No 2 Prom is No 69

Our second visit to the BBC Proms tonight was Prom no 69. We heard one of the great orchestra's of the world, the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig conducted by Riccardo Chailly. He has apparently been 'recovering' their Mahler tradition and tonight was no exception.
The concert began with some Messiaen: Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum. This is a memorial to the dead of the first and second world wars, and is a bit difficult to appreciate, but there was some strong playing of the wind and percussion that made up the orchestra - no strings at all.
After the interval and a complete shuffle of furniture on the platform, a huge orchestra came back into the Hall to play Mahler's 6th Symphony. Though called 'Tragic', it is uplifting with sweeping themes and those wonderful horns, but in the last movement we were fascinated by the playing of what looked like a large cupboard with a sledgehammer, that cut them off when in full flow. This is the hammer of the gods overcoming the hero of the piece who dies - the end, an ultimate finality.

Proms 2012

Tonight was our first visit to the Proms this year, although they are almost over by now! We found ourselves almost sitting in the orchestra, which was very interesting, giving us a close-up view of conductor Vasily Petrenko. This was Prom 54 and the programme was:

• Sir Peter Maxwell Davies

  Symphony No.9 (25 mins)
  London Premiere

• Delius

  Violin Concerto (25 mins)

• Shostakovich

  Symphony No. 10 in E minor (45 mins)

• Tasmin Little violin
• Vasily Petrenko conductor
• Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra

The Davies was very modern; Tasmin Little played Delius beautifully; and after the interval we really enjoyed Shostakovitch's 10th. Vasily Petrenko coaxed some great tone out of the Liverpool Phil whose soloists were terrific.

London Weekend

We set off for London on Saturday afternoon and dropped the bags at our hotel before making our way to Byrons for burgers before our Prom. Tonight we were treated to a performance by the CBSO with Andris Nelsons. They began with Strauss's Don Juan followed quickly by Midori playing the Walton Violin Concerto, a piece new to us. Midori turns forty this year, but was a child prodigy who performed with Zubin Meta in New York aged eleven. She played beautifully and received quite an ovation from the Proms audience.

After the interval the orchestra played Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky Cantata along with the CBSO Chorus and soloist, mezzo-soprano, Nadezhda Serdiuk. It is a wonderful piece of music, which they interpreted with all the necessary drama of the tale. Finally we heard Strauss's Salome - Dance of the Seven Veils - but there were no dancers!

 

 On Sunday we dropped the suitcase at Waterloo and went for breakfast at Le Pain de Quotidien, delicious granola with yoghurt and fruit. After this we went up to the Royal Academy to see the Summer Exhibition. It seemed a little 'thinner' than in previous years, but there were several highlights such as another amazing Anish Kapoor piece, some lovely floral pieces from Dame Elizabeth Blackadder and some Michael Craig-Martin 'words'. In the courtyard was an amazing sculpture called Colouring Book by Jeff Koons. It is made from high chromium stainless steel with a transparent colour coating. It gave the illusion of being transparent, but really reflected the courtyard off its colourful surface.

 
Now we had time to stroll down to and through Hyde Park, along with thousands of other people. Lots of visitors enjoying the sun by walking, sitting on the grass, boating on the Serpentine, eating ice-creams or even listening, 1960s style, to Indian chants in romantic dress under the trees!  As we came to Exhibition Road the phone rang and our friends were already at Carluccio's, so we quickened our pace, not to keep them waiting. After a quick dinner, we walked up to The Royal Albert Hall and our next Prom, which was all Rachmaninov and mostly choral as we had the Chorus of the Mariinsky Theatre singing with the BBC Philharmonic under Gianandrea Noseda. It was a wonderful performance from the choir that has such a rich tone, especially singing those Russian syllables. The bass, Alexei Tanovitski was excellent and the little we heard from tenor Misha Didyk was also very good. Soprano Svetla Vassileva sang very well, but rather spoiled it all by trying to steal all the glory, and even had to be asked to leave the stage by the conductor (very politely, of course!) as she didn't seem to know how to retire gracefully!

And suddenly it was time to leave the RAH, get the tube down to Waterloo, collect the suitcases and make our way back home again. What a great weekend!




