Prom 41: Nielsen's 3rd Symphony with Behzod Abduraimov playing Beethoven (17.08.22)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:30 Wednesday 17 August 2022
Royal Albert Hall

Maurice Ravel: La valse
Ludwig van Beethoven:" Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major
Carl Nielsen: Symphony No. 3, ‘Sinfonia espansiva’

Behzod Abduraimov piano
Elizabeth Watts soprano
Benjamin Appl baritone
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Thomas Dausgaard conductor

‘Sizzling’ was how The Guardian described the playing of pianist Behzod Abduraimov. For The Arts Desk, meanwhile, he’s a ‘rare and enchanting musician’: the ideal performer, in other words, for a masterwork as witty, as joyful and as impulsive as Beethoven’s sunlit First Piano Concerto. That’s the burst of light and joy at the heart of this concert from the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under its Chief Conductor Thomas Dausgaard, but there’s no letting up after the interval, as Dausgaard conducts a symphony he’s made his own: Nielsen’s ebullient Sinfonia espansiva. Ravel’s La valse sets things spinning: a sumptuous, sinister evocation of an era – and a culture – waltzing ever closer to the abyss.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Not a symphony I know well. Often eclipsed by 4 & 5?

[LeMartinPecheur]

Often eclipsed by 4 & 5?

Well, some will no doubt say so, particularly those wanting a big struggle through or into tragedy in a symphony. The 3rd is a happy, life-affirming symphony by and large, so enjoy!

[edashtav]

Well, some will no doubt say so, particularly those wanting a big struggle through or into tragedy in a symphony. The 3rd is a happy, life-affirming symphony by and large, so enjoy!

Or, in the finale, a hymn to the life-enhancing power of work. Nielsen wrote, “the composer wished to show the healthy morality inherent in the blessing of work. Everything progresses steadily towards the goal. The main subject is used much and the character of the movement is maintained with as much zest and energy as possible.”

[Tony Halstead]

The colossal opening Tutti of the 1st movement, all 137 bars of it, is a masterpiece of relentless rhythmic and harmonic energy. Absolutely breathtaking is the fact that, having begun in an ambiguous conflict of A minor and D minor, Nielsen hardly refers to the titled key of A at all in this magnificent whirlwind of shifting tonality. After about 100 bars of torrential energy, we are suddenly bathed in the glow of an E flat 'pedal point' for about the last 20 bars of the Tutti. Then the first lyrical, gently memorably melodic passage in the movement is in A flat, as far removed from the 'tonic' of A as possible! Bernstein's transcendental live concert performance of the Symphony with the Royal Danish Orchestra in 1965 is required listening ( and watching!). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNNP_4TYnV4

[edashtav]

The colossal opening Tutti of the 1st movement, all 137 bars of it, is a masterpiece of relentless rhythmic and harmonic energy. Absolutely breathtaking is the fact that, having begun in an ambiguous conflict of A minor and D minor, Nielsen hardly refers to the titled key of A at all in this magnificent whirlwind of shifting tonality. After about 100 bars of torrential energy, we are suddenly bathed in the glow of an E flat 'pedal point' for about the last 20 bars of the Tutti. Then the first lyrical, gently memorably melodic passage in the movement is in A flat, as far removed from the 'tonic' of A as possible! Bernstein's transcendental live concert performance of the Symphony with the Royal Danish Orchestra in 1965 is required listening ( and watching!). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNNP_4TYnV4

What a good spot, Tony : I’v never listened with a score and had not realised that Carl Nielsen had written such an extended Tutti at the start of the work.

[kernelbogey]

I shall try to catch it. I am reminded of a talk (or series of?) on The Third, I'd guess around 1960-61 (and possibly by Hans Keller) about Nielsen and Mahler simultaneously, and quite separately, discovering Progressive Tonality - which I think was the title of the programme(s). As I was not adequtely musically educated at the time I didn't understand it, and so forget about it until moments like this - and perhaps Tony's fascinating post #5.

Can anyone briefly elucidate - at least in relation to Nielsen 3?

[Barbirollians]

Top soloists in both works.

[richardfinegold]

Not a symphony I know well. Often eclipsed by 4 & 5?

Try the Bernstein recording and then see if you haven’t changed your mind

[Bryn]

Indeed. The commercial 'studio' recordings may not quite hit the spots that that Youtube offering hits but it's not far off:



Also to be found in boxed sets.

[Dave2002]

The colossal opening Tutti of the 1st movement, all 137 bars of it, is a masterpiece of relentless rhythmic and harmonic energy. Absolutely breathtaking is the fact that, having begun in an ambiguous conflict of A minor and D minor, Nielsen hardly refers to the titled key of A at all in this magnificent whirlwind of shifting tonality. After about 100 bars of torrential energy, we are suddenly bathed in the glow of an E flat 'pedal point' for about the last 20 bars of the Tutti. Then the first lyrical, gently memorably melodic passage in the movement is in A flat, as far removed from the 'tonic' of A as possible! Bernstein's transcendental live concert performance of the Symphony with the Royal Danish Orchestra in 1965 is required listening ( and watching!). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNNP_4TYnV4

Thanks for that - in particular the YT link. The various CDs of Bernstein's interpretation do have much better sound quality - and are definitely worth listening to. However the live performance is stunning - even if the SQ isn't great. I'd not seen that before - really great stuff.

[bluestateprommer]

Rather quirky, pace-shifting reading from Thomas Dausgaard with the BBC SSO of La valse, with the mood swings not completely to my own taste. At the risk of incorrectly projecting my thoughts on to the orchestra, I sort of wondered if they wondered "what's he going to do next?". But I've always had mixed feelings about TD's appointment to the BBC SSO from the outset, so I'm biased in that regard.

[BBMmk2]

Looking forward to the Nielsen.it’s the most individual of his canon.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Behzod Abduraimov‘s beautifully even touch, legato and unflashy cantabile style reminds me of Solomon. That is just about the highest praise I can think of. Those first movement descending chromatic triplets in the right hand that so many pianists turn into a Czerny finger exercise - he makes them into poetry.

[gedsmk]

Rather quirky, pace-shifting reading from Thomas Dausgaard with the BBC SSO of La valse, with the mood swings not completely to my own taste. At the risk of incorrectly projecting my thoughts on to the orchestra, I sort of wondered if they wondered "what's he going to do next?". But I've always had mixed feelings about TD's appointment to the BBC SSO from the outset, so I'm biased in that regard.

I’ve enjoyed quite a few concerts of the BBCSSO/TD combination. A superb Rach 3 PC at a prom, for example, and their Nielsens. The Ravel made me sit up. “The band is really on this”, I thought.