Prom 34: Thorvaldsdottir, Elgar and Sibelius (11.08.22)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:30 Thursday 11 August 2022 ON TV
Royal Albert Hall

Anna Thorvaldsdottir: ARCHORA (BBC co-commission: world première)
Edward Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor
Jean Sibelius: Symphony No. 2 in D majors

Kian Soltani (cello)
BBC Philharmonic
Eva Ollikainen

Three composers, three landscapes. Elgar wrote his Cello Concerto in the woodlands of Sussex; for many listeners, its autumnal colours evoke emotions too deep for words. From his home in Finland, Sibelius created a symphony that has the grandeur and inevitability of a great river – though some have heard it as a stirring song of national awakening. And elemental forces are the very bedrock of Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s inspiration. The BBC Philharmonic, under Eva Ollikainen – a Finnish conductor with close links to Iceland – teams up with charismatic soloist Kian Soltani in Elgar’s hugely popular concerto, and gives the world premiere of a newly forged orchestral work by Iceland-born Anna Thorvaldsdottir, for whom composition is ‘a natural part of my life’.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

From a composer's point of view, a world premiere at the Proms must be an amazing thing, but then what? Will the work received further performances? Surely that's what really counts.

[edashtav]

From the composer’s websute:

ARCHORA

For orchestra
Duration 19 min.
Instrumentation: 2+afl.0.2+bcl.2+cbn / 4.0.1+btbn.1+btuba / 3perc / [org] / str

Please note: The organ part is optional and is intended to be played only where a grand organ is available at the venue. It is not to be substituted by chamber organ or another keyboard instrument. [my emphasis]

Commissioned by the BBC Proms and co-commissioned by the LA Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Iceland Symphony Orchestra and Klangspuren Schwaz. The world premiere will take place on 11 August 2022 at the Royal Albert Hall as part of BBC Proms 2022, performed by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and Eva Ollikainen.

Programme pnotes:

The core inspiration behind ARCHORA centres around the notion of a primordial energy and the idea of an omnipresent parallel realm – a world both familiar and strange, static and transforming, nowhere and everywhere at the same time. The piece revolves around the extremes on the spectrum between the Primordia and its resulting afterglow – and the conflict between these elements that are nevertheless fundamentally one and the same. The halo emerges from the Primordia but they have both lost perspective and the connection to one another, experiencing themselves individually as opposing forces rather than one and the same.

As with my music generally, the inspiration is not something I am trying to describe through the music as such – it is a way to intuitively approach and work with the core energy, structure, atmosphere and material of the piece.

Wise Music Classical - Q&A ahead of the world premiere

————————————

Are we going to hear a gritty, monolithic piece, on the lines of Old Harry Rocks? [Ed]

[bluestateprommer]

Are we going to hear a gritty, monolithic piece, on the lines of Old Harry Rocks? [Ed]

Very prescient comment from Ed, as that proved to be just my first reaction to Anna Þorvaldsdóttir's ARCHORA, that her work reminded me very much of my hazy memories of Sir HB's Earth Dances. Perhaps a tad less gritty than Earth Dances, but very much in its spirit, IMHO.

From a composer's point of view, a world premiere at the Proms must be an amazing thing, but then what? Will the work received further performances? Surely that's what really counts.

Indeed, yes, as in many ways, the important performance of a new work isn't the premiere, but the 50th performance (or 100th, if the composer is really lucky). On EA's "then what?" question, the answer, at least IMHO, will depend on how much the conductor of the premiere likes the work, and is willing to take it on the road. The BBC Proms can commission any number of new works, but can't make anyone like them. The latter is obviously a very personal reaction. One example that comes to mind is Outi Tarkiainen's Midnight Sun Variations, which got its launch at The Proms in 2019 with John Storgårds and the BBC Philharmonic. JS has since taken the work to various orchestras in the US:

Houston Symphony, January 2020: https://houstonsymphony.org/tarkiain...un-variations/

Detroit Symphony, February 2020: https://livefromorchestrahall.vhx.tv...sun-variations

Wise Music Classical's page of performances of Midnight Sun : https://www.wisemusicclassical.com/p...ch/work/60055/

Back to the new work at hand for tonight: Tom McKinney mentioned scheduled future performances in Iceland (with Eva Ollikainen leading her orchestra there), as well as on the Continent. Subsequent performances are indeed what really counts, and the Wise Music Classical page (found from AÞ's own page) does list upcoming performances:

https://www.wisemusicclassical.com/performances/search/work/61749/

September 2022: Iceland (EO conducting), Austria
November 2022: Germany
March 2023: Finland (again with EO)
May 2023: USA

On KS and the Elgar cello concerto: thought I heard slightly off notes from him at the launch into the finale, in the heat of the moment. Otherwise, fine, solid reading, with clearly a very happy audience. Wondering if an encore is in the wings.

