Prom 37: Thursday 11th August 2011 at 7.30 p.m. (Bridge, Brahms, Holst, Elgar)

[Ventilhorn]

Well, what a truly pianistic panache Lazic brought to Brahms 3! There, I've said it. I was convinced by this performance in a way I certainly was doubting beforehand. Provided one approached this performance without prejudice there was a real sense of echt Brahms in this transcription[ the piano writing nothing if not idiomatic, erasing all memories of Joachim and his fiddle.

At times, the thundering chords Lazic produced in the first movement evoked that tiny little wisp of a scherzo from the second piano concerto: elsewhere, in the slow movement, one couldn't help thinking of Brahms's own superscription to the 2nd movment of his first concerto "Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini". The audience's spontaneous eruption at the end of the first movement told everything about how Lazic was received in the hall. I would urge anyone who has yet to hear this, perhaps deterred by the peptic utterings of the Luddites on this thread to beg, borrow or steal a recording of the performance (failing that I believe it's on the iplayer). A revelation!

Oh dear! I've just discovered that I'm a Luddite! But at least I can be assured that I am among friends

Yes, if you didn't hear it, do pin back your lugholes and have an objective listen. You have the choice of agreeing or joining we Luddites in our prejudices.

VH

[Roehre]

Well, what a truly pianistic panache Lazic brought to Brahms 3! There, I've said it. I was convinced by this performance in a way I certainly was doubting beforehand. Provided one approached this performance without prejudice there was a real sense of echt Brahms in this transcription[ the piano writing nothing if not idiomatic, erasing all memories of Joachim and his fiddle.

At times, the thundering chords Lazic produced in the first movement evoked that tiny little wisp of a scherzo from the second piano concerto: elsewhere, in the slow movement, one couldn't help thinking of Brahms's own superscription to the 2nd movment of his first concerto "Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini". The audience's spontaneous eruption at the end of the first movement told everything about how Lazic was received in the hall. I would urge anyone who has yet to hear this, perhaps deterred by the peptic utterings of the Luddites on this thread to beg, borrow or steal a recording of the performance (failing that I believe it's on the iplayer). A revelation!

Thanks for listening to this transcription with open ears, Panjundrum (see my Msgs 4 and 17), though I wouldn't call our co-messageboarders luddites.
I cannot comment on the performance as I haven't listened to it, but the CD of this pianoconcerto reveals the secrets of Lazic's arrangement after repeated listening quite easily.
Brahms could have made this himself, and that is (for me, see M17) the criterium.
[Btw, the highly critical Concertgebouw has scheduled a performance coming September 24th.]

[salymap]

Oh dear! I've just discovered that I'm a Luddite! But at least I can be assured that I am among friends

Yes, if you didn't hear it, do pin back your lugholes and have an objective listen. You have the choice of agreeing or joining we Luddites in our prejudices.

VH

Good Morning fellow Luddite [I thought you were a Druid} 'Pin back your lugholes'

BWS would be shocked. Have a good day.

[BudgieJane]

I certainly wouldn't call myself a luddite. The music is certainly OK, and there was nothing wrong with the performance; it's just that it's not a piano concerto.

In a couple of years' time everyone will have forgotten it.

[Ventilhorn]

I certainly wouldn't call myself a luddite. The music is certainly OK, and there was nothing wrong with the performance; it's just that it's not a piano concerto.

In a couple of years' time everyone will have forgotten it.

Let's hope so!

Well spoken and "without prejudice" (as letters from my bank manager say)

VH

[Roehre]

I certainly wouldn't call myself a luddite. The music is certainly OK, and there was nothing wrong with the performance; it's just that it's not a piano concerto.

In a couple of years' time everyone will have forgotten it.

I am not so sure about this PC disappearing: in the 1970s the Beethoven concert no.6 wasn't performed, and IIRC there was only one (Felicja Blumenthal on Everest) and a little later a second (Barenboim on DGG) recording available.
Nowadays it is heard more regularly, and the work is widely available, even on budget labels.
Ofcourse the difference being that this Beethoven is said to be Beethoven's own arrangement (he at least approved it).
If the record companies pick it up, it might survive IMO.

[jayne lee wilson]

Time for the luddites to strike back! Oh, well, not really...

Wonder if it comes down to relative familiarity? Most here will "know" the Brahms Concerti more or less well, but certainly in my own case it's one of those works I carry with me, somewhere at the back of my mind, most of the time. The main finale them often surfaces as I potter about, or the very opening, the first violin entry, that long cantabile (SO violinistic!) second subject, those minor-key 1st movement tuttis... all a bit nearer the surface of memory than many other things. Perhaps that's why I found the piano so "wrong" and disturbing...

I couldn't even begin to suspend my disbelief!

[Colonel Danby]

I've got Holst's 'Invocation' both with Lloyd Webber's own recording with Tod Handley, and with Alexander Baillie and David Atherton on Lyrita: I've always considered it an out and out masterpiece, and still think that now: it's a bit of a shame that Holst didn't expand it into a full blown Cello Concerto, but there you are.

But why do we have to have yet another trawling out of the Planets. Surely this has been done too many times before. I'd rather have heard the Dances from 'The Morning of the Year' Op 45 No 2 any day

[BudgieJane]

I've got Holst's 'Invocation' both with Lloyd Webber's own recording with Tod Handley, and with Alexander Baillie and David Atherton on Lyrita: I've always considered it an out and out masterpiece, and still think that now: it's a bit of a shame that Holst didn't expand it into a full blown Cello Concerto, but there you are.

But why do we have to have yet another trawling out of the Planets. Surely this has been done too many times before. I'd rather have heard the Dances from 'The Morning of the Year' Op 45 No 2 any day

Non sequitur. The Planets is in Prom 70 on 7 September. Did you mean the Enigma Variations?

[gradus]

I listened to the live broadcast of the Brahms but missed the remainder so listened to the repeat today and how glad I am that today I caught this performance of the Enigma Variations.
Wonderfully played and interpreted - surely one of the highlights of the Season so far.