Elgar's The Apostles at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester Hallé/Sir Mark Elder

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

...as the cretins suffering from a nasty bout of the clap had gravitated North for the evening...

Yes indeed. The idiot who clapped first at the end of both halves was sitting almost immediately behind me in the side circle. He looked like an older version of Lex Luther. I gave him the most withering look possible.

But I agree with the plaudits for the performance. Sir Mark Elder had researched Elgar's "seating plan" and followed it closely. This was truly HIPP Elgar. The shofar part was played on anstrument that was a cross between a posthorn and a genuine Shofar. The Halle Youth Choir were simply superb in their "alleluyas" in Part 2.

To say this performance was awesome is somehow an inadequate description, as no words can possibly describe this wonderful event. I have never experienced a performance like it. The CD, however well recorded, could not come close to the live experience of 5th May 2012 (though I shall buy it, nevertheless).

Happily, the same performers are scheduled to repeat Elgar's The Apostles Prom 37 on 10th August. I shall be unable to attend , but I cannot recommend this concert too highly.

[rank_and_file]

As fhg has pointed out, the BBC broadcast on Thursday was the BBC Concert Orch/Cleobury version from Kings College. I listened on iPlayer as I could look at the libretto from my Boult CD version. Diction or acoustics rather so-so, and, to my ears only Roderick Williams as Jesus stood out in a performance which never seemed to catch fire.

Still, must have been better at the concert rather than listening to the Optimod mangled BBC broadcast.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

N.B. I've merged the two threads about this performance.

[Frau Alpensinfonie]

I was there with EA (though he did manage to find us the wrong seats (twice)).

I quote from the writings of Karen Armstrong:

One of the peculiar characteristics of the human mind is its ability to have ideas that exceed the conceptual grasp. We constantly push our thoughts to an extreme, so that our minds seem to elide naturally into an apprehension of transcendence. Music has always been inseparable from religious expression, because, like religion at its best, music marks the ‘limits of reason’. Because a territory is defined by its extremities, it follows that music must be ‘definitively’ rational. It is the most corporeal of the arts: it is produced by breath, voice, horsehair, shells, guts and skins and reaches resonances in our bodies at levels deeper than will or consciousness’. But it is also highly cerebral, requiring the balance of intricately complex energies and form relations, and is intricately connected with mathematics. Yet this intensively rational activity segues into transcendence. Music goes beyond the reach of words: it is not about anything. A late Beethoven quartet does not represent sorrow but elicits it in hearer and player alike; and it is emphatically not a sad experience. Like tragedy, it brings intense pleasure and insight. We seem to experience sadness directly in a way that transcends ego, because this is not my sadness but sorrow itself. In music, therefore, subjective and objective become one. Language has limits that we cannot cross.

At the end of the Manchester performance, I was unable to applaud for quite some time, such was the intensity of the experience.

[Frances_iom]

.. to my ears only Roderick Williams as Jesus stood out in a performance which never seemed to catch fire.

Still, must have been better at the concert rather than listening to the Optimod mangled BBC broadcast.

agree - the only thing caught was the frogs by the tenor who sounded as tho he should have been resting from a bad throat infection - I thought the move up north would have increased the number of local productions such as what sounds like an outstanding Halle production.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

As fhg has pointed out, the BBC broadcast on Thursday was the BBC Concert Orch/Cleobury version from Kings College. I listened on iPlayer as I could look at the libretto from my Boult CD version. Diction or acoustics rather so-so, and, to my ears only Roderick Williams as Jesus stood out in a performance which never seemed to catch fire.

But this was the first time I have ever heard the work played with a REAL SHOFAR!

[Andrew Slater]

A magnificent performance, marred only by the element in the stalls who should have been clapped in irons.

I understand that a recording was made before the performance for any necessary patching. I suspect that if it had not been for the clappers, no patching would have been necessary.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I understand that a recording was made before the performance for any necessary patching. I suspect that if it had not been for the clappers, no patching would have been necessary.

Thanks for that information, Andrew.
Two days later, the sounds of the performance are still swirling around in my head. I hope they will never leave me.

[Andrew Slater]

Thanks for that information, Andrew.
Two days later, the sounds of the performance are still swirling around in my head. I hope they will never leave me.

