface. Soprano Miah Persson makes Mahler’s vision shine, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales shows the full scope of its blossoming relationship with Principal Conductor Ryan Bancroft.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The BBC website blurb reads like an advert for Pedigree Chum. Or perhaps they have access to crystal balls.

[edashtav]

Caroline Shaw: Entr’acte
Felix Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 4 in G major

Clara-Jumi Kang (violin)
Miah Persson (soprano)
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Ryan Bancroft (conductor)

What an unexpectedly enjoyable first half!
Caroline Shaw’s 12 minute Entr’acte is her earlier piece for string quartet dished up for a string band.I suspect the composer anticipated performances by chamber orchestras and I don’t know what fraction of BBC NOW’s strings were involved but it sounded very well in the vast acoustic of the RAH. It is a witty jeu d’esprit that explores unexpected, sudden mutations of material. Caroline has written

“Entr’acte was written in 2011 after hearing the Brentano Quartet play Haydn’s Op. 77 No. 2 — with their spare and soulful shift to the D-flat major trio in the minuet. It is structured like a minuet and trio, riffing on that classical form but taking it a little further. I love the way some music (like the minuets of Op. 77) suddenly takes you to the other side of Alice’s looking glass, in a kind of absurd, subtle, technicolor transition.”

The work is delightful as was the compelling interpretation by Ryan Bancroft and his string band. I was surprised at the work’s cunning accessibility. It took us from baroque practices into quite modern realms but didn’t pile Pelion on Ossa, rather it kept back-tracking only to veer off in a new and fascinating direction. It was stuffed with fecund imagination and creativity. The work has already received many performances, worldwide, and deserves to be programmed as an ice-breaker by other British orchestras.

I wasn’t looking forward to ‘another’ Mendelssohn E minor Violin Concerto but Clara-Jumi Kang soon dispelled my gloom. Her technique was secure, and her tone noble and ample. What was remarkable was the freshness and insightfulness of her interpretation. Out went the Dresden Porcelain to be replaced by passion and connectedness. Never has the first movement’s central cadenza had more critical mass or relevance. A wistful slow movement gave way to a high-spirited finale. Cobwebs were brushed away and a mature Mendelssohn full of fresh creativity emerged. The orchestra under Ryan Bancroft were admirably in tune with the Korean German’s vision and intensity.

I listened to Mahler’s 4th Symphony after the interval but it didn’t speak to me.

[Andrew]

Last night's Prom was a blinder! Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto (Op64) in E minor was a delight to hear and although I recognised the piece from earlier programmes, this recital was quite something!

[bluestateprommer]

Yet another late listen, with the deadline approaching on access to this summer's Proms, on a bit of a Welsh kick with posts on successive BBC NOW Proms (plus the Proms at...Cardiff chamber music Prom). With Felix Mendelssohn and Mahler on the program, this is definitely a populist / crowd-pleaser in its selections, although it wasn't clear from NHT how full the RAH was. Perhaps the choice of two warhorses explains the relative lack of comment on this Prom, although the opener is the curveball to most in the audience, I would think.

Hearing the Caroline Shaw work, following other radio broadcasts and the occasional live hearing, it reminded me again that her Entr'acte is very much a pressing from the David Lang school, in its sighing short phrases and style. Clara-Jumi Kang gave a nicely spic-and-span reading of Felix M.'s Violin Concerto, perhaps slightly more spacious than some. RB's reading of Mahler 4 was OK, perhaps a bit glib in sound at times, along with the occasional slightly self-conscious pulling about of the odd phrase. But RB is something like 31 or 32, so he has time to grow more into his Mahler interpretations. It was a bit of a sonic jolt to hear Miah Persson's very fine voice hit so forcefully in the 4th movement via BBC Sounds. But then that is the thing with microphone placements and balances in a radio broadcast, after all, vs. actually being in the hall.