Bernard Haitink
Now seriously back at work full-time so no time for lengthy blog, alas. However, I must celebrate the end of my Prom-going season which ended with a couple of crackers!
Stéphane Denève and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (Saturday) gave a stunning performance of Debussy’s La Mer – dazzling orchestral detail, lovingly shaped, deeply felt. Denève (conducting without a score) may have lingered slightly over some of the significant turning points, but I felt this was absolutely ‘his’ music and he was totally inside it. Lovely orchestral playing, especially the finely-tuned woodwind and acutely pointed trumpets (if you see what I mean). Unbelievably quiet pianissimos when required, and blazing loud passages that seemed to point to Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring (never thought that about La Mer before). (But where were the disputed fanfares in the last movement?)
(Going backwards through their programme…) The less said about their Rachmaninov 2nd Piano Concerto with Stephen Hough the better. Hough was having an off night (nerves?), stumbling and hurrying all over the place. The orchestra was stodgy, dull and ragged. It felt like a bad ‘Friday Night is Music Night’ performance.
Thea Musgrave’s ‘Rainbow’ was nice – pretty, simple, appropriately colourful, did what it said on the tin.
Albert Roussel’s Bacchus and Ariadne Suite No. 2 was a revelation – great music, chirpy, quirky, powerful and dangerous. Lovely stuff.
On Tuesday it was Bernard Haitink and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra – I couldn’t make the Mahler 6 the previous night, so this one was not to be missed (and very crowded it was too).
One rarely hears ‘big-orchestra’ Mozart these days – although it could be argued that (more…)
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