Adès Conducts the BBC SO

Thomas Adès Conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra
Royal Albert Hall

Image: https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/e38rn3

Cycled into work again today, after my schedule forced me away from it last week. Got the journey down to about fifteen minutes now, or maybe just over. I'm very fortunate because the route I take avoids all roads; there's a stretch along the Bridgewater canal, then the rest is foot/cycle paths, an underpass, and one leafy through-route that has long since been closed to traffic. Could not be more ideal.

The Prom tonight is all about nature, we're told. 'Great!' I think, 'that means it'll be a nice relaxing one. Might even listen to this in the living room for a change.'

The first piece is Sibelius's The Swan of Tuonela, and I really like it. While it could be classed as relaxing, it's not especially peaceful. There's like a rich, dark-chocolate undercurrent. Very smooth! The strings are gentle, but unsettling - bleak. Like a rainy day. Then a woodwind instrument joins in - it sounds like an oboe? [My friend ChatGPT informs me that it's actually a cor anglais AKA English horn. Wikipedia confirms that this instrument 'is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family' - I'm getting good at this!].

Next up is something called Breathing Forests by Gabriella Smith. Clear from the offset that this is going to be one of those 'abstract' ones. This ain't a forest you're going to tread after dark, and I'm now glad I didn't move proceedings into the living room. Starts off with chaotic organ in the high octaves. The repeating loops sound like Philip Glass on ecstasy, and there's a moment later on that puts me in mind of Bach's Toccata and Fugue played at 10x speed. We were sold this work with one word: Organic! But while organic can denote a Timotei shampoo commercial, it can also mean biting into an apple and discovering a maze of wormholes. If this music is a politico-artistic statement it works, of that I am sure. Would I place it in the CD tray of my HiFi and listen to it for pleasure? Absolutely not.

Before I talk about the music of the second half, I might add as a matter of interest that I have my own little history with Shakespeare's The Tempest. This was the play I did for A-level English Lit, and our sixth form class went out to see a production of it at the Liverpool Playhouse. I think was 2006? [just had a look at the Everyman/Playhouse website https://everymanplayhouse.com/event/the-tempest/, and it seems the run was Fri 30 Sep – Sat 22 Oct 2005 - makes sense now I think about it! How was that twenty years ago for God's sake?!]. That production has stuck in my memory as a meta tragicomedy. During the interval, the safety curtain came down in the theatre as one would expect. Only trouble was, it wouldn't go back up. We the audience were sent home with a flea in our ear and the promise of a refund. It was not until 2022 that I finally saw the play in its entirety, courtesy of local theatrical company The Hillbark Players, who appear, typically biennially, in the grounds of Royden Park during summer months. My next ambition is to see The Tempest performed at the Minack theatre in Porthcurno.

On to the music, and the second half starts with Five Spells from The Tempest by Thomas Adès, who is also conducting. The opening does not hang around, and we're taken straight into the thick of the action without so much as an introduction. It's stormy waters, all right. Does do an effective job of portraying the themes of The Tempest, though. Nice piece.

And the Sibelius doesn't go wrong. At one point I'm transported to that spinning shed on the Wizard of Oz, and for that evocation alone he earns his stripes with me.

Image created with ChatGPT

Sibelius’s Second

Sibelius’s Second

Royal Albert Hall

It's my uncle's birthday, so after work I return home for a couple of hours, then head out to Neston, where I'm to meet my family and we'll have a drink at The Harp Inn. For the uninitiated, The Harp is a cracking little pub, with a view of North Wales over a vast marshland. Ideal for this warm, late-summer evening. Even more ideal is the pint of Guinness.

So it's not until I get back in my car [for the record I only had one pint], that I join the proceedings at the Royal Albert Hall, a little behind the live broadcast, on BBC Sounds.

