| Subject: The Halle / South vs North etc |
Author:
Simon
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Date Posted: 17:12:57 13/08/2001
In reply to:
Derrick Fawsitt
's message, "Re: Halle Concert" on 16:08:44 12/08/2001
I feel a tremendously long ramble coming on here. Regular readers of this forum will be used to me waffling and pontificating on about nothing in particular, so this won't come as a surprise.
Derek, you're obviously a staunch Halle supporter. Were it not for the unerringly loyal and vocal support of their core audience, their most recent brush with bankruptcy may well have actually finished them. It is a testament to the strength of this support, that supporters feel personally sleighted when the band is criticised or is a catalyst for an empty house at the Proms.
A few personal views:
I don't think Southern bias has much to do with it. It appears to me that the staunch prommers are quite ready to point out the failings of the RPO for instance. I don't wish to start a flame war on this issue, but I feel that the Verdi Requiem on the penultimate night is a chance for them to prove that they can justify their presence at the proms. This is by no means assured IMHO, and it's perhaps something of a gesture on the part of Mr Kenyon to give them a chance not earned by their standards over the last few years.
As far as lack of PUHP reviews goes, there's a general lack of reviews wouldn't you agree? The novelty value of the web is wearing off, and the official BBC proms forum may well have stolen some of the thunder from these pages. Had I attended the concert (more of which later) I would have probably written a review, though I'm conscious of the very real risk that ppl will be bored to death with me banging on and on about this and that!
A suggestion to Martin (ignore at will) would be that it would be good to put a hyperlink to each review on the PUHP, on this forum as it appears? There is a danger IMHO that ppl are mainly visiting this forum and not the reviews page, and may thus be unaware of the reviews. That way, those who don't want to write a review might be more likely to read them and respond, e.g. "Shut up Simon, your review was a load of spurious long-winded waffle" which might stoke up some discussion!
Ok, so the Halle. Where to begin? This could get fractious.
So I'm a southerner, but in the sense of South Wales (you can't get much more provincial than a principality) born, bred and resident. I could start a whole Welsh vs English thing, but (a) it's completely off topic, and (b) I think it's the biggest load of divisive old sloblock you could ever imagine. Frankly I couldn't give a monkey's wotsit, and the Welsh Assembly is the biggest waste of time, space, money and hot air ever conceived (yes, those guys produce more hot air than even me). Enough of the politics. The point is, the only thing I take any notice of with orchestras is what they play, and how they play it. The net result of which, is that over the last five years, I've been to more concerts in Manchester than anywhere else.
Derek, you're dead right about the BBC Philharmonic (the best of the BBC orchestras by miles if you ask me). At least insofar as they are now of an exceptionally high standard, having peaked about 5 years back and slipped only very slightly since. In fairness to those you criticise for denegrating them, this is a recent thing in my view. I was too young to be going to concerts around the country then, but BBC recordings from 15+ years ago demonstrate that they were decidedly second-rate at best. A dramatic transformation was started by Sir Edward Downes and completed by the brilliant partnership with Yan Pascal Tortelier (and it will be a very sad day indeed when he relinquishes his post). Not quite on a par with the Rattle/CBSO transformation, but a similar effect whilst concentrating on the more brash and spectacular end of the repertoire. Of interest to me is that a number of the obviously weak sections back then, have the same principals today, who I would now put in the "outstanding" category (Paul Patrick in percussion, and the peerless Patrick Addinall on Trumpet). A similar thing happened with the CBSO. They were mostly intrinsically good players, but for some reason their potential was not being realised.
I started going to concerts in Manchester at the time the Bridgewater Hall opened (coincidentally). Basically, I went to the Tortelier/BBCPhil/Thibaudet Turangalila-Symphony Prom in '95? I recall one of the other regulars on these pages (Stephen Chubb? apologies if I'm wrong) writing that this was the best Prom he's ever been to, or words to that effect. Me too. It was sensational. Electrifying. (Also deafening since I was near both tam-tams, and had Patrick Addinall pointing the bell of his trumpet straight at me, all of which made the 5th and 10th movements startlingly visceral). I was completely overwhelmed. Slack jawed. Jabbering. Discovering that the concert was being repeated in Manchester a few days later I decided to grit my teeth, do the 400 mile round trip in the car, and go to the repeat. Without the Proms atmosphere it wasn't quite the same, but since then I've been to the Bridgewater more times than I care to count.
