Boléro and The Rite of Spring
Royal Albert Hall
It's back to something of a regular proms routine for me, now catching my breath after being in London all of the weekend just passed.
Edgard Varèse's Intégrales begins, and I'm afraid I'm getting flashbacks to the Boulez and Berio programme. It crackles to start with, but I'm not sure if it's partly a weak signal strength on the radio. Perhaps not, if the screeching is anything to go by. Sounds like a clown twisting balloons, in the vain hope of creating a poodle.
The cello concerto (Anna Thorvaldsdottir's Before we fall) opens boldly, and it's quite frightening actually. Definitely fit for a thriller/horror movie. It's enjoyable, even though it's not enjoyable, if that makes sense? Call it 'tectonic masses' if you will, but I would personally liken it to chewing on a sour, sugar-coated Haribo.
In a highly unusual move, I make myself a hot chocolate.
Next up it's Ravel's Bolero. Now we're talking! Most famously associated with Torvill and Dean, it's a classic, gentle piece. Earlier in the season I compared Rachmaninov to Monet, and this is giving me similar feels.
During the interval I begin to type this up, so I am not taking in all of the chat. However, just as the interval wraps up I catch the announcer say it's a 'savagely beautiful prom this evening', and I couldn't have put it better myself.
After the interval it's Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. Opens up calmly, puts me in mind of Grieg's Peer Gynt. Unexpectedly, it starts to build up with some Jaws-like hits on the stings. It keeps fluctuation between being more dramatic at times, then falling back into more calm, bird-tweet caves. Judging by the timpani hits, Stravinsky must have had a splitting headache when he wrote some of this.
