A Saturday Prom which lived up to expectations. Opening with a brash account of Berlioz’ overture Le corsair – the brass at their flamboyant best and a real sense of French style – the main work in the short first half was Elgar’s Sea Pictures. It is difficult to realise that for many years they were not performed complete and that a latent snobbishness surrounded Elgar’s choice of texts. What is unquestionable is that the texts are superbly reflected in Elgar’s settings and the sense of brooding melancholy whose constant images of death haunt the whole work. To take individual songs of context is to ignore the underlying narrative. No such problem here of course and Alice Coote is a renowned interpreter of the cycle. Her hushed, often parlando style heightens the dramatic impact of the text and allows us to sense the tensions which lie below it. There was a unexpected ominous weight to sections of Sea Slumber-Song with the bass gong overawing the orchestra. By contrast the simplicity of In Haven which can too easily seem naïve, was here a bastion of faith. There are pre-echoes of Peter Grimes in Sabbath Morning which Mark Elder caught with ease, and the operatic style of Alice Coote’s diction suited his approach well. All of these strengths came together in the Swimmer where mysticism and emotional turmoil unite to focus on the need to subsume all. A wonderful reading.

The second half opened with the London Premiere of Helen Grime’s Near Midnight. She is associate composer with the Halle orchestra and the work was written for them. There is a constant edginess to the score and an underlying tension which frequently explodes from within the overall calm and fluidity of the writing. Percussion is used to provide a liquid base for other sections of the orchestra rather than aggressive attack or power. Though the style is highly personal and there is a real sense of voice, in terms of comparison this leans more towards the impressionistic world of Ravel than more recent composers. A CD of her works is promised for later in the year.

The concert concluded with Beethoven’s 3^rd Symphony, the Eroica. Mark Elder draws on all of his experience with original instrument bands to give us a reading that is light, fluid and yet has real bite and terrific edge, particularly from the brass and wind. There was nothing ponderous about the Marcia funebre which constantly radiated hope. In the Scherzo the horns even managed some gentle ornamentation which was highly effective. The finale was brisk, business-like and impressively structured. The Halle may know this music very well but it never ever sounds as if they are not delighted to be playing it for us.

A capacity audience enjoyed a programme of the well-loved and the not so familiar presented by the BBC Philharmonic under the energetic baton of Gianandrea Noseda. Both soloists gave committed performances  whether soloing or blending with the rest of the orchestra.

The recent commemorations of the start of the 1^st World War provided the setting for the first piece of the evening. Written mid-conflict, in 1916, Alfredo Casella’s Elegia eroic, is an emotional tour de force. The music speaks of death from the outset and moves from  brash brass to more plaintive strings and woodwind, finally dying away to nothing. There are some remarkable effects, particularly in the most restrained passages. Some of this sound world is similar to Holst. There are allusions to the Dies Irae and an Italian patriotic song. Highly effective and emotive, this piece should be better known.

Benjamin Grosvenor took centre stage for Chopin’ s Piano Concerto No 1 in E minor (1830) . This popular young musician was greeted with huge applause and proceeded to give an assured and convincing performance of this well known Piano Concerto. Throughout there was great rapport between piano and orchestra. During the concerto we saw something of the enthusiasm of the conductor, demonstrated in his dance-like direction.

This was also the case in Cesar Franck’s Symphonic Variations for piano &orchestra (1885). This piece shows how the concept of variation developed from its earliest beginnings with distinct sets of variations to a more cohesive structure which develops aspects of the material as a whole. In both pieces Benjamin Grosvenor’s playing was superb and his manner refreshingly modest.

The evening ended with a spirited performance of Saint-Saens’ Symphony No 3 in C minor (‘organ’). The popularity of this piece is beyond doubt and the evening’s performance was exciting and very well received. David Goode had great command of the RAH organ from the subtle first entrance of deeply resonant pedals and soft accompaniment to the majestic chords that always cause some in the audience to jump at the beginning of the final movement. Although I really enjoyed this performance I do wonder why another symphonic work featuring the organ could not have been substituted considering this piece featured in the Proms last year and to my knowledge is the only outing for the organ in this year’s programme. That aside, this was a thrilling conclusion to a highly enjoyable and varied evening of first class performances.

SP

Monday 4 August 2014

It is difficult for us today to realise that Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a theme of Thomas Tallis was found as confusingly modernist as its contemporary masterpiece, Mahler’s 9^th Symphony. Bringing the two works together for a Prom without an interval was a challenging but highly successful piece of programme planning.

Donald Runnicles’ approach to both works was deceptively subtle. The Vaughan Williams had great clarity and distance, but retained a coolness throughout, resisting any gush of romanticism. The separate placement of the ensemble above the rest of the orchestra, and the clarity of the quartet within it, both ensured that we were constantly aware of the dynamic tensions the composer creates. It was a fitting preparation for the Mahler.

Donald Runnicles’ created a seamless inevitability in the opening movement, not so much pessimistic as fated – at times almost heroic – with a lovingly spun out final section. The Landler was slower than usual and somehow more refined. No smell of the countryside and cow-pats, though the waltz section had a diabolic edge to it. There was fire in the third movement but no raw edges which can galvanise this score in other hands. It was not until the last movement that we could fully realise the way he was shaping the whole. The glowing, almost lush, string unfolding of the finale was breath-taking, bringing a quite but positive sense of hope to the whole. The final bars, combining resignation and yearning, were as beautiful as one could imagine. If the audience had been rather noisy at the start – the coughing around me nearly drowned out the opening bars – they were far more attentive by the end.