Prom 21
Walton Violin Concerto Notes
Midori biography
Prom 22
Chorus of the Mariinsky Theatre
BBC Philharmonic
The Royal Albert Hall

Prom 11

A pleasant afternoon and we took the train up to town, the tube to South Ken. We strolled over to Carluccio's for an early dinner before walking up to the Royal Albert Hall to attend Prom 11. Tonight the Prom was based around the BBC series 'Human Planet' and the music composed for this series by Nitin Sawhney. We would also be entertained by some of the music featured in Radio Three's parallel series, 'Music Planet'. Special screens had been installed all around the Albert Hall so we could watch some of the film sequences while the music was being played.

The orchestra was the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Charles Hazlewood, who managed to appear on the platform without anyone noticing, and he began the introduction almost before the audience had time to applaud. After the first piece, Paul Rose introduced himself as our presenter for the evening. The first performer of the evening from ' Music Planet' was Rasmus Lyberth from Greenland who came on dressed in a grey suit with a straw hat along with a fiddle player and an accordionist. He performed two songs about Greenland straight from the heart, which the audience loved, then Paul Rose came back to set the scene for the next piece of Nitin Sawhney's soundtrack. This was the format for this first half, alternating ethnic music with the orchestra, with Paul Rose setting the scene. The groups we were treated to were from Zambia and Mongolia, with Enock Mbongwe performing with a kalumba, a traditional Zambian gourd instrument coming on next. He wore traditional dress with a patterned shirt that had a special hole cut out so that the gourd could resonate against his tummy. He introduced himself and told us that this was his first time outside Zambia. His performance was so full of exuberance. The last performers before the interval were from Mongolia, the group called Khusugtun. They are six musicians who play morin khuur, the horse head fiddle; ikh khuuur, the horse head cello; yatga, the Mongolian zither; guitar; dombor, a Kazakh folk instrument; limbe, a Mongolian flute; djembe (African drum played with bare hands). They also sing, using the Mongolian throat singing technique. They were wonderful, and the audience really enjoyed their music and all the music of the first half of the concert.

Before the interval, Charles Hazlewood had announced an extra piece to begin the second half of the concert - the 1812 Overture performed on instruments made from scrap. This will apparently be a feature program on BBC Four later in the year. The instrument makers were all in one of the boxes to hear the performance, which was OK considering the difficulties of playing and keeping these instruments in tune. But, it was a bit strange putting this piece in the middle of this special Human Planet concert.

So once this was done, we got back to Nitin Sawhney's music on real instruments, and also two more ethnic performances. The first was from the group of three women from Sakha region, Siberia, Ayarkhaan. Their costumes were truly fabulous, ethnic cloth with gold lame and fur sleeves, gold headdresses and horsehair switches in their hands. They played mouth harps and made extraordinary noises with their mouths as they performed, first, the Horse song, and then the tribute to the patron of the blacksmiths, Kudai Bakhsy. The audience loved them. The final ethnic performers were the shark-calling group from Papua New Guinea's New Ireland, Bibilang. The eight performers entered, dressed in yellow traditional costumes with amazing straw headdresses. Their instruments seemed fairly recognisable as guitars but also included various ethnic percussion instruments. Paul Rose introduced them, and as they were named, they each waved to the audience who cheered them. Then they performed a series of songs, to the last of which two of the band danced the shark dance. Everyone really enjoyed the performance and the band didn't want to leave the stage, but were finally led off.

Nitin Sawhney now came on to address the audience about how he went about putting the music for the series together over an eight week period of hard work. He tried to capture all the different moods from desert to arctic conditions, rainforest to steppes; people living on the edge. He then re-orchestrated the score to put together performance pieces (and he could make a symphony from it, one would think). At last it was time for the finale, another wonderful piece of Nitin Sawhney's music, after which all the groups came back on stage for a final bow. The audience applauded, then gave them a standing ovation, well deserved for a wonderful evening of music from all over this planet.

Prom 11

Carluccio's

NitinSawhney

Rasmus Lyberth

Enock Mbongwe

Khusugtun

Ayarkhaan

Bibilang 

Human Planet

Music Planet 

Buena Vista Social Club - a birthday present!

