Some others in the family went to Prom 57 on Saturday, this time going on spec and standing in the gallery. The Tonhalle Orchestra from Zurich under David Zinman began with the premiere of Cold Heat by Anders Hillborg, which didn’t really inspire much reaction for or against. Then Maria João Pires was the soloist in Mozart’s B flat concerto K595 (my daughter heard her play another Mozart concerto not long ago). Mozart doesn’t come round so much at the Proms these days, probably because the smaller forces now usually used to perform his music aren’t so well suited to the Albert Hall. So this performance sounded good but rather distant.
After the interval came the Eroica. My family weren’t so impressed with this performance, which seemed to them not to be very engaged with the music, despite some interesting ornamentation in the slow movement. But reviewers were more impressed; here are those from the Guardian, Independent and Telegraph.
A few days later some of us were back to hear the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra and Jaap van Zweden with another Mozart piano concerto, this time K503 in C played by David Fray. Much the same comment about distance as with the other concerto, though I also found the performance a little bland.
After the interval came Bruckner 8. This was the first time I’d ever heard a Bruckner symphony in concert. When I was doing Music A-level I could give you a neat little description of each symphony, ready for trotting out on the exam paper, but I also found that I didn’t particularly get his music (apart from the motets, which I discovered later). I thought I might understand better after hearing a symphony live, but it didn’t work; I enjoyed parts but found the piece had its longueurs. Was this my fault, or that of Bruckner, or of the performance? Probably mine, because I gather the tempi were in fact on the fast side! I know there is more to Bruckner than what I experience, because I keep being told that a really great performance is like meeting God (though the people who say this usually turn out to be convinced atheists). As the hall appeared pretty full I wondered guiltily whether I’d deprived a Bruckner-lover of the chance to hear this performance. Anyway, I shan’t write him off yet; maybe I should try a different symphony next time.
I found out there were at least three people I knew who were at this concert and would have liked to have had a chat. In future I’ll try to publicise my concert attendance in advance on Facebook at least.
Here are reviews of Prom 60 from the Guardian, Independent and Telegraph.