Re: PUHP reviews: Prom 54/2001 -- Proms Forum

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Subject:

Re: PUHP reviews: Prom 54/2001

Author:
Graham Nayler

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Date Posted: 16:02:21 05/09/2001
In reply to: Martin 's message, "PUHP reviews: Prom 54/2001" on 20:22:21 04/09/2001

Just my two-penn'orth on the Sibelius - as someone who has been in thrall to this piece from the first time I heard the opening bars (Chung, 1970s). Performances and recordings are often a bit painful as the music struggles to get past the soloist's obvious efforts to cope with the notes, and my favourite performance has to be Haendel at Proms 80(?). However, I have never heard anyone play this with such technical mastery (including the stunning Lin/Salonen recording), and make it sound so effortless - no-one should find this showpiece so easy! I was absolutely captivated by the second and third movements, and almost heaved a sigh of relief when Kavakos ended up on a duff note after a rapid canter up the dusty end in the third - this guy was human after all. He also captured the dance-like character of the third movement magically. Possibly because of his technical mastery, I did find the first movement a bit unengaging; he did seem to be playing the notes as if a spectator, rather than get stuck into it. One comment made to me was that it was a lot more lyrical than most performances - so possibly it's more of a stylistic point - I prefer the first movement to have a lot more edge to it. Another possiblility for Gary's lack of connection with this performance was that the orchestra was possibly accompanying a bit too sensitively - the tutti sections didn't come through with the impact they really require.
However, these points are all minor niggles with a brilliant performance, and I think it deserved every stamp it got.

Graham Nayler

(P.S I also thought the Mahler pretty good, although it's my now my turn to say that this symphony is one of that composer's lesser hits with me!)

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