R3 in Concert one-stop shop

[Pulcinella]

The blurb for this coming Wednesday's concert is as bizarre as it is incomprehensible.

A jingle of sleighbells, a flurry of flutes…it doesn’t take much to set Mahler’s Fourth Symphony in motion. But with Mahler, even the gentlest sounds can create a universe. From playful opening to final, blissful vision of heaven, the Fourth is a musical fairy tale like no other – an enchanting finish to a concert that begins with Dorothy Howell’s fantasy of a shape-shifting serpent and Kurt Weill’s typically feisty retelling of the myth of Orpheus.

There’s nothing quite like that, either - part song, part violin concerto, but all Weill. The BBC Symphony Orchestra is lucky enough to have its own magical shape-shifter. Principal conductor Sakari Oramo is also a superb violinist and tonight he stars alongside soprano Anu Komsi at the centre of a concert where wonder comes as standard and nothing (except the music) is quite what it seems.

So the seat I'd be sitting in might not really be a seat, and my preordered interval gin and tonic might become hot chocolate?

[oddoneout]

The blurb for this coming Wednesday's concert is as bizarre as it is incomprehensible.



So the seat I'd be sitting in might not really be a seat, and my preordered interval gin and tonic might become hot chocolate?

Have they used the woo-woo AI from R3Unwind to produce that?

[smittims]

Maybe they're trying to move away from the 'single-word assessments' they've overdone so much (Rachmaninov's second concerto is just 'romantic' , Mahler's fifth symphony is just 'epic' etc.) but what strikes me about this particular candidate for Pseud's Corner is that , once again, Radio 3 appears to be pretending to talk about the music without actually using any musical terms. Heaven forbid that they should tell us anything useful, like what key it's in, or anything about the structure of the work.

[Ein Heldenleben]

The blurb for this coming Wednesday's concert is as bizarre as it is incomprehensible.



So the seat I'd be sitting in might not really be a seat, and my preordered interval gin and tonic might become hot chocolate?

I wonder if this was an early evening post couple of glasses job ?
Never heard Mahler 4 described as a Fairy Tale . The complexities of meaning behind the genesis , structure , and “titles’ of the work’s movements are not easily reducible to 100 words let alone two.

[silvestrione]

I wonder if this was an early evening post couple of glasses job ?
Never heard Mahler 4 described as a Fairy Tale . The complexities of meaning behind the genesis , structure , and “titles’ of the work’s movements are not easily reducible to 100 words let alone two.

Let's be fair! there are many more than two words there, and it's not a bad characterisation, IMHO, even the 'fairy tale like no other'...Fairy tale, after all, is a wide genre....I thought we were just having our attention drawn to the bizarre conclusion...

[Ein Heldenleben]

Let's be fair! there are many more than two words there, and it's not a bad characterisation, IMHO, even the 'fairy tale like no other'...Fairy tale, after all, is a wide genre....I thought we were just having our attention drawn to the bizarre conclusion...

It’s never struck me as a fairy tale - I think that diminishes it as a work of art. Despite its part origins in literature a literary parallel to describe it , for me , doesn’t work. Any more than describing War and Peace as a symphony for example .

[Master Jacques]

It’s never struck me as a fairy tale - I think that diminishes it as a work of art. Despite its part origins in literature a literary parallel to describe it , for me , doesn’t work. Any more than describing War and Peace as a symphony for example .

The blurb is actually very funny, if unintentionally so. Especially the line, "part song, part violin concerto, but all Weill". I'd pay money to hear some hapless presenter have to read that one out.

The thing shows a new level of drunken, late night desperation. I hope the concert doesn't follow suit!

[Pulcinella]

The blurb is actually very funny, if unintentionally so. Especially the line, "part song, part violin concerto, but all Weill". I'd pay money to hear some hapless presenter have to read that one out.

The thing shows a new level of drunken, late night desperation. I hope the concert doesn't follow suit!

I thought that the best thing about the concert was the interval music:

Kurt Weill

Kleine Dreigroschenmusik from 'The Threepenny Opera'

Orchestra: London Sinfonietta. Conductor: David Atherton.

[Ein Heldenleben]

The blurb is actually very funny, if unintentionally so. Especially the line, "part song, part violin concerto, but all Weill". I'd pay money to hear some hapless presenter have to read that one out.

The thing shows a new level of drunken, late night desperation. I hope the concert doesn't follow suit!

Hopefully that priceless line would have been spotted in a live broadcasting context.

In Radio you are taught to ALWAYS read a script out loud before going on air or during a disc or tape (or server these days ) . All the best TV presenters do the same generally from autocue during rehearsal or during a tape. They spend a lot of the programme mumbling to themselves and given the standard of writing these days I don’t blame them.

Back in the day (generally male ) news subs used to dictate cues aloud to (usually female ) typists. Sexist yes but “all Weill” - just wouldn’t have happened.

[Ein Heldenleben]

On a less mundane indeed stellar note ..this Andrew Manze Missa Solemnis from Cardiff is , so far, wonderful …

[Historian]

On a less mundane indeed stellar note ..this Andrew Manze Missa Solemnis from Cardiff is , so far, wonderful …

Yes, very splendid. It's a huge sing for everyone, apart from anything else.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Yes, very splendid. It's a huge sing for everyone, apart from anything else.

The National Chorus of Wales covered themselves in glory in the Et Vitam and as for the sweet sounding soprano of Carolyn Sampson - what a songbird. I thought the soloists blended wonderfully with no heavy “oratorio” feel.
Andrew Manze - what a conductor …better than some of star names we hear (too much ) of.

[Historian]

The National Chorus of Wales covered themselves in glory in the Et Vitam and as for the sweet sounding soprano of Carolyn Sampson - what a songbird. I thought the soloists blended wonderfully with no heavy “oratorio” feel.
Andrew Manze - what a conductor …better than some of star names we hear (too much ) of.

Agreed on all points. Adrian Partington does some really great work with the BBC NCW. Always enjoy listening to Carolyn Sampson who is a wonderful musician. Happy to continue hearing more from Andrew Manze and in accord that some other conductors perhaps get more coverage than their results deserve. However, want to stay positive and acknowledge a fine performance of this great work which has more to say to me each time I listen to it.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Agreed on all points. Adrian Partington does some really great work with the BBC NCW. Always enjoy listening to Carolyn Sampson who is a wonderful musician. Happy to continue hearing more from Andrew Manze and in accord that some other conductors perhaps get more coverage than their results deserve. However, want to stay positive and acknowledge a fine performance of this great work which has more to say to me each time I listen to it.

Yes it repays endless study. This performance, hardly trailed on R3 , came out of nowhere and is one of the very best I’ve heard in a long time.

[NeilSchofield]

The National Chorus of Wales covered themselves in glory in the Et Vitam and as for the sweet sounding soprano of Carolyn Sampson - what a songbird. I thought the soloists blended wonderfully with no heavy “oratorio” feel.
Andrew Manze - what a conductor …better than some of star names we hear (too much ) of.

As a member of BBC NCW who was singing in the performance, it's lovely to read the kind comments. I can only echo the comments about Andrew Manze - an absolute joy to sing under the direction of a conductor with such a clear vision of the work, and who was able to convey it with such clarity.