THIS year's season of Henry Wood Proms, promoted as ever by the
BBC, is the last to be directed by Roger Wright, and it is more
wide-ranging than ever.
Under the heading of "Global Classical Music", there are first
appearances by orchestras from - inter alia - China,
Turkey, Singapore, and Qatar. The First World War is commemorated,
of course; Richard Strauss (d. 1864) is duly celebrated, though the
anniversaries of C. P. E. Bach, Gluck (both b. 1714), and Rameau
(d. 1764) are virtually ignored. And there are workshops for
families, and many premières of new music.
Among all the symphonies, Beethoven, Brahms, and Mahler are
generously represented; and it was a treat to find both of Elgar's,
programmed less than a week apart. On 6 August, Mark Wigglesworth
conducted the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in a performance of
No. 1 which was almost completely satisfying: "almost", because the
brass sounded harsh rather than noble; but the Adagio was deeply
moving in its aching tenderness. A virtuoso account by Matthew
Trusler of William Mathias's Violin Concerto was preceded by
another rarity, the Overture to Wagner's early opera Das
Liebesverbot.
Elgar's Second Symphony was given a magnificent performance on
31 July by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under Vasily
Petrenko. A twinge of disappointment at the absence of the optional
organ part - Thomas Trotter had earlier starred in Strauss's
bombastic Festival Prelude - was soon forgotten. Hushed
moments of mystery in the first movement also enabled one to
forget, temporarily, the endless straining at the leash of the
vigorous opening theme. In the funereal second movement, Petrenko
reduced a passage for the strings alone to the merest whisper, and
he achieved a similar delicacy towards the very end of the
work.
Strauss's Deutsche Motette was hardly worth the effort
that the wonderful BBC Singers put into it (chorus-master Paul
Brough); Inger Dam-Jensen's singing of the Four Last Songs
was pleasingly bright rather than lush, and Petrenko ensured that
the overall effect was not too glutinous.
Elgar was also featured on 18 July, the first night of the
season, with a performance of The Kingdom, which is being
talked up nowadays as the equal of The Apostles, or even
The Dream of Gerontius. There are some fine passages: a
noble peroration to the "Pentecost" section, a delicate
introduction to "The Sign of Healing" that anticipates the Dream
Interlude in Falstaff, and Mary's "The sun goeth down".
But nothing much happens, for an awfully long time. The brass of
the BBC Symphony Orchestra had a field day, especially the horns,
and the BBC Symphony Chorus and National Chorus of Wales
(chorus-masters Stephen Jackson and Adrian Partington) sang their
hearts out for Sir Andrew Davis.
More English music was to be heard on 1 August, in a concert
that began with a work by poor, tormented Ivor Gurney. Gurney, who
spent the last 15 years of his life in a lunatic asylum, is
best-known for his poetry and his songs. This, however, was War
Elegy, an orchestral piece lasting some 13 minutes. Completed
in 1920, around the time of the burial of the Unknown Warrior in
Westminster Abbey, it was haunting, but a little too long, owing
something to the Elgar of the previous evening.
After the last-minute substitution of an accordion concerto by
Sally Beamish, Martyn Brabbins and the BBC Symphony Orchestra gave
a vivid account of Walton's First Symphony. Perhaps the "Presto,
con
malizia" was lacking in bite, but the long string phrases of the
slow movement were beautifully handled. As ever, the Finale called
Walton's later film music to mind.
An unusual pairing on 24 July gave us Brahms's Piano Concerto
No. 1 and Janáček's Glagolitic Mass. The orchestral
opening to the concerto was short on tension, but Barry Douglas
went on to give a performance that found all the power and the
poetry. In the Janáček, the LSO, and the London Symphony Chorus
seemed unfazed by Valery Gergiev's finger-conducting. The strings
and celesta were magically delicate in the Sanctus, and the a
cappella parts of the Agnus Dei were spot on (chorus-master
Simon Halsey).
There have been two Requiems so far, on 27 July and 3
August respectively. The setting by Duruflé, so similar in mood to
Fauré's but composed as late as 1947, saw the second appearance of
the BBC National Chorus of Wales, joined this time by their
associated orchestra and the National Youth Choir of Wales
(chorus-master David Lawrence). The opening Requiem Aeternam was
warm and gentle, and the brass intoning of the plainsong in the
Kyrie was perfectly balanced with the choir by the conductor,
Thierry Fischer. Ruby Hughes found a near-operatic passion in the
Pie Jesu, and Gerald Finley matched the beauty of the cor anglais
that preceded his Hostias.
Mozart's Requiem was done in the version by the
American pianist Robert Levin. This is respectful of the completion
by Mozart's pupil Süssmayr, while making sensible changes such as
restricting the solo trombone to the first stanza of "Tuba
mirum" and expanding the short-winded "Osanna"
fugues. Donald Runnicles drove through the work like a man
possessed, perhaps to pre-empt the applause that had interrupted
his performance with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra of
Beethoven's Fourth Symphony. The 135-strong National Youth Choir of
Scotland (chorus-master Christopher Bell) were as spine-tingling at
the beginning of the Dies Irae as they were precise in their
articulation of the Kyrie and "Cum sanctis tuis".
The late-night Prom by Les Arts Florissants of Rameau's
grands motets on 29 July was a slight disappointment. Five
of the six soloists were graduates - mostly recent, some raw - of
Le Jardin des Voix, William Christie's academy for young singers.
In Deus noster refugium, the male quartet at
"Conturbate sunt gentes" was ill-balanced, and the
ensemble was poor at the end of Quam dilecta tabernacula.
The choir and orchestra were on good form apart from a few
uncomfortable moments from the oboes in In convertendo
Dominus. Come the encores, all was forgiven: lovely choral
performances of part of Mondonville's graphic In exitu
Israel and a Kyrie adapted from Rameau's opera Castor et
Pollux.
Of all these concerts, none was more moving than Bach's St
John Passion. The Zürcher Sing-Akademie and the Zürich Chamber
Orchestra responded as one to the superlative direction of Sir
Roger Norrington. It was a real drama, the obbligato
instrumentalists standing with the various soloists as fellow
participants. The first chorus was no dirge, but a dance-like
affirmation. When the soldiers cast lots for Christ's "coat without
seam", they were confidential, almost nervy, as if they were
anxious at being overheard. The choir (chorus-master Tim Brown) was
particularly impressive when they sang softly in the chorales.
James Gilchrist was a superb Evangelist, varying the pace as
though he was improvising, and emphasising key words such as
"Dornen" (thorns). As Christ, Neal Davies sang firmly and
with dignity. How strange, though, that in a performance from
German-speaking Switzerland both men (and Jonathan Sells as Pilate)
should consistently mispronounce "Juden" (Jews). The other
soloists, two of whom were late replacements, were fine; but it was
Gilchrist, Davies, and the choir who excelled.