Bartók The Miraculous Mandarin – suite; Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major; Hannah Eisendle Heliosis (UK premiere); Dvořák Symphony No. 7 in D minor: Benjamin Grosvenor, piano; Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Marin Alsop, conductor
I went to this concert primarily because I’d never heard the Vienna RSO live before, as far as I can recall, and because the programme looked attractive ….and substantial, at a time when some concerts, not only at the Proms but RFH and elsewhere, only offer 60-70 minutes of music. This offered over 90, with a probable encore as well……It shouldn’t be a major factor, but somehow sometimes is. Having said that, I have had some fairly routine experiences listening to Benjamin Grosvenor and Marin Alsop in the past, so that was slightly tempering my expectations.
The hall was again very full – Choir, Side Stalls, Arena and Circle completely so, with a few spare seats in the central stalls, reflecting, as I have said before, the high pricing of this area by BBC/RAH. And all this was on a rail strike day!
Again, I found it difficult to comment on the quality of the orchestra from the first row of the Albert Hall Choir seats. There was some tight rhythmic playing in the Bartok, but sometimes inexact splurging in the Dvorak of some string passages. There was some beautiful woodwind playing in the Prokofiev and Dvorak, and some wonderfully soft horn playing in the Dvorak, but the strings sometimes didn’t seem to have enough weight in some of the more passionate passages in the Dvorak – and indeed it was a smaller string section than some – certainly in comparison to the Oslo band (6 rather than 8 doubles basses, 8 rather than 10 cellos etc). All in all, I thought they sounded similar in standard to the regional BBC orchestras – but I must listen to the broadcast and see if hearing them from the right perspective makes a difference.
Rather to my surprise, the work I enjoyed the most was the Prokofiev. Though I have a recording, I don’t play it that often, and I was absolutely gripped by the three very different movements – by the fertility of the musical ideas and by that strange melancholy feel you get in so much of Prokofiev, of wistful music from distant pre-revolutionary ballrooms, of a better time now passed. Benjamin Grosvenor played it very well, and, while appropriately hammering where needed, was also very good at phrasing the quieter elements in the score. There was an encore from Mr Grosvenor– appropriately given the 33C heat in London today) Ravel’s Jeux d’eau.
I also enjoyed the new piece by Hannah Eisendle, which was great fun – full of John Adams-like rhythms and sounding sometimes like something akin to minimalism, but more quirky and unpredictable than this infers, and with a careful blend of quiet and extremely loud elements in the score. The orchestra played it very well indeed, and very tightly, something which I think Marin Alsop is very good at achieving in the orchestras she works with.
The Bartok I always have a bit of a problem with – clearly it’s a seminal piece in all sorts of ways, but (a bit like my reaction to Tapiola, which was written roundabout the same time – maybe a couple of years earlier) I always find myself getting lost in trying to follow the story – which I know – in the orchestral sequences. It always ends at a point where I think the magician is still being killed, and I am always surprised at the abrupt finish! It sounded well in this performance but again without the rich underpinning of strong string sound in some of the more-rhythmic passages.
The Dvorak was lovely, though I always have an issue with these works. I hear them as essentially an assembly of glorious folky tunes, worked up and developed a bit, it’s true, but none of Dvorak’s symphonies seem very symphonic in any normal use of the word, and in the 7th in particular I find the frequent references to Wagner (eg Walkuere Act 3) and Brahms 1 first movement a bit irritating. But the 7th is great fun, and much of this was gloriously played. I happily swallowed my reservations for the duration – but Dvorak symphonies would be fairly low down on my extended Desert Island wish list (whereas Rusalka I rate much higher)
There were two encores – a contemporary (I think) Cats polka, with lots of feline noises from strings, brass and percussion, and the Thunder and Lightning polka – both very well done
John's musical journey 