First up it's some music by Arvo Pärt, who we've heard from a couple of times on this Proms run, and who celebrates his ninetieth birthday this year. Yes, I'm thinking as I drive, this is exactly the sort of music I like. It's emotional, with a hint of self-indulgence (which is the best sort). This piece is called Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten. The name rings a bell [I'm not thinking of Benjamin Button, am I?]. Looking him up now, I see now that Britten was an English composer. So that's three English composers I have now heard of and need to learn more about. So far, it's Delius, Elgar, and Britten.

Dvořák's Violin Concerto in A minor plays through while I'm on the motorway. Hate to say it but, while it was nice enough, I don't note anything stand out about it. Perhaps it would have benefitted from a listening environment that enabled greater concentration.

I'm back at home by the time it's for the interval, and tonight's discussion about the orchestra itself has hooked my interest. It's the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, which apparently is the world's longest-running symphony orchestra. Hear something about it being in existence even in Bach et al's time of life, so it must be a bit special. It's also interesting because I'm toying with the idea of visiting Leipzig next summer. If the trip comes to pass, I want to visit the Bach museum there, and maybe there'll even be a chance to see these guys play a match at home, so to speak?

Sibelius's Symphony No.2 closes the evening. Overall I'd say it's a relaxing piece, albeit a bit sombre.

Sibelius, Mozart, Arvo Pärt and Gavin Higgins (Bristol)

Sibelius, Mozart, Arvo Pärt and Gavin Higgins

Bristol Beacon

This was an early evening Prom but I'm tuning in via BBC Sounds, a few hours after the live broadcast. In preparation, I've walked over to Irby village and bought myself a bottle of Ayinger from the Crafty Tavern [a specialist beer/ales shop], and a Twirl multi-pack from Irby Local. I do like a dark ale, with my current favourite being the Augustiner Dunkel. I'd say this Ayinger is a touch more hoppy/malty than the Augustiner, and it ain't half bad! Just what I'm in the mood for :)

The Sibelius starts off superbly. The strings are like silk, and this feeling is sustained throughout. A bit of peace and relaxation, finally - thanks BBC Sounds, glad I tuned in! 

Next up it's Tabula Rasa by Arvo Pärt. If I was worried it was going to break away from the feel of the Sibelius, then I needn't have. The strings gel together on multiple levels, and it follows the mood of the previous piece we heard. It' a bit melancholic, mind. It's the sort of music that would play out in a film scene where a character is having a reflective moment about the episodes and events that have made up their life so far. Perfect background music for a beer and some chocolate. I vowed I wouldn't use the word 'sublime' this weekend, but it's hard not to in the face of something so... sublime! I'm becoming slightly inebriated from the drink as this piece goes on, and the music only adds to what becomes an opioid level of relaxation. Indeed, I haven't felt this good since the Fentanyl/Midazolam cocktail I was given before my colonoscopy at Arrowe Park hospital last year.

Rough Voices by Gavin Higgins offers something of a sobering-up. The opening is like a bucket of cold water. Not that pleasant at all after the previous music. It does settle down, but with a dark undercurrent. 

Mozart finishes us off. Feels a bit pompous in places, but isn't that what Mozart is all about?!

One Fine Prom!

Sibelius, Tippett, Ravel, and Debussy

Edward Gardner Conducts the LPO:
Sibelius, Tippett, Ravel, and Debussy at the Royal Albert Hall

On the whole, the music from this evening's prom is relaxed and gentle. We start with Sibelius's The Oceanides. The seascapes come across soft and clear.

The second piece (The Rose Lake by Michael Tippett), follows in the same vein. Very relaxing. The only thing is, I am listening on the motorway aboard a National Express coach, and the juxtaposition is too much to bear. I'm wishing the music would liven up a little.

Arriving back at Liverpool One bus station, I pause the music and resume it in my car. Finally, the Debussy, I enjoy in the living room when I'm back home. The perfect antidote to all the chaos of the day. I was thinking La Mer may have been the same one played at my great-uncle Henry's funeral in 2021, but that was the Charles Trenet version. 

Image: Pixabay.com