Music
More than a yard of tickets to the Proms!
Big expectations for Beethoven's Ninth Symphony at the Proms on the night of the opening of the London Olympics. The West–Eastern Divan Orchestra rose to the occasional under its conductor, Daniel Barenboim. Magnificent with a touch of the mystic and idealistic. The slow movement was intense without loosing form and direction with (at last in this cycle) a dialogue between the instruments; the choral last movement was thrilling, both with the sheer quantity of the two hundred singers from the National Youth Choir of Great Britain and the speed of the performance. A memorable evening.
Read more: Prom 18: Beethoven Cycle – Symphony No. 9, 'Choral'
Daniel Barenboim conducted a pair of fine performances of Beethoven’s later symphonies with the West–Eastern Divan Orchestra. He included many Western performing traditions but these relatively youthful performers gave energy to the music in a way that more established orchestras often do not sustain.
Is Daniel Barenboim’s West–Eastern Divan Orchestra a political orchestra or a musical orchestra? As they reach the pivotal centre of their cycle of Beethoven’s symphonies, the question becomes more apparent. The visionary project of an orchestra that unites through music the various cultures of the Middle East has aught the imagination of a number of funding bodies and clearly there are some brilliant soloists in the orchestra. Programming short pieces of Pierre Boulez’s music alongside the Viennese symphonic masterpieces is similarly visionary and probably makes good television and any concert which concludes with Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is almost bound to send the crowd away pleased.
A passionate, light and bouncy performance by Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment directed by Laurence Cummings. Handel's Judas Maccabaeus includes “See, the conqu’ring hero comes!” (No 58) and “the other” Hallelujah! chorus.
Handel's Judas Maccabaeus is a setting of the historical story of the army which seized control of Judea from the Greek-Macedonian Seleucid Empire between 166 and 164 BC and established self-determination for the Israelite people through renowned battles and despite plagues.
Prom 5 was the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Juanjo Mena. The crowd-puller was Richard Strauss's setting of Nietzsche's "Also sprach Zarathustra". Since the Karajan recording and Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, the opening music "Sunrise" has been both a showcase for hifi sound and a fairly sure spine-tingler even at home. With a very full orchestra and underscored by the lowest notes of the magnificent Harrison organ of the Albert Hall, the effect was certainly electrifying and of course there was no hint of hifi overload as this was a live performance.
