The "Leningrad", at last
Jul. 17th, 2018 09:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
qatsiMonday was my first Prom of the season; the queuing arrangements were the same as last year, which works for me in fitting in with work, but is not so good from the social side. Nevertheless, there was a brief opportunity to refresh acquaintance with old friends, and come the concert, I got a place in the second row of the arena. The BBC Philharmonic were conducted by Juanjo Mena and joined in the first half by clarinettist Mark Simpson for Magnus Lindberg's Clarinet Concerto. After a promising lyrical opening I enjoyed about half the music; unfortunately that was spliced through with unintelligible cacophony. Simpson himself certainly put himself wholeheartedly into the work.
The reason for choosing this concert, though, was the second half, Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 (Leningrad). Why revisit a work I've seen before, in 2006 and 2010? Well, I had mixed feelings; with performances spoiled by sirens or helicopters, I had come to wonder whether it was a work more suited to the clinical recording studio than a central London concert hall. But I decided this year to give it another go, and from the off, I found this an interesting performance. I'm not sure quite what it was, but something in the strings sounded a bit different in the opening bars - as the work progressed I noticed there was only quite sparing use of vibrato, and I wonder if that's what it was. Anyhow, the long march in the first movement was thankfully uninterrupted by noises off, though I wasn't sure it always had much feeling. The orchestra did show some tenderness in the inner movements, and the finale worked well, with a Shostakovich trademark faux triumph - or perhaps, a genuine triumph combined with the realisation of the return of a previous foe. A good start to the season.
The reason for choosing this concert, though, was the second half, Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 (Leningrad). Why revisit a work I've seen before, in 2006 and 2010? Well, I had mixed feelings; with performances spoiled by sirens or helicopters, I had come to wonder whether it was a work more suited to the clinical recording studio than a central London concert hall. But I decided this year to give it another go, and from the off, I found this an interesting performance. I'm not sure quite what it was, but something in the strings sounded a bit different in the opening bars - as the work progressed I noticed there was only quite sparing use of vibrato, and I wonder if that's what it was. Anyhow, the long march in the first movement was thankfully uninterrupted by noises off, though I wasn't sure it always had much feeling. The orchestra did show some tenderness in the inner movements, and the finale worked well, with a Shostakovich trademark faux triumph - or perhaps, a genuine triumph combined with the realisation of the return of a previous foe. A good start to the season.