Royal Albert Hall
Berlioz – Overture: Le Corsaire, op.21
Elgar – Sea Pictures
Helen Grime – Near Midnight (London premiere)
Beethoven – Symphony no.3 in
E-flat major, ‘Eroica’, op.55
One of the most saddening
aspects of this year’s Proms has been the insulting disservice it has done to
new music. Whoever is responsible for the decision to cut contemporary works
from television broadcasts should lose his or her job forthwith; it is
difficult to imagine a case in which the BBC has acted more clearly against
anything remotely approaching Reithian principles. (For the most informative
and thoughtful piece on this issue, I have seen, please visit Classical
Iconoclast here.)
And so it was, apparently, that despite giving the London premiere of Helen
Grime’s Near Midnight, the BBC saw
fit not to broadcast it on television, whilst offering the rest of the concert.
Not only was the decision wrong, it was foolish, for this probably proved the
highlight of the Hallé’s concert under Sir Mark Elder. (Incidentally, does not
this ‘Hallé’ rebranding sound silly; whatever was wrong with the Hallé
Orchestra?)
Near
Midnight was the first piece
Grime wrote for the Hallé as Associate Composer, as we learned in the composer’s
informative programme note. Initially inspired by D.H. Lawrence’s poem, Week-night Service, it shows a composer
seemingly born to write for a large symphony orchestra. Indeed, though there is
not necessarily much in common in terms of language and musical content, that
ease of handling initially put me in mind of Henze, though French composers and
perhaps Carter may offer a more revealing comparison. Considerable, but not
excessive, use is made of percussion, likewise brass fanfares which act ‘almost
like the tolling of bells … important markers in the structure of the piece’. A
keen sense of drama and fantasy – and fantasy accomplished – was very well
conveyed by orchestra and conductor; so was Grime’s careful pacing, impetus
building before subsiding beautifully. Composer, orchestra, conductor, and not
least television audience: all are owed an apology by the BBC.
The first half had been
devoted to Berlioz and Elgar, in what might, barring Near Midnight, have been a classic Barbirolli programme. In the Corsaire Overture, Elder seemed unable to
settle upon convincing tempi. The opening was absurdly fast; what followed
seemed excessively drawn out, there seeming to be little that connect various
sections. However, the orchestra itself was on fine form, no detail being lost,
whatever the tempo. That said, when very fast, accented notes tended to be
snatched at rather than given their full import: hardly surprising. Not for the
first time in the evening, I longed for the late Sir Colin Davis.
Alice Coote joined the
orchestra for Elgar’s Sea Pictures.
Hers was a carefully variegated performance, in many ways admirable, though
sometimes she struggled either to make herself heard or at least to make the words
heard in the Royal Albert Hall acoustic. Elder ensured that the orchestra did
not overwhelm her, offering a magical tapestry of orchestral colour. Whether
one can take Alice Elgar’s poetry is a matter of taste, or lack thereof, but ‘Capri’
at least proved a charming musical interlude between ‘Sea Slumber-Song’ and a
dignified, if somewhat slow-moving ‘Sabbath Morning at Sea’. ‘Where Corals Lie’
was splendidly free, whilst maintaining a good sense of form. The Hallé was
again beyond reproach, as full of colour as if this had been Les Nuits d’été. Again, though, it was
difficult to make out a good number of the words. The final song, ‘The Swimmer’
was urgent yet noble, perhaps more operatic than oratorio-like. Again, though,
the music is so much better than the poem (this time by Adam Lindsey Gordon).
After
Midnight followed the
interval, Grime’s piece then being followed by the Eroica Symphony. On this showing – and, indeed, on that of his
Royal Opera Fidelio – Elder is,
alas, not a great Beethovenian. Quoted in the programme, he made wearily
predictable ‘authenticke’ remarks, claiming that his work with the Orchestra of
the Age of Enlightenment had ‘changed everything: the excitement, the edge, the
daring … Comfortable opulence has no place here.’ Yes, of course Furtwängler,
Klemperer, et al. were known for that
very lack of excitement, edge, and danger, and of course for ‘comfortable
opulence’. Likewise more recent Beethovenians as different as the
aforementioned Sir Colin, Daniel
Barenboim, and Michael Gielen. People say silly things, however, and it
does not necessarily invalidate their performances. What was striking, however,
was how lacking in excitement, edge, or danger Elder’s performance was.
The first movement was
fashionably fast, presumably conforming to some metronome fatwa somewhere, but
what was more apparent than mere speed was the strange lightness of tone. The
Hallé’s performance was well articulated, sometimes excessively so. However, if
Elder’s performance were punctilious with respect to the score – as if that
were ever more than the starting-point for a performance! – what seemed
entirely lacking was any sense of meaning, of why this work and Beethoven’s
vision might matter. What ought to be a truly climactic moment, that of
recapitulation, passed by almost unheralded – and weirdly un-phrased. Heroism:
whither now? Beethoven seemed bizarrely domesticated, certainly far from Wagner’s
1851 vision of this symphony: ‘the term “heroic”
must be taken in the widest sense, and not simply as relating to a military
hero. If we understand “hero” to mean, above all, the whole, complete man, in
possession of all purely human feelings — love, pain, and strength — at their
richest and most intense, we shall comprehend the correct object, as conveyed
to us by the artist in the speaking, moving tones of his work. The artistic
space of this work is occupied by … feelings of a strong, fully formed
individuality, to which nothing human is strange, and which contains within
itself everything that is truly human.’ But no, of course, Wagner is wrong, and
‘authenticity’ is right.
Perhaps surprisingly, the
Funeral March fared better, though only comparatively. It flowed well – which,
at whatever tempo, it must – and, despite a swift temp, it did not sound
rushed. However, it was often little more than pleasant, which is hardly
enough; there was certainly little sign of the composer to whom Wagner referred
to as ‘the master who was called upon to write the world history of music in his works’. Withdrawal of string vibrato irritated
too. Mendelssohn came to mind in the scherzo, albeit with loud(-ish)
interjections; again, Beethoven’s spirit seemed distant. (It is perhaps worth
mentioning here Elder’s strange, quite inauthentic decision to use four horns.)
The finale went along its way quite merrily, if rather quickly, but with all
the metaphysical import of a Toblerone. I was left feeling distinctly
nonplussed, and recalling Barenboim’s performance two years previously at the
Proms: it might as well have been a different work, and not only on account of
the heroism of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra.
