'Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony'

'Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony'

Royal Albert Hall

The day at work has been rather standard. Had a friend of mine, Sean, who I record my own music with, over to my house for tea. We enjoyed a pizza - authentically stone-baked in my oven - and a pistachio tiramisu, both of which I procured from Aldi the other day. As a result of all this I start tonight's Prom at nine o'clock, via BBC Sounds.

The first piece is Lili Boulange's D’un matin de printemps, and it is a delight to listen to. It is like a glee fairytale, and I get a vision of flying through the skies of Neverland! [For disambiguation: I am talking about the fictional Neverland where one would find Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, as opposed to Michael Jackson's malignant child trap.]

Next up we have one of the two mainstays of tonight's programme: Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1. Similar to the other Shostakovich works we have heard over the last weeks, there is reportedly a sociopolitical depth to the music. We are told that the ending is 'grotesque'. At first it makes me tired to hear this, because I don't think I can swallow another 'grotesque' this late in the season. Personally, though, it doesn't sound too bad to me? [maybe it's demanding to play?]. While the strings, I note, are 'melancholic,' I wouldn't go much further than that. It brings me back - yet again - to this wonderful debate about Shostakovich, and whether he was a genuine Stalin apologist, or rather a shrewd parodist. There is absolutely no doubt that he was a skilled composer, and yet - to my uneducated ear - the themes are muddled. So, once again, this pushes me towards the side of thought that he was one of music's great con artists. And if that's true, he is very much a man after my own heart.

Just before the encore performance, I think it is the conductor, Delyana Lazarova, who says a few words. She comes across very gracious, which goes a long way with me. She acknowledges the 'difficulty' of the piece just played [again, it didn't sound all that bad to me?!], and reassures us that there is someone coming along who can 'make it all better... Johann Sebastian Bach!' 

YES! I should have known it! I am so overjoyed in hearing this news that my eyes start to well up. This emotion is coming from my 'Proms fatigue' at this point - it's hard to describe it, but I am getting the sort of involuntary euphoria that tends to kick in after a long-haul flight across the world, when you haven't slept for the last twenty-four hours. We are presently treated with the opening prelude of Bach's 1st Cello suite (what else?!).

It takes me a while to catch on to the Rachmaninov, probably because I'm still reeling over the Bach surprise. I'm not sure which movement we have got to, but there are some chimes [was it the Glockenspiel?] that wake me up, and this is where the music grabs my attention. It's joyous. The string sections are just beautiful as the piece moves along.

Image: Pixabay.com

Grieg’s Piano Concerto

Grieg’s Piano Concerto

Royal Albert Hall

It's the final of today's three Proms, and the mental fatigue is cutting deep. I got through the two earlier Proms on BBC Sounds a few hours behind their live broadcasts, and I had just eight minutes to spare before switching to Radio 3 for this live broadcast from the Royal Albert Hall, starting at the usual 19:30 hours.

It's Petroc [Terlawny] presenting tonight, so I know I'm in safe hands. But wait a second, what is this interference? It sounds like a hall of mirrors, where the audio is repeating itself into infinity. Is it my radio signal? I turn it off and back on again, and when I return there is a a calm announcement saying something like 'we apologise for the disruption and here is some nice Bach music to soothe you.' Don't tell me it's a repeat of the MSO protests the other week? Seems like it was just a blip in the radio broadcast, and we are soon back on track, just in time for the music to start.

We begin this evening with Ruth Gipps's Death on the Pale Horse. It’s bleak to begin with, but, with a title like that, it’s to be expected. The imagery is on point, without doubt.

Next we have Lukas Sternath playing Grieg's Piano Concerto. In my most predictable quip of the season, I will declare that he manages to play all the right notes, and in all the right places. As I have already alluded to, Grieg is one of my favourites. This piano concerto offers some dramatic bromides which, while arguably not matching the intensity of the likes of Tchaikovsky's No.1, has a flavour all of its own. It's the unmistakable flavour of Grieg, and that sits on my palette like Dairy Milk.

After the interval it is The Beatitudes by Arthur Bliss. For starters, it is like we're lost in a vast forest. The weather ain't too great, either. Just had a look at the BBC Website, which says it is 'a cantata composed for the reopening in 1962 of Coventry Cathedral – part Passion, part howl of human loss, part musical prayer for a ‘troubled world’. I did already recount my school trip to Coventry cathedral in one of my earlier blogs [can't remember which one!], so I won't bother regurgitating it here. 

Photo: Pixabay.com