Visiting London for a conference, I was able to take in the only Prom of the season with any hardcore Second Viennese School in it, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Tarmo Peltokoski. Schoenberg’s anniversary has not received a great deal of attention and it’s been necessary to look quite hard for performances in among all the Bruckner and Stanford.<\/p>\n
I was unfamiliar with his violin concerto (played by Patricia Kopatchinskaja), and it’s hard to take in on a first hearing. My main difficulty was that I found it rather disjointed and the structure was hard to discern, but some reviews indicated that this was a quality of this particular performance. <\/p>\n
Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony on the other hand is known to me in great detail as it was a set work for my A level Music course. I thought this was a good all-round performance without being particularly blown away by any part of it. I’m used to rather bitty Proms programmes but the evening began, rather incongruously, with Vaughan Williams’ short Fantasia on ‘Greensleeves’. The juxtaposition reminded me of when the readings at a church service appear to have little to do with one another and the poor preacher tries to find something to connect them.<\/p>\n
There was a sizeable audience, but one that was more attentive than most other recent Proms audiences I’ve encountered recently. I’m now having to pick my concerts carefully in order to make sure I’m among such people. I went for a box again, reasoning that this would also minimise the chance of disruptive neighbours, and this time ensured I was well away from partitions<\/a>.<\/p>\n Some reviews:<\/p>\n Seen and Heard International<\/i><\/a> Visiting London for a conference, I was able to take in the only Prom of the season with any hardcore Second Viennese School in it, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Tarmo Peltokoski. Schoenberg’s anniversary has not received a … Continue reading
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