BBC Proms 2016: Prom 59 - Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5, Symphony No. 7 (Schiff / Gewandhausorchester / Blomstedt)

29th August 2016
Royal Albert Hall, London, United Kingdom

BEETHOVEN "Leonore" Overture No. 2
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 5
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7

András Schiff (piano)
Gewandhausorchester
Herbert Blomstedt (conductor)



PURE. HEAVENLY. BLISS. Conductor laureate and former Gewandhauskapellmeister, and the last conducting legend of his generation, Herbert Blomstedt brought the Gewandhausorchester from Leipzig for an all-Beethoven programme. The man might be 89 years old, but still conducts a Beethoven 7 full of vitality that is matched by his animated stage presence. It was the first time I have seen the Proms audience this respectful, patient, focused and disciplined towards the performance that the entire capacity was in near silence (and did not applaud between movements), such that all the fabulous pianissimo pierced through in clean air. It was a highly sophisticated performance, every parameter was expertly controlled and balanced, there were no excessive drama, the dotted rhythms were incisive, the Allegretto glowed, and the Finale danced and sang with grace. It was matched by an equally sophisticated but less crowd-pleasing performance of "Piano Concerto No. 5" (The "Emperor") by András Schiff. There was something wondrous about Schiff's playing, that he took his own pace in his own dimension that dragged the entire audience with him, particularly so in II. He played with almost no pedalling, making the Bösendorfer sounded like a period instrument, and miraculously created two timbres simultaneously with the two hands, setting crystalline filigrees against firm octaves. The tempo was not exciting, nothing was dramatic and it was certainly un-Romantic compared to 80% of modern performances, but I don't think many performances are as meticulous and thoughtful as this. Schiff then excited the audience with Schubert D. 899/2. The Prom started with "'Leonore' Overture No. 2" and ended with "'Egmont' Overture" as a generous encore. If the two warhorses above were any indications, what could have gone wrong with added drama?

BBC Proms 2016: Prom 55 - Abrahamsen: let me tell you; Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 (Hannigan / CBSO / Gražinytė-Tyla)

27th August 2016
Royal Albert Hall, London, United Kingdom

MOZART "The Magic Flute" Overture
HANS ABRAHAMSEN let me tell you
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4

Barbara Hannigan (soprano)
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla (conductor)



What has taken the British so long to bring Hans Abrahamsen's Grawemeyer Award-winning song cycle "let me tell you" to this country? For the majority of the performance, I found myself unable to give an objective assessment as I normally do because I voluntarily lost myself in the beauty of the product. The music is direct, emotional and pristinely scored, with moments calling for expertly judged incorporation of microtones. The work is immersive, mesmerising and breathtaking. Barbara Hannigan's voice is naturally seductive, incredibly versatile and stunningly captivating. It was worth the wait and standing through the heat. Echoing last night, we started with another 1791 Mozart work that was the Overture to "The Magic Flute". The main work was Tchaikovsky 4. The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra was on excellent form, but I had issues with their incoming Music Director, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla. Exciting performer, but shallow. The energy of the Mozart was excellent, but that was all it had. It lacked depth, drama and melodic sense, and the sound was patchy. The Tchaikovsky was quite tedious, especially II. There is only so much contrived emotions and over-articulation one can take before the music becomes too deliberately mannered and manicured. The crystalline sound of the pizzicato in III was amazing, but perhaps inappropriately light for all the Slavic sentiments. Not entirely sure why they put on this programme. I am sure she would be much better suited for more contemporary repertoire.

BBC Proms 2016: Prom 54 - Mozart: Clarinet Concerto, Requiem (Collegium Vocale Gent / Budapest Festival Orchestra / Fischer)

26th August 2016
Royal Albert Hall, London, United Kingdom

MOZART Aria "Per questa bella mano"
MOZART Clarinet Concerto
MOZART Requiem (Süssmayr completion)

Ákos Ács (clarinet)
Lucy Crowe (soprano)
Barbara Kozelj (mezzo-soprano)
Jeremy Ovenden (tenor)
Hanno Müller‐Brachmann (bass-baritone)
Collegium Vocale Gent
Budapest Festival Orchestra
Iván Fischer (conductor)



