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Seen and Heard International, September 14, 2015 |
Robert Beattie |
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Last Night of the Proms, 2015, London, Royal Albert Hall |
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All the Fun of the Last Night of the Proms
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The last night of the 2015 season of the Proms was an eclectic mix of
popular classics and new pieces, jazz-inspired numbers and hits from
musicals, together with all the old familiar favourites. The redoubtable
Marin Alsop was once more at the helm and she was joined by a trio of
world-renowned soloists.
Over the last few years it has struck me how
much this quintessentially British phenomenon has increasingly taken on an
international character. In the second half of the concert the traditional
jingoistic elements, including the sea of waving Union Jacks, were all
present and correct but there was also an assortment of flags from many
other different countries across Europe, Asia and America. In her speech
Marin Alsop, the first and now also the second woman to conduct the Last
Night of the Proms, referred to the founding principles of access and
inclusion which underpin the festival. She spoke about the importance of
music education, about the need to strive for equality in all things and
about the power of music to bring people together and to create a more
peaceful, tolerant and just society. Nothing symbolises this more than the
sea of flags from across the world being waved in this vast hall.
The
first half of the concert began with the world première of Arise Athena!, a
BBC Commission from Jamaican composer Eleanor Alberga,. The music was richly
coloured, upbeat and tonal and the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus gave an
energetic and committed performance. Benjamin Grosvenor then joined the
party for Shostakovich’s Second Piano Concerto. This was described by the
composer as having “no artistic value” but it remains a firm audience
favourite and was a good choice for the Last Night of the Proms. Much of the
piano writing is light and thin but Grosvenor projected the sound well in
the cavernous space of the Royal Albert Hall. His articulation in the first
movement was superb and he played with enormous clarity and brio although
the tempo was a little on the fast side and I felt some of the detail was
lost. The famous melody which opens the Andante was gorgeous and the
movement was allowed to open up in a highly poetic and meditative way. The
finale was sparkling, light and brilliant with Grosvenor making the most of
the playful exchanges with his orchestral partners.
From Russia we
moved to Estonia and Germany with works by Pärt and Strauss. Pärt’s Credo
was seen as a direct challenge to the Soviet authorities when it was first
performed because of its use of words from the Christian liturgy. The work
quotes Bach’s C Major prelude from Book 1 of the ’48 and it is a curious mix
of tonal and stringent, dissonant music. Alsop coaxed a wide range of
dynamics from the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus at the beginning and
provided us with some very startling and dramatic playing. The central
section where the music disintegrates and breaks down was beautifully
controlled and very powerful before we returned to serene contemplation on
the piano with the BBC SO’s pianist, Elizabeth Burley, giving us a glowing
and rapt account of Bach’s C Major prelude. Alsop and her orchestral
partners moved swiftly on and succeeded in creating a seamless narrative in
Strauss’ Till Eulenspiegel – the various tableaux and shifting moods of the
tone poem were depicted brilliantly and the principal horn and leader of the
orchestra did well with their respective solos.
German tenor, Jonas
Kaufmann, finished the first half of the concert in style with ravishing
accounts of three arias by Puccini (Kaufmann has just released a recording
of arias by Puccini including the three arias performed here). He opened
with Cavaradossi’s ‘Recondita armonia’ from Tosca – Kaufmann’s gorgeous
ringing tone resounded around the Albert Hall in a majestic and thrilling
way. I heard Kaufmann perform the role of Des Grieux very recently at Covent
Garden and I remember his incendiary performance leaving me completely shell
shocked. He performed ‘Donna non vidi mai’ at this concert and the rapture
and consuming passion of love was ignited once again. For many people
Pavarotti is inextricably associated with ‘Nessun dorma’ but Kaufmann
re-interpreted this most famous of arias in a fresh and vibrant way,
bringing a blend of exotic charm and a raw emotional intensity which brought
the house down – what a way to end the first half of the concert!
The
second half opened with a selection of jazz numbers, beginning with Victory
Stride by James P Johnson, the African-American composer who became famous
for writing the Charleston. Victory Stride was originally recorded by
Johnson for small jazz band but this arrangement brought expanded big band
textures to the music. The BBC SO gave an unbuttoned account of the piece
and captured the distinctive blues feeling brilliantly and there were some
groovy and funky solos for percussion, trumpet, clarinet, trombone and piano
(Benjamin Grosvenor returning once more to the fray). Grosvenor then gave us
a sparkling account of Percy Grainger’s arrangement of Gershwin’s Love
walked in. The phrasing and filigree arabesques were exquisite in the
initial section and the build-up in the central section was a barnstorming
piece of playing. Grosvenor also performed Morton Gould’s ‘Boogie Woogie’
Étude. This piece was popularised by Shura Cherkassky who often performed it
as an encore. Grosvenor himself performed the piece as an encore at the
Proms in 2011 and I felt his performance here was even more polished and
rhythmically incisive.
Jonas Kaufmann and Danielle de Niese joined
Alsop and the BBC SO to give us a selection of popular songs from operettas
and musicals. Kaufmann opened with ‘Dein is mein ganzes Herz’ from Lehár’s
The Land of Smiles, a piece that was initially popularised by the Austrian
tenor, Richard Tauber. Kaufmann gave us a very heartfelt and sexy
performance, a view that was undoubtedly shared by audience members as a
number of them threw their knickers at him (I think this is definitely a
first for the Proms!). De Niese gave us a sparkling account of Delibes’ Les
filles de Cadix with the BBC SO providing a flexible accompaniment and rich
flamenco textures. De Niese gave us supple phrasing and exquisitely sculpted
coloratura and there was a wonderful depth and colouring to her voice. To
get the party in to full swing, de Niese lead a sing-along of popular
numbers from The Sound of Music in an arrangement by Chris Hazell. Not all
opera singers are able to make a successful transition from opera to
musicals but the supremely versatile de Niese was fully up to the task and
delivered these popular numbers with dazzling brio, bringing the audience
members along with her. I really liked Chris Hazell’s arrangement and
wouldn’t be surprised if it becomes established as a Last Night favourite.
The concert concluded with a number of firm audience favourites,
starting with Elgar’s ‘Pomp and Circumstance’ March No. 1 (where the
audience gave a rousing account of Land of Hope and Glory). Alsop and the
BBC SO then played two dances from Henry Wood’s Fantasia on British
Sea-Songs – in time honoured fashion, Alsop and the orchestra raced the
audience in ‘The Sailor’s Hornpipe’ and beat them to the finishing line.
Jonas Kaufmann had the distinction of being the first German performer to
sing Rule Britannia at the Proms. I did not feel Kaufmann was entirely
comfortable with the elaborate vocal flourishes in the opening section –
Sargent’s arrangement is for mezzo-soprano rather than tenor, which may have
been a contributing factor – but he got more into his stride as the piece
progressed chorus. At the end of the piece, he returned the audience’s
earlier favour by twirling a pair of Union Jack boxer shorts above his head
and hurling them into the arena.
Performances of Parry’s Jerusalem,
Britten’s arrangement of the National Anthem and Auld Lang Syne closed the
2015 season of the Proms in time-honoured tradition.
Superb
performances all round.
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