However, (and I'm in danger of finally getting to the point) I also became aware that the Halle were programming some of the big 20th century stuff I like, and started to occassionally attend those. I'm afraid the contrast was startling. The BBCPhil's audience was certainly younger and more demonstrative, but this was a minor issue. Not wishing to be offend anyone, the Phil made the Halle sound like a bunch of amateurs. And given that they were playing in the same hall, and I was sitting in the same seats I couldn't understand the difference. The Halle were totally competent, and completely uninspiring. Whether it was Nagano, Arwel-Hughes, Herbig, whoever. The result was the same. Good, accurate playing, good ensemble, all the right notes in the right places, and the musical equivalent of watching paint dry. No excitement whatever, and a dynamic range which never went below fairly quiet, or above fairly loud.
The starkest example was two concerts of exactly the same programme, with the same conductor (though admittedly the BBC one was in Cardiff). Owain Arwel-Hughes (not the world's greatest but perfectly good at this stuff) did the Enigma Variations and Belshazzars' Feast, first with the BBCPhil in Cardiff, and then with the Halle in Manchester. This was a few years ago, and I believe that the BBCPhil Belshazzar was the last time I felt the need to give a standing ovation. The Elgar was deeply moving where it normally washes pleasantly over me, and the Walton almost unbearably intense and exciting. I was on the edge of my seat throughout except when I was being pinned back against it by the blazing wall of sound the Phil generated. I was again left slack jawed and jabbering, and in a very rare departure for Cardiff, the rest of the full house were cheering and stamping. I had high hopes of the Halle equivalent in Manchester, but was left completely unmoved. The dynamic contrast wasn't there, it was subdued, the whole thing was accurate but sadly dull. Making Belshazzar's feast dull is an achievement of sorts. Now I hope to goodness there are no Halle players likely to read this because it's obviously tremendously arrogant. If I could play as well as any of them, I'd be a 1000 times better musician than I ever was as an amateur. But there was something seriously wrong with the overall effect in my view. It was around this time I stopped going to their concerts altogether, sticking solely to the BBCPhil. I felt a little guilty about this given the Halle's financial problems, and the consequent need for every ticket sale they could get, but given that I sometimes had to make the trip to Manchester specially (rather than engineering being up there for work) I simply couldn't be bothered any more.
I haven't been back since, and so (finally, at long long last) I have sympathy, based on experience, with the view that Halle Proms are probably best avoided.
However, I'm prepared to believe that Mark Elder (a conductor whose reputation has unfortunately suffered for entirely non-musical reasons), may have started to transform the Halle, and put some life into it. So I've decided to go to the Elder/Halle performance of Prokofiev's enormous wheeze "Cantata for the 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution" in Manchester next March. Some of you will remember (if you've forgotten and you were there, you need treatment for acute amnesia) the performance of this crazy piece Elder, the BBCSO/SC, every brass player, accordian player, percussionist and artillery expert in London gave at the proms in '98? If they manage to make this anything short of startling, I'll believe anything. Hopefully, I'll have to eat my unkind words in a big way, as a result of Elder's transformation of the Halle from the Nagano-induced doldrums back to their former glories.
To anyone who's bothered to slog through this indefensibly long procrastination: I admire your staying power, and apologise for the lack of content! Remember, I don't get out much!!!! Attempts to have conversations about the future (if there is one) of professional orchestras, or the merits of Shostakovich vs Mahler don't exactly win you any friends at my local boozer. Better head off and brush up on the latest plotlines in EastEnders and who's been doing what to who, and in which part of the beer garden, so that I don't end up talking to myself again.....
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