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Doomsters and Gloomsters
Jul. 31st, 2019 08:24 pmI overheard the following in the queue:
The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra was always going to be popular. The weather was patchy on Tuesday and I had hoped this, and a late change of conductor and programme, would put people off, but not so much. When the season was initially advertised, the programme was Beethoven 2 and Shostakovich 10; in the end, it was Shostakovich 5, and conductor Mariss Jansons was replaced by Yannick Nézet-Séguin (whose tunic proved to be a strong contender for Bond-villan outfit of the season).
Nevertheless I had a decent spot in the second row. Over the years, I don't think I've seen all that much Beethoven at the Proms, and whenever I do, I feel he gets under-rated; perhaps it's a tricky venue for his less bombastic works. The Symphony No. 2 is, obviously, an early work; but the next one in the series is the game-changing Eroica. Can you hear that coming? Not really. Given fragments of the first movement in particular, I would have believed someone who told me it was Haydn, or even Mozart; but the work as a whole is definitely Beethoven. It was an energetic performance, enthusiastically received.
I overheard a few people in the queue expressing disappointment at the Shostakovich substitution; curiously, people claiming they knew the fifth but not the tenth, and had been looking forward to it. I say curiously, because the tenth was the first of his symphonies I encountered, in the 1980s at Newcastle City Hall. Although I hadn't noticed the change of conductor ahead of time, I had been aware of the change in programme, and I was in the mood for Symphony No. 5. I found the first movement a bit quiet, but the orchestra heated up as the performance went on, with the quintessential Shostakovich Stalin-pleasing empty-triumphal finale.
Visiting orchestras often give encores at the Proms, but how do you follow such an emotive ending? It's rare to be able to read what the music actually says on the stands, even in the front row, but I could see there was an encore, and the title was spelled out in quite clear text. But I couldn't quite make sense of it. It took me a little while to realise that it was Russian transliterated into German: Chowanschina = Khovanshchina. This made sense - an opera begun by Mussorgsky and later completed and orchestrated by Rimsky-Korsakov, and later again by Shostakovich. The subdued and sublime Dawn on the Moscow River drew a perfect conclusion to the concert.
Prommer #1: "So are you here to support the Bavarians, then?"And they say the Germans have no sense of humour.
Prommer #2: (perfect English, with German accent) "No. I am from Saxony."
The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra was always going to be popular. The weather was patchy on Tuesday and I had hoped this, and a late change of conductor and programme, would put people off, but not so much. When the season was initially advertised, the programme was Beethoven 2 and Shostakovich 10; in the end, it was Shostakovich 5, and conductor Mariss Jansons was replaced by Yannick Nézet-Séguin (whose tunic proved to be a strong contender for Bond-villan outfit of the season).
Nevertheless I had a decent spot in the second row. Over the years, I don't think I've seen all that much Beethoven at the Proms, and whenever I do, I feel he gets under-rated; perhaps it's a tricky venue for his less bombastic works. The Symphony No. 2 is, obviously, an early work; but the next one in the series is the game-changing Eroica. Can you hear that coming? Not really. Given fragments of the first movement in particular, I would have believed someone who told me it was Haydn, or even Mozart; but the work as a whole is definitely Beethoven. It was an energetic performance, enthusiastically received.
I overheard a few people in the queue expressing disappointment at the Shostakovich substitution; curiously, people claiming they knew the fifth but not the tenth, and had been looking forward to it. I say curiously, because the tenth was the first of his symphonies I encountered, in the 1980s at Newcastle City Hall. Although I hadn't noticed the change of conductor ahead of time, I had been aware of the change in programme, and I was in the mood for Symphony No. 5. I found the first movement a bit quiet, but the orchestra heated up as the performance went on, with the quintessential Shostakovich Stalin-pleasing empty-triumphal finale.
Visiting orchestras often give encores at the Proms, but how do you follow such an emotive ending? It's rare to be able to read what the music actually says on the stands, even in the front row, but I could see there was an encore, and the title was spelled out in quite clear text. But I couldn't quite make sense of it. It took me a little while to realise that it was Russian transliterated into German: Chowanschina = Khovanshchina. This made sense - an opera begun by Mussorgsky and later completed and orchestrated by Rimsky-Korsakov, and later again by Shostakovich. The subdued and sublime Dawn on the Moscow River drew a perfect conclusion to the concert.