Prom 42: Sibelius, Beethoven and Nielsen (18.08.22)

[Ein Heldenleben]

Fine start to this Prom with Sibelius 7 just now. TD stretched out a few passages, but the work can stand it (mostly). He's recalling highlights with Martin Handley now, including concerts like the Rachmaninov Prom mentioned in the other thread. Amusing to hear Jan L. tell the story of how quickly he got the call.

Don’t think I’ve heard the big tune ( is it a tune ? ) so expansively played before - lovely trombone sound . So beautifully phrased the whole piece.

[Ein Heldenleben]

The piano sound on this doesn’t sound right at all . Too distant and bathroomy…..

Ooh - suddenly got better …

[Alison]

Not really on the level of Ben Grosvenor’s unforgettable Fourth last season.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Not really on the level of Ben Grosvenor’s unforgettable Fourth last season.

Just what I was thinking.Rushed , overfast , over flashy scales , overloud sforzandi , and lacking legato - mind you not helped by an unevenly prepared piano emphasising the percussive nature of it all.

I would recommend last nights Beethoven 1 . That was some performance…

[Bryn]

Not really on the level of Ben Grosvenor’s unforgettable Fourth last season.

Hmm. I find this performance has, as it were, grown on me as it has gone along. I like the improvisatory character of pianism.

[edashtav]

Hmm. I find this performance has, as it were, grown on me as it has gone along. I like the improvisatory character of pianism.

Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major
With Jan Lisiecki as soloist.
I was looking forward to Francesco Piemontesi, as I have admired his work on CD but never heard him live. Sadly, he was unwell but what a welcome replacement!
I know Lisiecki best from his wonderful recording of Schumann’s Concerto. His first entry in tonight’s concerto was individual, fresh and not at all anodyne. It’s promise was fulfilled throughout Beethoven’s marvellous first movement. For a moment, Jan’s sensitive touch reminded me of the first time I heard the work in Bournemouth over seventy years ago with the diminutive, soberly dressed Myra Hess. [My word would she have caused a sensation had she turned up as Bournemouth Beach Belle à la Yuja Wang.]
Beethoven’s Andante con moto, is also breathtakingly original. The piano has to repeatedly answer forceful sentences from the orchestra’s strings until, little by little, the piano’s quiet authority undermines and silences the strings’ resolve. Once the piano has celebrated its victory, the music then runs without pause into the taut Rondo finale, Vivace. Jan shaped this short, idiosyncratic movement beautifully.

The finale was full of life, vitality and fun. The soloist sounded in his element and the orchestra came up trumps. A winning performance.

Encore: Chopin’s dreamy Nocturne in C minor op. posth. was played with sympathy and understanding.

[Alison]

Back to Georgia and Tom …

[bluestateprommer]

Not really on the level of Ben Grosvenor’s unforgettable Fourth last season.

Would also state that JL wasn't as good as Behzod A.'s reading of LvB 1 yesterday. But given the very short notice that Jan L. got for this gig, he did fine, and it was good. To misappropriate the line from Dr. Strangelove, in this context, "it's great to be fine" (or "it's great to be good", to misparaphrase).

Wondered if JL would perform Chopin as his encore, given his recent DG album of Chopin. He did :) , and very well.

[kernelbogey]

Back to Georgia and Tom …

Why this childish drivel in a Proms interval...?

(Two presenters who both need to sort out their breathing, too.)

[Ein Heldenleben]

Blimey as last night Thomas D has started before the audience finished clapping - segueing out of Martin Handley’s intro with Radio One like celerity . Wonder whether he is making an artistic point or has a train to catch?

[edashtav]

Back to Georgia and Tom …

[…] back to Georgia
Just can't wait to hear old Tom, again,
Now I'm goin back to Georgia
Been laid up here got Georgia on my mind

[Bryn]

Blimey as last night Thomas D has started before the audience finished clapping - segueing out of Martin Handley’s intro with Radio One like celerity . Wonder whether he is making an artistic point or has a train to catch?

Or perhaps he does not trust the orchestra to start crisply, so uses the applause to cover any potential opening mishaps.

[johnn10]

Why this childish drivel in a Proms interval...?

(Two presenters who both need to sort out their breathing, too.)

I know. I am just surprised that the radio listeners were not invited to send a tweet with a request.

[bluestateprommer]

Interesting to hear from Martin Handley just before the music started about the placement of the 2nd set of timpani in the Arena for Nielsen 4. This must have made for a terrific effect, sonic, theatrical, and musical, in the timpanists' duel. Had I been in the RAH, I would have Prommed in the Gallery, as close to the back center as possible, so I'm trying to imagine the staging looking down from on high. Like with yesterday, TD guided the orchestra well (the sudden opening over the audience applause aside), but as the quote from Sakari Oramo in the other thread indicates, with Nielsen, the thing to do is to guide the orchestra and not "over-interpret". Whatever my mixed feelings about TD with the BBC SSO, this pair of concerts was, on the whole, a very strong way to end his chief conductorship of the orchestra, finishing with head held high.

While I'm not a fan myself of the "G&T" interval sessions, it occurred to me: this is actually a variation on the FoR3 Christmas Game, in its way. Just a thought.....

[gedsmk]

The piano sound on this doesn’t sound right at all . Too distant and bathroomy…..

Ooh - suddenly got better …

Indeed. There’s so much acoustic around the sound I can only surmise they forgot to turn on the focus/solo mics, or whatever they’re called. Cannot recall this happening before!