Photo, Chris Christodoulou
Saturday, August 6, 2022
Royal Albert Hall, London
Daphnis et Chloé without a chorus, seemingly. Rhapsody in Blue without swing (so that it didn’t mean a thing). Danny Elfman steals the show.
Although Ravel allowed for no vocalise being available in Daphnis (he distributed the wordless element into the orchestra for such occasions), its exclusion does remove a significant aspect from the complete score. But we did get an unadvertised choir (members of the NYO not required to play at such moments, although this meant some singing couldn’t happen) as part of an impressive performance, slow-burn from Andrew Gourlay, well-detailed, too, considering this was an ensemble of one-hundred-and-fifty personnel, if more scenic than Ravel’s “choreographic symphony” might dictate. Notable solo contributions, such as horn in the stratosphere, or an exquisite flute in the ‘Pantomime’ section. The pirates were a little subdued, however, although ‘Dawn’ was voluptuous, and the final ‘general dance’, albeit sans choeur, issued an invitation to party.
George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue (using one of Ferde Grofé’s symphony scorings; he also did band-leader Paul Whiteman’s arrangements when the composer was the soloist to launch the work in 1924, and another jazz version two years later) didn’t quite come off, not so much stiff as overthought, zestier from the NYO (including a confident and sassy opening clarinet solo) than from Simone Dinnerstein (who rather deliberated); this is one of those pieces that needs to appear improvised, of the moment, rather than studied and leaden. There was an encore, something based on Gershwin’s ‘The Man I Love’ (for piano and NYO, the arranger’s name missed), yet so contrived and multi-layered as to lose sight of its song inspiration.
To open, the London premiere of Danny Elfman’s twenty-minute Wunderkammer, colourful and suggestive, proved enjoyable in a filmic sort of way (not surprising from the composer for Batman, Edward Scissorhands, and other cinematic hits, as well as The Simpsons on TV), a concert score that is descriptive of whatever comes to mind and is strong enough to be appreciated as music for music’s sake – and also including a vocal element – full of virtuoso writing, played brilliantly, with a reflective, rather sad middle section before the carnival of the conclusion, with again lots of activity, variegation, and plenty of technical challenges, which were met head-on and victory seized.
Sounds like a very strange concoction which did noone any credit.
Where you actually there? The Danny Elfman piece was fabulous, the Gershwin wasn’t the best but the pianist was not part of the NYO
It was a fantastic concert by an amazing orchestra. The Man I love was arranged by 18 year old @Sophiestevenson who conducted the piece.
Thanks for the encore advice; no mention that I heard by the R3 announcer that Sophie Stevenson conducted. Colin
No it wasn’t. It was arranged by Trish Clowes- saxophonist and arranger
Sophie was superb. She will definitely reach the highest echelons in her chosen field.
The encore crowded out the song to an annoying degree. Also annoying was the Radio 3 announcer, a new voice to me, but sadly like the rest of them full of hype, repeated superlatives and unwanted opinions (no wonder I listen far less to 3 these days). He did mention something interesting though, that Simon Rattle conducted Rhapsody in Blue at the proms with Richard Rodney Bennett, although I checked and the pianist seems to have been Ronald Brautigam. I wonder where the announcer got Bennett from. Would love to have heard him play it, sadly Dinnerstein wasn’t up to it.
Yes, Paul – you’re right re R3. Long gone are the days of R3 hosts at the Proms who actually know what they’re talking about – people such as the great Richard Baker. The commentator on the Verdi Requiem simply spouted scripted superlatives. Plus so much woke programming. There’s a reason besides Covid that people are staying away in droves. The NYO concert, I see, was an exception.
“Woke”? There’s that word again. Lazy, lazy!
The commentator clearly states that the encore was an arrangement for the NYO by Tricia Clowes and that the conductor was the percussionist Sophie, who previously played timpani in Rhapsody in Blue. Simone explained in her introduction that it had been an exercise in improvisation. Whether it worked or not, what was undeniable was the balletic and charismatic conducting from a extraordinarily composed and confident young musician and the responsive from her peers. Let’s just remember that it’s a significant achievement for these young people (who have come through two years of frustrating music-making online, via zoom and only sporadically in person) to have kept the faith with their desire to become musicians. Nobody above the age of 19… I feel sad that it can be described as “a strange concoction that did no one any credit” or reviewed with such a sense of damning with faint praise.
“… an impressive performance…” “Notable solo contributions…” “… full of virtuoso writing, played brilliantly… and plenty of technical challenges, which were met head-on and victory seized.” Hardly damning with faint praise. I’m sorry I missed the reference to Sophie Stevenson conducting the encore, but I had mentally switched off the loquacious announcer.
My cousin’s granddaughter, Emily was playing in the bassoons.
You are right about the pianist in Rhapsody in Blue. Too mannered for the piece. But Raj Bhaumik did a wonderful job with the terrifying opening solo on the clarinet. The camera work for the showing on TV was great. The conductor readies himself and the orchestra, gives everyone a pause then with a broad smile looked at Raj Bhaumik and gave him a little nod that said, ‘When you are ready’. Mr Bhaumik took a split second then launched himself into it. Not as flamboyant as some but he certainly got it. Even Benny Goodman managed a little squeak when he did it.
Can anyone tell me about the large wheel-like instrument (green) on the extreme left of percussion, turned by a young girl musician during NYO Prom?
Probably the wind machine needed for Daphnis.
What an unpleasant and uninformed review!
Thanks for this! You are totally wrong.