New and Old Worlds
Sep. 5th, 2019 02:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
qatsiI decided to avoid the Haitink Prom on Tuesday; I've written in the past that I would rather he enjoyed retirement than insist on continuing to conduct while becoming increasingly frail. I hope he does.
Nonetheless, there was still an early morning queue on Wednesday for the second Vienna Philharmonic Prom; but not too long, and I found myself in the second row in the arena. There was a businesslike air from conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada as he began with Dvořák's The Noonday Witch: after a mobile phone going off in the opening bars, he turned to the audience, like a parent chastising an errant child, and began again.
Leonidas Kavakos joined the orchestra as soloist in Korngold's Violin Concerto. The programme notes observed that one critic gave a hammy summary "more corn than gold"; I will admit that the first movement did at times sound like a film music composer trying to get his work to fit into a more serious genre, with limited success. Though by the time of the finale, I felt Korngold had found his psychological safety, and was just being more honest about the music; it did feel a bit like John Williams, or even Patrick Gowers' music for Granada's Sherlock Holmes of the 1980s, but no worse for that, as it just seemed to fit better. There was an encore, which at the time I suspected was Paganini, but having checked the BBC Sounds site I find that it was in fact Francisco Tárrega's Recuerdos de la Alhambra.
For the second half of the concert we returned to Dvořák, this time the Symphony No. 9 ("From the New World"). Nothing we can't hum there, of course; and it did strike me that the whole programme was perhaps atypical of what you would expect from this orchestra. The first movement seemed to follow a slightly slow pace, but any suggestion of sluggishness passed as the piece went on. Finally, an orchestral encore: a Josef Strauss polka, Ohne Sorgen!, with a little inevitable audience participation.
The choice of which Vienna Philharmonic prom to go to was also tipped by Wednesday's late-night Prom by Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino: I'd heard them on In Tune as the season was announced, and wanted to try more of their pizzica music from Puglia. Late-night Proms are a bit of an effort as regards getting home, and I decided to book the following day as holiday. I enjoyed the style of the music and admired the craft of the players, singers and dancers; on the other hand, I wasn't so endeared to the amplification; certainly at the front of the arena, it isn't necessary, though maybe elsewhere in the large space it works better; admittedly some instruments were electronic, so there was probably no other option. The band's instruments were guitars, bouzouki, violin, tambourines, accordion and occasional clarinet and slightly comical-looking Zampogna bagpipes.For some numbers the band was joined by Justin Adams on guitar, and on others by Ballaké Sissoko on kora, a Malian harp-like instrument which was very interesting to see and hear. Certainly the concert had a very different atmosphere, and was very much focused on community and shared experience. I was pleased that it finished punctually, which gave me ample time to catch the tube back to Paddington in time for the last fast train to Reading, though it was still 1:30 when I finally arrived home.
Nonetheless, there was still an early morning queue on Wednesday for the second Vienna Philharmonic Prom; but not too long, and I found myself in the second row in the arena. There was a businesslike air from conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada as he began with Dvořák's The Noonday Witch: after a mobile phone going off in the opening bars, he turned to the audience, like a parent chastising an errant child, and began again.
Leonidas Kavakos joined the orchestra as soloist in Korngold's Violin Concerto. The programme notes observed that one critic gave a hammy summary "more corn than gold"; I will admit that the first movement did at times sound like a film music composer trying to get his work to fit into a more serious genre, with limited success. Though by the time of the finale, I felt Korngold had found his psychological safety, and was just being more honest about the music; it did feel a bit like John Williams, or even Patrick Gowers' music for Granada's Sherlock Holmes of the 1980s, but no worse for that, as it just seemed to fit better. There was an encore, which at the time I suspected was Paganini, but having checked the BBC Sounds site I find that it was in fact Francisco Tárrega's Recuerdos de la Alhambra.
For the second half of the concert we returned to Dvořák, this time the Symphony No. 9 ("From the New World"). Nothing we can't hum there, of course; and it did strike me that the whole programme was perhaps atypical of what you would expect from this orchestra. The first movement seemed to follow a slightly slow pace, but any suggestion of sluggishness passed as the piece went on. Finally, an orchestral encore: a Josef Strauss polka, Ohne Sorgen!, with a little inevitable audience participation.
The choice of which Vienna Philharmonic prom to go to was also tipped by Wednesday's late-night Prom by Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino: I'd heard them on In Tune as the season was announced, and wanted to try more of their pizzica music from Puglia. Late-night Proms are a bit of an effort as regards getting home, and I decided to book the following day as holiday. I enjoyed the style of the music and admired the craft of the players, singers and dancers; on the other hand, I wasn't so endeared to the amplification; certainly at the front of the arena, it isn't necessary, though maybe elsewhere in the large space it works better; admittedly some instruments were electronic, so there was probably no other option. The band's instruments were guitars, bouzouki, violin, tambourines, accordion and occasional clarinet and slightly comical-looking Zampogna bagpipes.For some numbers the band was joined by Justin Adams on guitar, and on others by Ballaké Sissoko on kora, a Malian harp-like instrument which was very interesting to see and hear. Certainly the concert had a very different atmosphere, and was very much focused on community and shared experience. I was pleased that it finished punctually, which gave me ample time to catch the tube back to Paddington in time for the last fast train to Reading, though it was still 1:30 when I finally arrived home.