PS: Yes, an encore was indeed in the wings ;) . Wasn't this melody used for the Felicity Kendal sitcom (or "Brit-com", as we call them on this side of the pond) Solo, if memory serves?

[johnn10]

The invasion of Ukraine took place in February rather than March as stated by the presenter at the end of the first half.

[edashtav]

Very prescient comment from Ed, as that proved to be just my first reaction to Anna Þorvaldsdóttir's ARCHORA, that her work reminded me very much of my hazy memories of Sir]
HB's Earth Dances.

Perhaps a tad less gritty than Earth Dances, but very much in its spirit, IMHO.

Yes, bsp, less Millstone Grit and not so Granitic as Harry and surely more organic and fluid, too?
Anna Þorvaldsdóttir's ARCHORA is more compellingly scored than the works of our old Lancastrian friend.

I enjoyed the Elgar Concerto and I was much taken with Eva Ollikainen’s interpretation of Sibelius’s 2nd Symphony because of the way she shaped paragraphs and inked in details that can be missed when the work is treated as an elongated National Anthem.

Altogether a winning Concert and I was pleased to learn that the RAH was near to its capacity.

Maybe that’s because Anna’s a Londoner, by adoption.

[seabright]

I watched the first half on the telly last night and had the same problem with the TV sound as has been discussed elsewhere here. There were some places in the Elgar concerto, where the soloist was playing very quietly, that were virtually inaudible. It can't be my TV, even with the volume level at the max, because when Petroc broke into the applause a couple of seconds after the work was over, his voice level was twice as loud as the entire orchestra had been. In any case, I have no volume level problems with other channels or indeed other BBC programmes. Petroc did say something about the first piece needing visuals, rather like being the soundtrack to a travelogue documentary showing Icelandic landscapes. However, with such a huge orchestra taking up the entire platform, I can't see it receiving many more concert performances, not least due to the cost of putting it on.

[Lordgeous]

I regret I wasn't so enamoured by the Sibelius, but I guess that's just me. I've known the piece for over 60 years but can't claim to really know the work, so maybe I shouldn't comment but did the last movement hang together? I hadn't before realised how much repetition of material there is as apposed to development. Discuss!

[oddoneout]

I watched last night, having listened to the concert previously. Enjoyed ARCHORA just as much second time around, with the added advantage of being able to see the instruments, and how some of the sounds were made, and watch the percussion section. Amused to see the orange lollipop on bendy stick being applied to the big bass drum as it was in another Icelandic daughter's work at another Prom recently. There is always a fair amount of juggling has to go on in the percussion department with a work such as this, but having to wield bows on some items as well as sticks etc must have taken a fair amount of concentration and practice to prevent noises off(or indeed off noises).
The opening of the Elgar puzzled me soundwise on the radio broadcast and did so again on the TV relay - to my ears the cello pitch seemed ever so slightly off with the orchestra, but did settle quite quickly. A little bit later along there was an odd brief effect of very slight echo that gave the impression of the cello playing in a different space. I didn't listen attentively to the rest of the concerto I'm afraid - it was not one of the occasions when I was in the mood for it, although I did like the sound of Soltani's instrument. Both that and his appearance when playing reminded me of Paul Tortelier, whose playing of the Elgar is the one that I would choose above all others, a view which I realise is at odds with most folk.
I thought the occasional dips in cello volume/balance versus the orchestra were due to my TV's deficiencies but perhaps not?
The presentation of the TV version was better than the radio, not least for Steven Isslerlis' contribution, and I liked this comment from Thorvaldsdottir, talking about about her composing and ARCHORA - "It's nice that the audience find their own world within the music..." as that was very much what I did, particularly on Thursday when I wasn't feeling very well and welcomed the chance to get lost in the sounds, make pictures in my mind in response to those sounds and get taken away from present discomfort.
Can't comment on the Sibelius, other than I seem to know some movements well and others still sound unfamiliar, why I have no idea. Yes some movements suffer from being heard as standalone pieces, but I've heard the whole enough times that I should be able to join in the missing bits without surprise by now!

[Ein Heldenleben]

It sounded pretty in tune to me OOO with the exception of that big rising E minor scale where the cellist lost a bit of intonation.It must be so hot in the hall and so easy for fingers to slip. But I’ve heard much much worse just this year and he completely nailed it in the repeat . I thought the cello sounded wonderful - a really rich toned musical performance It was very forward in the balance but with playing as good as this that’s fine by me. Not something you often mention but very good pizzicati as well - really ringing out.