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Opera Britannia, September 14, 2015 |
Faye Courtney |
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Last Night of the Proms, 2015, London, Royal Albert Hall |
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The Last Night of the Proms / BBC Proms, 12th September 2015
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The Last Night of the BBC Proms is a quintessentially British institution
like no other and the TV coverage doesn’t do full justice to the
extraordinary atmosphere inside the Royal Albert Hall or the sheer frisson
of thousands of voices lustily singing along to the likes of Rule,
Britannia! and Land of Hope and Glory. Musically, however, the programme
boasted a bewilderingly eclectic mish-mash of genres – ranging from the
sublime to the ridiculous and every shade in between. Whilst one can
appreciate the well-meaning aim of trying to provide something for every
palate, it made for a rather disjointed evening – particularly in the second
half, where the average length of each piece was about 3 minutes and the
pauses in between felt almost as long. Stop, start, stop, start…..
The more ‘serious’ first half of the concert began with the world premiere
of Eleanor Alberga’s specially commissioned Arise, Athena!, which started
promisingly but after a rousing, dramatic first entry for the BBC Singers
and BBC Symphony Chorus seemed to lose focus and direction. Pianist Benjamin
Grosvenor then performed the most substantial work of the evening, a
spirited and stylish rendition of Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto no.2 in F
major; impressing with his lightness of touch, particularly in the
expressive tranquility of the second movement. Arvo Pärt’s Credo followed,
an unusual piece as stylistically disjointed as this concert programme
itself, containing moments which sounded like the orchestral depiction of a
riot jarringly interspersed with Bach’s peaceful C major prelude, better
known for being reworked by Gounod as Ave Maria. Not one for your average
Classic FM listener and I have to confess to secretly agreeing with the lady
sitting behind me who I overheard expressing a wish for “Less of this stuff
and more of Jonas Kaufmann please”. But before we could enjoy the
eagerly-anticipated delights of the German star tenor we had Strauss’ Till
Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, – a lively if somewhat incoherent
performance that didn’t really show the BBC Symphony Orchestra or conductor
Marin Alsop at their best.
Maybe as an opera lover I’m biased, but
for me the highlight of the entire evening was without a doubt the section
of Puccini opera excerpts that ended the first half, starring the
aforementioned handsome German tenor. Jonas Kaufmann started on fine form
with an exquisite “Recondita armonia” from Tosca, boasting beautifully
phrased and expressive legato lines with an impeccably controlled diminuendo
on the final note. His “Donna non vidi mai” from Manon Lescaut also
showcased the burnished dark-hued timbre of his voice and was elegantly and
intelligently sung. Taking a break while the choir sang (or rather hummed)
the Humming Chorus from Madama Butterfly, he returned to the stage amidst
deafening applause to end the first half with a triumphant “Nessun dorma” –
his thrilling top B of “vincerò!” ringing out bright and true. Suffice to
say he brought the house down and it was clear from the jubilant expression
on Kaufmann’s face that he had been very victorious indeed.
The
second, more ‘popularist’ half of the concert began on American soil, so to
speak, with a ridiculously lively piece of jazz – Johnson’s Victory Stride.
I must admit that jazz normally does nothing for me whatsoever, but in this
case it was impossible not to be drawn in by the infectious, toe-tapping
buzz that swept around the hall. The first piece of ‘enforced’ audience
participation was a UK-wide sing-a-long of I bought me a cat – a piece of
silly (and perhaps pointless) fun which would probably have worked a lot
better if they’d chosen a piece that was much better known among British
audiences than one of Copland’s Old American Songs. Benjamin Grosvenor then
returned to the piano for more offerings from across the pond with
Gershwin’s Love walked in and Gould’s Boogie Woogie Étude.
We then
moved away from jazz and into musical theatre territory – a montage of video
clips showing members of the public singing “Doe, a deer” more or less in
tune was mercifully followed by Jonas Kaufmann smouldering his way through
“Dein ist mein ganzes Herz” – a cheesy love song from Lehár’s The Land of
Smiles which personally gave me indigestion but inspired some of Herr
Kaufmann’s more devoted fans to throw their underwear at the surprised
looking tenor. “Morning” from Peer Gynt seemed an unusually sober addition
at this point in the party, but then the charismatic soprano Danielle de
Niese bounded onto the stage and sang a fiery rendition of Delibes’ “Les
filles de Cadix” – although perhaps it wasn’t the best choice of repertoire
for her, given that the flashy fast sections and lower notes in particular
were swallowed up by the cavernous acoustic of the Royal Albert Hall. Much
as I admire Ms de Niese in Handel and Mozart, she was hopelessly miscast as
an overly operatic Maria von Trapp in an overly fussy Vivienne Westwood
frock (“The poor didn’t want this one”) as she led the audience in a Sound
of Music sing-a-long which was all tremendous good fun. But not asking Jonas
Kaufmann to sing “Edelweiss” was a missed opportunity of truly epic
proportions, as some of my friends on social media have already remarked.
The final part of the evening consisted of the usual traditional British
favourites, complete with much flag-waving and other patriotic shenanigans –
starting with Elgar’s Land of Hope and Glory, a truncated version of the
Henry Wood Fantasia on British Sea-Songs and the first German soloist to
ever sing Rule, Britannia! at the Proms. Kaufmann carried it off with great
aplomb, even though the low-lying tessitura of the piece gave him little
chance to shine and at times he struggled to be heard over the orchestra.
Jerusalem was rousingly sung, although I was disappointed that The National
Anthem was in the Britten arrangement, which strips away the stately pomp to
leave a somewhat lifeless dirge. The concert ended (as always) with Auld
lang syne and the spectacle of thousands of people crossing arms and holding
hands with strangers – a fitting reminder of the power of music to unite our
world, as referenced earlier in Ms Alsop’s idealistic speech in which she
advocated the importance of music education and called for greater equality
for women in classical music. A fantastically enjoyable and unique evening –
worth 5 stars for the atmosphere alone, although taking musical matters into
consideration I need to compromise and give it 4.
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