Not too heavy on the banjos
Jul. 27th, 2019 09:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
qatsiLast weekend's Proms made it onto my long list, but in the end I went on the No to Boris, Yes to Europe march instead, and wouldn't have had the energy to combine them. So, my first Prom of the season was on Wednesday evening. Having skipped the first five days did mean that eager people collecting tickets for the Last Night had now faded from the queue, but nonetheless it was a welcome opportunity to renew a few acquaintances (especially W with rejuvenated knee at long last), and I got a place on the rail.
The programme was a strange though coherent combination, in which the whole was perhaps more than the sum of its parts, themed around dance, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Peter Eötvös. Given the heat outside, it was approriate to begin with Debussy's sultry Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune; not my favourite composer, and perhaps a slightly clinical performance, but fair. The next piece, Eötvös' own Alhambra (Violin Concerto No. 3) with Isabel Faust as soloist, was annoted with the dread phrase "BBC (co)-commission". You never know quite what you are going to get; certainly I've heard worse, and the mandolin and tubular bells in particular added to an interesting sound world, but I'm not rushing to the iPlayer to listen again for this one.
I had probably been attracted to this concert more by the second half of the programme, which began with Bartók's Dance Suite. As there are several pieces by the composer with similar titles, I wasn't quite sure which one I was going to here, and whether I would recognise it or not. In fact I did recognise some sections, but some was perhaps new to me. It was interesting to contrast with the earlier Eötvös; separated by almost one hundred years, I found it difficult to say which was the more "modern" on the ear. Frequented by Bartók's percussive sound world, the piece was at least as dissonant as the first half, but had more forward momentum and real energy. The concert was completed by Stravinsky's Firebird Suite, which I've heard a few times before and was a splendid way to draw to a close.
The programme was a strange though coherent combination, in which the whole was perhaps more than the sum of its parts, themed around dance, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Peter Eötvös. Given the heat outside, it was approriate to begin with Debussy's sultry Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune; not my favourite composer, and perhaps a slightly clinical performance, but fair. The next piece, Eötvös' own Alhambra (Violin Concerto No. 3) with Isabel Faust as soloist, was annoted with the dread phrase "BBC (co)-commission". You never know quite what you are going to get; certainly I've heard worse, and the mandolin and tubular bells in particular added to an interesting sound world, but I'm not rushing to the iPlayer to listen again for this one.
I had probably been attracted to this concert more by the second half of the programme, which began with Bartók's Dance Suite. As there are several pieces by the composer with similar titles, I wasn't quite sure which one I was going to here, and whether I would recognise it or not. In fact I did recognise some sections, but some was perhaps new to me. It was interesting to contrast with the earlier Eötvös; separated by almost one hundred years, I found it difficult to say which was the more "modern" on the ear. Frequented by Bartók's percussive sound world, the piece was at least as dissonant as the first half, but had more forward momentum and real energy. The concert was completed by Stravinsky's Firebird Suite, which I've heard a few times before and was a splendid way to draw to a close.