On Thursday my husband and daughter went to Prom 30 (Gothenburg SO, Dudamel, Von Otter). This was my daughter’s first so she probably now thinks that they all begin with an hour of sorting out feedback noise. It was worth it when the concert (of Tchaikovsky, Mahler and Sibelius) got going, though the delay and the change of conductor were probably the cause of a certain amount of scrappiness.
On Sunday night it was my turn, to hear Runnicles and the BBCSO in the first prom to feature music by Berg, who is being celebrated this year as an ‘anniversary composer’. Welcome as this is, I can’t help feeling that this particular anniversary is a little spurious. Shouldn’t one commemorate the 125th birthday rather than the 120th? And is it just coincidence that Berg’s music comes out of copyright next year? It would have been lovely to have a chance to hear some of the less frequently performed works, such as the Altenberglieder or the Chamber Concerto, but in their absence I settled for the Three Orchestral Pieces. I felt this performance didn’t quite take off until the third piece; nevertheless it surpassed listening to a recording (I’d never heard the work live before), since no recording can do justice to the dialogues which take place between the various parts of the orchestra. There was also some visual excitement in the use of a hammer in the third piece. I’d always imagined this has being operated like a gong, but the hammer (which looked like an enormous croquet mallet) was swung down over the percussionist’s head onto a large block of wood. (It is therefore hard to be taken by surprise by a hammer blow if you are in the audience!)
After the interval there was Mahler’s Das klagende Lied which was new to me. It was performed with the first part, which Mahler later cut; having heard it I think Mahler was right to cut it as it was pretty turgid compared with the rest. This piece was suited to the venue, though, with the offstage orchestra in the third section working particularly well.
The Guardian reviewed the concert here.
I think it’s the 70th anniversary of Berg’s death which is being commemorated, rather than 120 years since his birth (so in a way it is no coincidence that the works come out of copyright shortly).
But I think my point still stands mutatis mutandis. Isn’t it more usual to commemorate the 75th anniversary than the 70th, because it is midway between 50 and 100, so the anniversaries are spaced out? I’ve recently been to a 75th anniversary do for my old primary school, for example. I realise that the 100th/50th anniversaries coincided not only with each other but with the Bach/Scarlatti/Handel celebrations, so we’re certainly due one some other time.
Nicholas Kenyon seems to like 70ths for some reason, Holst was similarly commemorated last year.
I’ve seen the Berg anniversary this year referred to by other organisations such as WNO. I suspect that it originates with Universal Edition, who are producing a complete edition of his music at the moment.
A related anniversary is the 60th of Webern’s death, and I will post on this soon.