It has just occured to me that, prior to yesterday's preparation, with the exception of excerpts in a production of Pushkin's "Mozart and Salieri", I had not properly heard Mozart's "Requiem" (Süssmayr completion) since 1997. 19 years down the line, having been exposed to Mozart's genius more broadly and deeply, and having inevitably witnessed deaths, all sorts of artistic and philosophical questions rise above the sheer drama of this mythical work. Of course, one can legitimately question the point of performing this work which contains about 90% of content that have nothing to do with Mozart himself, but there are still much to consider beyond the fables. It is a minor-key work, which indicates either a dramatic or personal nature, and the only completed section, the "Introitus", sounds overly accusatory even for a 35-year-old envisaging early death (and the final judgement). It makes one wonder what Mozart's vision would have been had he completed the full setting. The later sections sound much thinner and underwhelming compared to the opening, so Iván Fischer had the Collegium Vocale Gent and Budapest Festival Orchestra paring down the drama to make it a more homogeneous entity. Overall, the performance was very compact, concise and clinical. This Prom would have been earth-shattering in a Cambridge chapel, but doing it in the RAH means that the refinement of the 20 singers integrated at the heart of the 40-strong orchestra were outperformed by the soloists who went full throttle to reach the corners of the hall. This all-1791 Mozart Prom started with an aria "Per questa bella mano", which featured a very difficult double bass part. The last minute substitution of a bass-baritone in place of a bass led to a timbre imbalance, otherwise it was a nice gem. It was followed by Mozart's last completed instrumental work, the "Clarinet Concerto", which was excellently handled by Ákos Ács. The slow movement was a wonder, and Mozart is perhaps the only person who can make anyone enjoy listening to scales and arpeggios. The orchestra could have contributed more to the conversational aspects of the music, but it was a very elegant performance overall.

BBC Proms 2016: Prom 51 & 52 - São Paulo SO and São Paulo Jazz SO (Alsop)

24th August 2016
Royal Albert Hall, London, United Kingdom

Prom 51

MARLOS NOBRE Kabbalah
GRIEG Piano Concerto
VILLA-LOBOS Bachianas Brasileiras No. 4 - prelude
RACHMANINOV Symphonic Dances

Gabriela Montero (piano)
São Paulo Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop (conductor)


Prom 52
A concert of Brazilian popular music

São Paulo Symphony Orchestra
São Paulo Jazz Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop (conductor)



So we have a post-Olympic heatwave in the UK, what do you do? Why don't we bring Brazil across. Proms darling Marin Alsop brings her São Paulo SO and Jazz SO over for two Proms back-to-back. What would happen when extravagant South American passion meets the chilled optimism of a Nordic piano concerto? The merits of the first Prom was best appreciated by looking at the second Prom, which was 1.5 h of high-octane big band jazz - the only slow number was the Jobim bossa nova. This was what Leonard Bernstein would call "total embrace" in music, and must be experienced live. You got to see nearly 100 musicians on stage giving their hearts and soul, singing and dancing, to the music of their homeland which were predominantly sumptuous mixtures of intoxicating rhythms, big colourful tunes and lush harmonies - there must be an infectious groove somewhere. In spirit, this was what they brought to the first Prom, which was by no means a top-class performance by conventional standards - in fact, the brass was particularly average throughout, and Alsop missed the orchestral entrance by a quaver in III of the Grieg "Piano Concerto" twice, messing up an entire section. It was a quirky and temperamental rendition by the Venezuelan Gabriela Montero (pictured), who would switch from some uncalled for elegant ballroom-dancing-like lilts in I to a torrential onslaught in III. There was something very laid-back about it, on top of a subtle underlying groove. It was exactly the same case in the Rachmaninov "Symphonic Dances", which I don't think anyone else took the waltz so literally as they did. It had a nice swing to it, if in a lethargic way. The bombastic minimalism of Marlos Nobre's "Kabbalah" was unnecessary, but it got blood pumping for the next 4.5 h. The highlight for me was the exquisite Prelude from Villa-Lobos' fourth "Bachianas Brasileiras", and you'd wonder why they didn't perform his symphonies instead, which they have recorded so brilliantly for Naxos. I still have reservations towards Alsop as a conductor, but the passion and dedication the performers demonstrated were radiant, and you just have to love them.

