BBC Proms - "Resurrection" 9.8.13.

[Penny]

Last Friday evening, at the BBC Proms, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mariss Jansons gave what was to my mind the best performance of Mahler 2, the "Resurrection" that I've heard in a very long time.  Surely someone on this board must have heard it or better still, been there in person!  I wondered what others thought - it's being repeated tomorrow on BBC Radio 3 at 2pm. 

[barry guerrero]

The funny thing is, Penny, is that Janson's Mahler performances with orchestras OTHER than the Amsterdam Concertgebouw seem to have a lot more excitement and visceral impact. Strange. Glad it was a good show - lucky you.

[countryman]

Yes, I was there in the stalls. This was my sixth Resurrection and I had high hopes.  Indeed there was some beautiful playing and the tempi suited this listener perfectly so much so that, at times I had tears running down my cheeks.  I thought the off-street band superb as were the soloists.

BUT and this is a very big BUT, for me I came away at the end feeling very short-changed both by the puny size of the choir (even though they did sing rather well) but most importantly the decision not to use the RAH organ because the Bavarian Orchestra chooses some arcane pitch. That for me ruined what could have been a stellar performance.

What does this orchestra do for the Saint Saens Organ Symphony?  Do they really wheel out the Hammond?  If so then I will never bother to go listen to them again.

[Sturmisch Bewegt]

Thanks Penny. For me a new Janson's M2 performance is always wellcome.  The 9.8.one is four days left to listen :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b037v4wl

[Sturmisch Bewegt]

I have just listened to the performance. I find it very exciting and coherent .It has a moving "urgent" side .
For me the only BUT comes from both solists whose rather banal expression did not really convince me in the expression of human fragility.

[barry guerrero]

I was aware that the Vienna Phil. uses A = 444, but I wasn't aware that other orchestras were using anything other than 440. My guess is that they didn't use the R.A.H. organ because of the smallish size of the chorus. That's just a guess.

[Penny]

Point taken about the soloists “Sturmisch Bewegt”, but generally it was an inspired performance I thought, gripping from start to finish, and seemed to go quickly, really wish I’d been there but didn’t get my act together soon enough to get tickets unfortunately.  Perhaps to be more specific I was particularly impressed by the lightness of touch Jansons brought to the first movement, allowing the individual lines to stand out, never allowing the pace to drag.  The “Fischpredigt” movement was as slippery as I imagine Mahler intended, the build-up to the March of the Dead in the final movement real hairs on the back of the neck stuff, the entry of the choir a “wow” moment. (Fortunately or unfortunately the punyness (?) of the choir didn’t come across on the radio!)