Topsy Turvy
Aug. 17th, 2024 08:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
qatsiI'd picked out Prom 36 for the second half, although the first half was also interesting. Often the programme includes a modern piece - the phrase BBC Commission: World Premiere has a similar effect on me as Rail Replacement Bus Service. In fact, on this occasion, the unknown piece at the start of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra's concert, conducted by Gemma New, was an early twentieth-century work by an obscure composer: Mel Bonis' Salomé was definitely in the late romantic style, with oriental influences; if I'd been asked to identify the composer, I might have guessed Khachaturian.
I'm not a particular Mozart fan, but there are some works I do like, and the Clarinet Concerto K622 is one of them. The diminutive Anthony McGill was certainly caught up in the excitement of it all, with an obbligato part for eyebrows. It's an endearing and cheerful piece; McGill was well received, and gave as an encore an arrangement of Amazing grace.
The second half was (most of) the incidental music by Mendelssohn to A Midsummer Night's Dream - in fact all pieces bar number 10, for some reason. I think of Mendelssohn as a composer who has always been popular, but never (since the Victorian period, at least) been in fashion. This turned out to be a semi-staged performance. In my opinion this was not entirely successful. I enjoyed the overture and the scherzo, which I knew, and of course I recognised the Wedding March - but the less familiar pieces didn't engage me in the same way. Spoken fragments were performed by Moyo Akandé and Ewan Black; a few numbers had solo soprano parts for Emily Kemp and Beth Stirling, who were both notably impressive, and maintained my opinion that Mendelssohn has a lot in common with Gilbert and Sullivan. But the staging and the NCYOS Chamber Choir were somewhat distracting. I heard someone else saying as much as I left the concert, so I know I'm not the only one. Sometimes these experiments work, and sometimes they are less successful.
I'm not a particular Mozart fan, but there are some works I do like, and the Clarinet Concerto K622 is one of them. The diminutive Anthony McGill was certainly caught up in the excitement of it all, with an obbligato part for eyebrows. It's an endearing and cheerful piece; McGill was well received, and gave as an encore an arrangement of Amazing grace.
The second half was (most of) the incidental music by Mendelssohn to A Midsummer Night's Dream - in fact all pieces bar number 10, for some reason. I think of Mendelssohn as a composer who has always been popular, but never (since the Victorian period, at least) been in fashion. This turned out to be a semi-staged performance. In my opinion this was not entirely successful. I enjoyed the overture and the scherzo, which I knew, and of course I recognised the Wedding March - but the less familiar pieces didn't engage me in the same way. Spoken fragments were performed by Moyo Akandé and Ewan Black; a few numbers had solo soprano parts for Emily Kemp and Beth Stirling, who were both notably impressive, and maintained my opinion that Mendelssohn has a lot in common with Gilbert and Sullivan. But the staging and the NCYOS Chamber Choir were somewhat distracting. I heard someone else saying as much as I left the concert, so I know I'm not the only one. Sometimes these experiments work, and sometimes they are less successful.