BBC Proms 2016: Prom 48 - Pintscher: Reflections on Narcissus; Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Weilerstein / BBC SSO / Pintscher)

21st August 2016
Royal Albert Hall, London, United Kingdom

MATTHIAS PINTSCHER Reflections on Narcissus
MENDELSSOHN A Midsummer Night's Dream

Alisa Weilerstein (cello)
Katherine Broderick (soprano)
Clara Mouriz (mezzo-soprano)

Mark Benton (Bottom)
Alex Hassell (Oberon/Theseus)
Simon Manyonda (Puck)
Sinead Matthews (Hermia/Fairy/Mistress Quince)
Sam Swann (Lysander/Snout/Philostrate)
Michelle Terry (Titania/Hippolyta)
Bijan Sheibani (stage director)

Finchley Childrens Music Group
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Matthias Pintscher (conductor)



It was love at first sight - this is the unifying theme tonight. For all its epic Shakespearean drama of people falling in love with the wrong people, it is actually incredibly difficult to have the chance to hear Mendelssohn's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in its entirety, complete with play excerpts and acting in the way Mendelssohn intended. The performance actually went on to intrude the audience, with Puck roaming in the middle of the arena (thankfully it was nowhere near full tonight) and Nick Bottom taking a selfie with the audience. As expected, current Ensemble Intercontemporain Music Director Matthias Pintscher conducted the BBC Scottish SO in his usual cool, precise, transparent style that is sometimes dry and metronomic. I could do with a more dramatic Overture, but Mendelssohn's music is so self-sufficient that can make any audience tap their feet. This is music that reminded me why I fell in love with music at age 10. The Nocturne is what makes you believe in love and what comes after is what you always hear at the culmination of love. The Finchley Childrens Music Group was very well-rehearsed, and they seemed very happy to contribute, which brought smiles on everyone's faces and were awarded the biggest applause tonight, surpassing the winds which were outstanding in the Scherzo. The actors were a bit uneven, but I could not tell if the slightly urban accents were deliberate or not. Simple joy was preceded by something not so simple, Pintscher's own cello concerto "Reflections on Narcissus" performed by the wondrous Alisa Weilerstein. I am not good enough to work out what it has to do with reflections, but it has all the lovable Boulezian aesthetics - sensuous harmonies, expansiveness generated by static beauty, ecstatic virtuosity, nuanced timbres arrangements and motifs and figures that travel in blocks across the orchestra. It was thrilling, breathtaking and astonishingly beautiful at the same time, and was wonderfully performed too. I think I have fallen in love with this piece on first hearing. It was all very dreamy.

BBC Proms 2016: Prom 34 - Dutilleux: Timbres, espace, mouvement; Gruber: Busking; Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 (Hardenberger / BBC SO / Oramo)

10th August 2016
Royal Albert Hall, London, United Kingdom

DUTILLEUX Timbres, espace, mouvement
HK GRUBER Busking
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 5

Håkan Hardenberger (trumpet)
Mats Bergström (banjo)
Claudia Buder (accordion)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sakari Oramo (conductor)



What an extraordinary programme. Dutilleux's "Timbres, espace, mouvement" is a sonic interpretation of Van Gogh's famous painting "The Starry Night". It is not only remarkable for its colourful harmonies and sparkling depictions of shiny stars, but also for these hallucinatory long solos representing the swirling effect of the painting. This performance by the BBC SO under Sakari Oramo was intoxicatingly beautiful, if the overall sound was slightly on the light side. The ethereal 12-cello interlude was sublime. It was followed by the London premiere of HK Gruber's second concerto, "Busking", for the Swedish trumpet legend Håkan Hardenberger. It might just be me, but HK Gruber's music is completely unclassifiable. Taken at surface level, this is an utterly insane concerto which starts with the main theme being played by the trumpet mouth piece, and the soloist is required to battle through the score using three different trumpets against a solo accordion, a solo banjo and the orchestra. It goes from fast and furious exchanges of themes, to the mischievous reevaluation, to the contemplative. It uses a plethora of mutes and seeing the soloist in action was itself very entertaining. The first half was a bit like completing 50 minutes of mental HIIT routines, so we were cooled down with a dose of Beethoven 5 in the second half. As performance goes, it was actually a bit lacklustre. There was no Viennese grace whatsoever, the scherzo was controversially slow, and the finale could do with more punch, but this immortal music never fails to bring smiles on people's faces, and that, I'd argue, is way more important.

