Prom 46: WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne (21.08.22)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:30 Sunday 21 August 2022
Royal Albert Hall

Felix Mendelssohn: Overture ‘The Hebrides’ (‘Fingal’s Cave’)
Antonín Dvořák: Violin Concerto in A minor
Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 3 in F major

Augustin Hadelich violin
WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne
Cristian Măcelaru conductor



The composers of the Romantic generation saw the world differently, and they heard it differently, too. A stormy voyage off the Scottish coast set music playing in Mendelssohn’s head: music that grew into the overture The Hebrides. Brahms launches his Third Symphony in heroic style – but brings it to a close in the most radiant of sunset glows. Dvořák, meanwhile, fused classical forms with Czech folklore and his own deeply poetic spirit to create a violin concerto that dances as joyfully as it sings. Grammy Award-winner Augustin Hadelich is its champion tonight, as the Proms welcomes the Cologne-based WDR Symphony Orchestra and its energetic Chief Conductor Cristian Măcelaru.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Has the Köln orchestra ever played at the Proms before?

[RichardB]

It's a shame they aren't playing any 20th or 21st century music because they're one of the best orchestras in the world for that kind of thing, along with the SWR and Bavarian Radio orchestras.

[bluestateprommer]

Has the Köln orchestra ever played at the Proms before?

Yes, but only twice, and very far apart in years:

(a) 1977: Luciano Berio conducting his own Coro
(b) 2010: Bychkov conducting Wagner, Felix Mendelssohn, Gunther Schuller, and Richard Strauss

Fair to say that the WDR SO Köln is well overdue for a return visit to The Proms. In that light, though, this upcoming concert is far from the most interesting programming, IMHO. But it is a good "Classical for Starters" concert that hopefully draws newbies to The Proms. Hadelich is a wonderful violinist and always worth hearing no matter what he plays.

[edashtav]

Mendelssohn’s Hebrides overture was projected with a fine sense of ebb and flow. Melodies were lovingly crafted with shape and purpose. Rhythmic passages were neat and the overall balance was good. Tempi were neither stiff not military, relaxing where necessary to allow woodwind soloists time to shine.

Antonin’s Violin Concerto is clearly a favourite with tonight’s soloist, Augustin Hadelich, and he’s made a successful recording of it. His tone is beautiful, a little like of Nathan Milstein and he can spin a lovely silken line into fine yarn Perhaps, he’s not the finest exponent of loud, bravura passages but as a story-teller he’s splendid and insightful. Above all, Hadelich understands Dvorak’s Czech lilt. The first movement danced along with some delightful duets e.g. between the soloist and flute. Structurally, the movement is Antonin at his most wayward : neither fish (sonata) nor fowl (rondo) and where’s the recapitulation? But, what the heck, when Dvorak’s golden spinning wheel tells such an entrancing story from Bohemia’s woods and fields and it’s so lovingly recreated by Augustin Hadelich and Cologne’s WDR Symphony Orchestra and its Chief Conductor Cristian Măcelaru?

The first movement melts into the slow movement which is a sylvan idyll.
The finale is energetic and akin to a string of Slavonic dances. The style is the Dvorak of his sixth symphony. I loved the slower, tender elements.

A captivating performance that declared Dvorak’s violin concerto to be on a par with the finest composed in the last quarter of the 19th century. Refreshing!

Augustin’s first encore was in great contrast : Louisiana Blues by Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, full of strutting, and ‘schwung’ throughout.

The second piece was more sentimental: Carlos Gardel’s Tango Por Una Cabeza arr. By AH.

[gedsmk]

Yes, but only twice, and very far apart in years:

(a) 1977: Luciano Berio conducting his own Coro
(b) 2010: Bychkov conducting Wagner, Felix Mendelssohn, Gunther Schuller, and Richard Strauss

Fair to say that the WDR SO Köln is well overdue for a return visit to The Proms. In that light, though, this upcoming concert is far from the most interesting programming, IMHO. But it is a good "Classical for Starters" concert that hopefully draws newbies to The Proms. Hadelich is a wonderful violinist and always worth hearing no matter what he plays.

Dear WDR SO Köln
Can you play every week please?
Maybe a Tchaikovsky cycle next year, or some Shostakovich?
Pretty please?
God, they’re amazing.

[HighlandDougie]

A captivating performance that declared Dvorak’s violin concerto to be on a par with the finest composed in the last quarter of the 19th century. Refreshing!

As long as the ferry from Newcastle across the North Sea tomorrow night doesn't capsize - fingers crossed, I'm going to hear this combination of composer, soloist, orchestra and conductor in the Kölner Philharmonie on Friday evening. My appetite has been duly whetted (the Josef Suk recording of the VC with the dream team accompaniment and Supraphon Rudolfinum recording has to be a Desert Island choice).

[bluestateprommer]

Yet another late-listening catch-up. It was interesting to hear Cristian Măcelaru say that this program was his idea, to showcase the WDR SO Cologne in 'old-school' repertoire. In keeping with RichardB's comment, I kind of rather wish that the orchestra had included more off-beat fare, since this "Classical for Starters" wasn't particularly revelatory to me. The Dvořák was the highlight for me, with Hadelich a wonderful soloist, as I totally expected, with just as wonderful encores. Măcelaru and the orchestra accompanied very sympathetically and allowed AH properly to shine.

Both the Mendelssohn and the Brahms had more than a bit of a hard edge, and occasionally hard-driving edge, to me. (The Dvořák encore from the orchestra was quite nice, in fairness.) To be honest, though, I came in a bit biased, because I've seen CM conduct live before on this side of the pond, and he has never really impressed me all that much. OTOH, my orchestra friends say that CM is a genuinely friendly and nice guy, a "plays well with others" type of personality. His chats with WRTI radio hosts in past years likewise reveal a good-natured, down-to-earth manner. I do recall that he conducted well the radio broadcast of Wynton Marsalis' Violin Concerto (with Nicola Benedetti, natch) with the Philadelphia Orchestra very well, for one. Clearly, however, two very fine European orchestras, the WDR SO Cologne and the Orchestre National de France, see enough in him to work with him as their chief conductor, for the foreseeable future.