Today was a beautiful day as we walked down to the station to catch the train into London. We actually had to hurry up the slope to make sure we were on the train, then ten minutes after we started off it ground to a halt - we waited. Eventually the guard and then the driver apologised for the delay - a red signal and then the news that the points were stuck. Nothing for it but to back up to the previous set of points, wait for the line to clear before we could get on our way. Half an hour delay, but then we were off again and arrived in Waterloo half an hour late. Nothing for it but to get the tube, when we were going to bus it up to Gloucester Rd and our hotel for free.We had booked to see The Cult of Beauty at the V&A at 3pm, and we just made it in time. It's a lovely exhibition all about the Aesthetic Movement, 1860-1900 that 'sought to escape the ugliness and materialism of the Victorian era by creating a new kind of art and beauty.' There were indeed some beautiful artefacts on display from pottery to silverware, fabrics and wallpapers to furniture, fashion, photography and interior design. Paintings by the likes of Rosetti, Burn-Jones and Whistler; designs by Morris and Dresser; architecture and interior design by Godwin, Aitchison and Webb were on display - even a projection of the 'famous Peacock Room'. We had a lovely time.

By the time we had finished, returned our audio guides and bought some postcards, we needed to find somewhere to eat before our evening's entertainment. We headed off to Carluccio's and seemed to be followed in by the world and his wife as soon all the tables were full and the place was buzzing. We had a delicious meal with a glass of wine and coffee to follow, and then strolled up Queen's Gate towards the Royal Albert Hall and the concert about to be given by the Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club featuring Omara Portuondo. It was a sell out and so the Hall was packed. We had a superb view of the stage, and the lights went down and the first band, Papayera came bursting on, the music started.

 




Papayera is a combo made up of expat Colombians living in London and they play traditional instruments from the Caribbean coast of Colombia including tambora, alegre, llamador and a gaita. The first three are types of drum and the gaita is an indigenous flute, commonly used by the Kogi, Zenu and Kuna Indians located on the Atlantic coast of Colombia. Apparently a gaita is made from a corazon de cardon, which is a plant that is hollow when dry, beeswax and duck feathers. It sounds like a penny whistle but with a bit more tone - it is much longer, maybe a couple of feet long.

The lead singer, Angelica Lopez, was full of enthusiasm and captivated the audience, encouraging all to clap along with the beat, dancing and dazzling us with her vigour. How quickly their hour passed and it was interval time before we knew it.

 Then came the 'main event' and there was a huge roar as Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club came on stage - maybe with not such speed as the first act, but as the music started and the fans quietened down, we were treated to some fantastic sounds and rythms of Afro-Cuban jazz.

 There were several members of the original BVSC band playing and when Omara Portuondo came on to sing, the place went wild. She was a picture in pink and soon the whole of the audience was on its feet clapping and dancing along to the beat. There were encores and cheering, but finally the band left and the audience made their way home.
What a wonderful birthday present!


Buena Vista Social Club
OBVSC
Papayera
Cult of Beauty at the V&A

This evening we attended the performance of Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring with LIVE soundtrack played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Ludwig Wicki. Howard Shore's Academy award-winning score was performed live on stage by the original soundtrack orchestra and choirs, The London Voices and The London Oratory School Schola.
This was a birthday present and we have been anticipating this wonderful evening for a few months. We began with an early dinner at Carluccio's by South Ken Station, then walked up Queen's Gate to the steps leading up to the Royal Albert Hall. Many people joined us as we walked up, allowing ourselves to be impressed by the lovely building. We entered by door 11, to gain acess to the arena where we were to be sitting. This is where the promenaders usually mill about during the Proms season. Tonight there were seats, and we had a grand view of the podium with the big screen in position behind, covering the organ and its associated pipes.
The orchestra seemed pretty large and included several places for the percussion. This included a huge drum cradled on its side as well as bells, other drums and the usual percussion instruments. The choir sat behind the orchestra, just under the screen.
It took some time to get everyone seated as it was definitely a full house, but eventually the house lights dimmed and the conductor appeared. The screen flickered to life and as the opening credits rolled, the conductor brought down his baton and the performance began. It was stunning and we sat spell bound; watching the film; reading the subtitles; and watching the orchestra as the musicians created the magic with their expertise. Luckily there was an interval when we could stretch our legs, then the second half began and again we were fascinated by all the performances - trying to spot when the very large drum was used, but not wanting to miss the action on the truly big screen.
As the film drew to an end, everyone remained seated as the closing credits rolled up the screen - of course, the music continues right to the end, and then the whole of the Royal Albert Hall errupted into ecstatic applause. The audience loved the perfomance, and we said a very big thank you to the giver of this wonderful birthday present. A night to remember.