Prom 52: Tuesday 23rd August at 7.30 p.m. (Prokofiev, Dutilleux)

[Chris Newman]

Oh dear, am I the only one who enjoyed that Classical? Absolutely gorgeous first movement, colours and scoring I'd never fully noticed before. Very playful scherzo, and helter-skelter scamper through the finale, superb ensemble, especially the winds! Idiosyncratic, but this piece can surely take it.

I agree with Eine Alpensinfonie. This is the sort of symphony that can take, yea...demands being played about with. I have Koussevitsky on 78s, Abbado and Dutoit on hilarious DVDs and more CDs than I dare mention (OK, it is often a fill-up) but it rarely fails.

The Fifth did not light my fire though. The muddy sound on HD could be at fault though. Come back Noddy and Jurowsky.

[makropulos]

It'll be interesting to hear from someone who was in the hall for tonight's concert - the orchestral balance on the radio in the Fifth Symphony was shocking, but was this a microphone problem?

[makropulos]

I agree with Eine Alpensinfonie. This is the sort of symphony that can take, yea...demands being played about with. I have Koussevitsky on 78s, Abbado and Dutoit on hilarious DVDs and more CDs than I dare mention (OK, it is often a fill-up) but it rarely fails.

The Fifth did not light my fire though. The muddy sound on HD could be at fault though. Come back Noddy and Jurowsky.

Chris - the Dutoit Classical Symphony DVD - is that the one with the hairdryers? It's very funny.

You mention muddy sound and I've just posted about bad balance - I was listening on a regular digital radio - there seemed to be real problems.

[jayne lee wilson]

What was that Suzy Klein said after the 5th? "At home, you certainly won't have felt the floor literally shaking at the end"?!
Speak for yourself darling, it did here, even with mere large standmounts (Harbeth C7s fed by ATC pre-power).
These presenters! KD and PT have been even worse this year...

Rather swift, mechanical and gleaming, that 5th... LSO do have a certain sound with Gergiev much of the time, not much room for lyrically expansive second subjects, many a touching detail lost in the vapour trail of speed and power... yet not especially fast at ca. 43 minutes, close of 1st movement not especially dynamic either...

"Exciting performance of exciting music"... you could say, I say hmm...

Hi Chris & Makropulos, what are you listening on? Have you checked computer/dac settings? I was on Macbook/DacMagic on minimum phase, and here it was all-too-shinily clear!

More to say, come back later, got a chow mein to cook...

[Chris Newman]

Chris - the Dutoit Classical Symphony DVD - is that the one with the hairdryers? It's very funny.

Yes, that's the one. Very funny. He makes a very dashing actor. Abbado has puppets of Mozart, Profiev and Nige Kennedy together with Sting and Roy Hudd in Peter and the Wolf

Fom jayne lee wilson Hi Chris & Makropulos, what are you listening on? Have you checked computer/dac settings? I was on Macbook/DacMagic on minimum phase, and here it was all-too-shinily clear!

I am listening on my Computer which has posher Denon speakers added.

[Petrushka]

I was listening on Freeview and also noted the muddy texture. The sound tonight was nothing like as detailed and powerful as the Philharmonia/Salonen Prom last week which was superb in every respect.

[makropulos]

Hi Jayne - listening on my usual setup - Radio 3 via freeview receiver, NAD amp and trusty Celestion speakers. The sound tonight seemed markedly different, even though this is the equipment with which I've listened to every Prom for the last several years. Strange!

[prokkyshosty]

I'm curious as to how much of Gergiev's grunting and low warbling came across on the radio? Because from the front of the hall it was pretty much non-stop. It was like a Concerto for Homunculus and Orchestra.

Having said that, I enjoyed myself, mostly because I think Prokky's 5th is a masterpiece. And the LSO could hardly have played it better. For what it's worth, a pretty sizable roar went up at the end when the LSO stood up -- the idea being perhaps that the audience was determined to direct their applause towards the orchestra and not the conductor?

One other note: Gergiev conducted both Prokofievs with no baton. He conducted the Dutilleux with that crazy toothpick of his.

[amac4165]

I'm curious as to how much of Gergiev's grunting and low warbling came across on the radio? Because from the front of the hall it was pretty much non-stop. It was like a Concerto for Homunculus and Orchestra..

I was wondering that too - at one point he seemed to be providing the sounds effect for the doors on the starship Enterprise !


Just back from the Hall - excellent. The 1st was a brilliant piece of playing - might of sounded a bit eccentric on the radio though - in the hall compelling !

I found the 5th riveting too - didn't really care for the L'arbre des songes - which IMHO isn't as good as the Larcher last week !

[Serial_Apologist]

Part of the problem with Prokofiev 5 lies I think in the scoring being a tad heavy-handed. Prokofiev was at his orchestrating best with smaller forces imv - viz the 1st Violin Concerto and its near-contemporary Classical Symphony - and this was brought out for me as I listened on my digi radio. Another part of it may have had to do with re=balancing the mics after the Dutilleux. The sheer opulence and magic of the latter - has there ever been a better orchestrator than Dutilleux? - sounded just fine to me.

S-A