Yes - I also have the 'swirling' problem.

I didn't see your posting re the clapper before I posted - I was sitting in the side circle (left) and could have sworn the clapper was in the stalls - the acoustics in there can be strange sometimes.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I didn't see your posting re the clapper before I posted - I was sitting in the side circle (left) and could have sworn the clapper was in the stalls - the acoustics in there can be strange sometimes.

I was in the Side Circle (right) on row B. The Lex Luther clapper was on row D on the door - the only "negative" I can recall from the whole evening. But I'll not dwell upon it.
I felt a bit sorry for the boys in the Halle Youth Choir. They had very little to do.

[Stanfordian]

Thanks for that information, Andrew.
Two days later, the sounds of the performance are still swirling around in my head. I hope they will never leave me.

It said in the programe notes to the Hallé/Sir Mark Elder concert of The Apostles last Saturday at the Bridgewater Hall that "for tonight Sir Mark Elder has tracked down a genuine schofar player". That's as maybe but the player wasn't playing a schofar (the original Hebrew Ram’s horn instrument). Does anyone know the name of what was being played on the night; it looked like some form of a long straight brass instrument to me?

[Pabmusic]

It said in the programe notes to the Hallé/Sir Mark Elder concert of The Apostles last Saturday at the Bridgewater Hall that "for tonight Sir Mark Elder has tracked down a genuine schofar player". That's as maybe but the player wasn't playing a schofar (the original Hebrew Ram’s horn instrument). Does anyone know the name of what was being played on the night; it looked like some form of a long straight brass instrument to me?

I wasn't there (more's the pity) so I look forward to the CD release. Obviously, I don't know what was being played, but (despite the programme note) I quote from the full score: "...and an extra Trumpet representing the Shofar; for this part the straight trumpet should preferably be employed." This is in the Note By The Composer at the front of the score. There really can be no doubt about what Elgar wanted.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

It said in the programe notes to the Hallé/Sir Mark Elder concert of The Apostles last Saturday at the Bridgewater Hall that "for tonight Sir Mark Elder has tracked down a genuine schofar player". That's as maybe but the player wasn't playing a schofar (the original Hebrew Ram’s horn instrument). Does anyone know the name of what was being played on the night; it looked like some form of a long straight brass instrument to me?

It seemed to be a hybrid - a straight trumpet with a bell with a vague resemblance to a shofar. Its impact was tremendous. Hearing the Thursday night broadcast (apparently with a real shofar) convinced me that Elgar was right in not wanting the "real thing".

[Simon B]

It seemed to be a hybrid - a straight trumpet with a bell with a vague resemblance to a shofar. Its impact was tremendous. Hearing the Thursday night broadcast (apparently with a real shofar) convinced me that Elgar was right in not wanting the "real thing".

It looked and sounded almost (and therefore necessarily not quite) like a stierhorn - as used in Die Meistersinger and Gotterdammerung.

Except it wasn't. Slightly less blaring, narrower bore and definitely not exact conical profile as the bell looked rather like a small brass alphorn. Whatever it was, it was effective. A real shofar would have been swamped by the orchestra.

[boxerphil]

It looked and sounded almost (and therefore necessarily not quite) like a stierhorn - as used in Die Meistersinger and Gotterdammerung.

Except it wasn't. Slightly less blaring, narrower bore and definitely not exact conical profile as the bell looked rather like a small brass alphorn. Whatever it was, it was effective. A real shofar would have been swamped by the orchestra.

I was singing on the 5th in this concert (1st tenor) - it certainly felt like an awesome experience to me - I believe one of the best we've done in the six years I have been in the Halle Choir. We are all buzzing at the wonderful reviews (the Guardian especially - who gave us 5 stars). Anyway, I actually had a chance to speak to the 'shofar' player. It is true that Elgar didn't want an actual ram's horn but a longer trumpet. The player (whose name escapes me) and who I got the chance to talk to, said that it was in fact a recreation of a temple trumpet thought to have been used around the time period of the drama. It was a very strange beast indeed, and looked for all the world like a set of copper plumbing pipes with a curved horn at the end - rather like an elongated French Horn bell. But what a wonderful declamatory sound it made (though I wouldn't have liked being sat close to it!)