BBC Proms 2016: Prom 33 - Dutilleux: Tout un monde lointain; Elgar: Symphony No. 1 (Moser / BBC Philharmonic / Mena)

9th August 2016
Royal Albert Hall, London, United Kingdom

MARK SIMPSON Israfel
DUTILLEUX Tout un monde lointain ...
ELGAR Symphony No. 1

Johannes Moser (cello)
BBC Philharmonic
Juanjo Mena (conductor)



If you have seen any Dutilleux score, you will know how meticulous he is with the articulation of every single note. The same motif can sound in 20 different ways within a same movement, and that is definitely true in his "Piano Sonata". That is one of his many ways to paint the rich colours in his music. Tonight, Johannes Moser played his seminal all-but-in-name cello concerto "Tout un monde lointain ..." What Moser produced was a very clear and concise realisation of the instructions, but it sounded like a very shallow interpretation of this masterpiece - perhaps I am way too biased towards the legendary Rostropovich recording. In particular, the slow movements of "Regards" and "Miroirs" did not sing and I got the feeling he was too obsessed with achieving the fantastic palettes of sound without doing much with them. The scherzo "Houles" was quite thrilling though. The second half was a rather unorthodox performance of Elgar 1 by the BBC Philharmonic under Juanjo Mena. It was a sunny no-nonsense performance with refreshing transparency and virtually no sensationalising rubatos. The British critics would certainly find it "un-Elgarian", but it was not invalid. This is optimistic absolute music to the highest order. The only major criticism I have is that the harps in the finale, which marked a major turning point in the whole work, was way too subdued, otherwise the whole performance was very enjoyable. The opening neo-Romantic "Israfel" by Mark Simpson was forgettable. The orchestra gave a charming tribute to the late Peter Maxwell Davies before the Elgar. I also bumped into my old piano teacher, the great Warren Mailley-Smith, who has just completed an epic 13-recital series on all the solo piano works by Chopin. I suspect the next time I see him at the RAH, he will be on stage.

BBC Proms 2016: Prom 26 - Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2; De Leeuw: Der nächtliche Wanderer (Serkin / BBC SO / Knussen)

4th August 2016
Royal Albert Hall, London, United Kingdom

BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 2
REINBERT DE LEEUW Der nächtliche Wanderer

Peter Serkin (piano)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Oliver Knussen (conductor)



"This is the worst performance I have ever seen in my life!" declared a Prom regular next to me, whose life, judging by appearance, must have been reasonably long. Indeed, one can probably fit the number of audience walking out of tonight's Prom to a Poisson distribution. Brahms' "Second Piano Concerto" is one of a kind. It is monumental and underneath its apparent understated homogenity it consists of continuous torrents of flourishing passion. It is intellectually stimulating as well as emotionally involved so it attracts more contemporary music specialists than most other Romantic concertos. Well, tonight's challengers were old partners Peter Serkin and Oliver Knussen, and one would not expect a particularly classical take from them. This is a performance completely devoid of vitality, and there was no sense of structure. The textures were all transparent and clear, but Knussen's accentuation of every single beat with minimal phrasing put Daft Punk's four-on-the-floor to shame, and Serkin's choice of tempo must have made his father very proud. I don't think I have ever heard any performance where the entire quorum comes to a complete halt between sections within the same movement. Perhaps it was all a nod to the title of the single work of the second half, "Der nächtliche Wanderer" (The Night Wanderer), by the Dutch Reinbert de Leeuw, who is better known as a pianist-conductor. It is an epic hour-long symphonic poem. Put simply, it is a colourful mood painting which amounts to an eventful psychedelic sonic journey. Cascading single pitches form chords that depict the static which contrast with sharp figures that represent the dynamic, with electronic contributions projected from the ceiling of RAH. It was beautifully conceived and nicely realised by the BBCSO, but clearly something only for the keen contemporary music lovers.