The programme was: Prokofiev: Symphony No 1 in D major, ‘Classical’; Bach: Keyboard Concerto in F minor, BWV 1056; Mozart: Piano Concerto No 24 in C minor, K 491 and Shostakovich: Symphony No 9 in E flat major
Of the Proms I’ve been to this year, this was (a) the fullest, with the choir nearly fully occupied, and the upper areas quite full; also, (b) the first one this year where I was standing in the Arena (out of respect for those I live with and my neighbours, for the other Proms to date I have been in relatively socially distanced stalls seats). I was reminded again why standing in the arena is such a fantastic experience – 1. The sense of community; 2. The fact that the front half of the Arena offers actually the best sound in the Albert Hall.3. it’s quite a liberating experience to be standing – you can actually slightly sway with the music, tap your feet / use your body to express emotion without annoying your neighbour….I found it interesting this was the fullest Prom to date – I am sure part of the reason is that it offered full measure, as opposed to the measly 62 minutes scheduled in all for the Rattle / LSO Stravinsky programme. The BBC have also reined in a bit the space allowed for the wretched camera boom in the Arena, after, I am sure, a lot of complaints.
The concert had meant to be conducted by the Philharmonia’s new chief conductor, Finnish conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali, but he was unable to perform due to ‘scheduling difficulties’ – presumably problems with quarantining, but this still didn’t look too good – to stand down your new orchestra on their first performance with you after the appointment. It’s worth noting that Rouvali seems to be the only boss or departing boss of the London orchestras not to get all his ducks in a row (Rattle, Jurowski and Petrenko appear to have none of those mysterious “scheduling difficulties”). He replaced the great Esa-Pekka Salonen, whose loss, like Jurowski, is a major blow for London. The Estonian conductor Paavo Järvi was a more than acceptable and welcome substitute on this occasion – as the soloist put it a ‘super-sub’!
The major attraction of the concert (it was the first one of the Proms to run out of socially restricted tickets in June) was hearing the young Icelandic pianist Vikungur Olafsson, who has received much praise for his solo recital albums of Philip Glass, Bach and Debussy/Rameau – all of which I’ve got on MP3 and which are very good indeed.
First though we heard the Prokofiev, which was controlled, elegant, and not an obstacle race for the orchestra, as it’s sometimes played. There was lovely woodwind playing, and sharply pointed strings, encouraged by Jarvis discreet gestures. When I’ve heard this performed eg by Gergiev and the LSO it has been a manic scramble – fascinating to watch and list en to, like an athletics match – but not the best way of presenting the music
Both the Bach and Mozart were superb performed by Olafsson and the orchestra. Tempi in the Mozart were, to my ears, decidedly slower than in many performances, but this seemed part of the overall conception of the work. Olafsson produced some beautifully soft playing in the slow movement of the Bach and throughout the Mozart – his playing throughout was crystalline and led you inwards into yourself, in the way all the best pianists do – he seemed to be having his own conversation with the music. How he would sound in a Brahms or Rachmaninov concerto I have no idea, but this sort of reflective subtle playing seemed absolutely right – though not the only way – for Mozart and Bach. He was also imaginative with decorations in the Mozart. I shall look forward to listening to these performances again on TV. As his first encore – a special treat – he played a transcription of the Bach Organ Sonata No 4 Andante. This was a lockdown favourite of mine, on his DG Album of Bach transcriptions. He also played some more Mozart – I recognised it but could not remember what it was; I read later it was Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus. Altogether he reminded me of Radu Lupu – a similar pianist poet. As befits a super-star, lots of people were holding up their phones for photos at the end!
Finally, the Shostakovitch 9……. This was very well done. I last heard this live in Munich about 5 years ago with Gergiev and the Munich Philharmonic. That was very good but this performance – and of course Jarvi, like Gergiev, grew up in the Soviet era – I thought was better. It projected more of the extremes and darkness and forced jollity in the movements, and gave more of a sense of the anguish and terror behind the brightness. The way the mournful long bassoon solo in the penultimate movement morphed into the falsely jolly last movement was superbly played – and the brass and percussion were encouraged, rightly, I think, to be over-bearing and bombastic in that movement and some of the earlier ones. Shostakovitch’s comment about this work, that “a transparent, pellucid, and bright mood predominates” , hardly seems ‘transparent’, and I am sure the Soviet authorities thought likewise – that this was Shostakovitch bluffing It was inevitable that the work played its part in Zhdanov’s denunciation of Shostakovitch in 1948.
My 6th Prom this year! – so far this one and the LPO two days earlier have been the best. I have 3 more mountains to climb – Tristan and Isolde, Mahler 5 and the St Matthew Passion in late August/September
John's musical journey 