I'm at the climax of the slow movement now. The performance is excellent. I would urge everyone to - if nothing else - skip to the scherzo (2nd movement here), and listen to the two inner movements. They're outstanding. The trio sections in the scherzo keep moving along, as they should, and the slow movement goes at a true walking tempo. I find these tempi exemplary. If you heard me conduct this, it would sound a lot like this - I wish.
Finale: mostly very good. The sound gets a bit more compressed from the first hammer-stroke onwards. The final allegro (fast) "charge" section has plenty of energy, as it must. I only have two complaints, and they're both rather minor. First, the rute between the two hammer strokes sounds more like a giant salt shaker (a rute is a group of wooden birches struck against the back of the bass drum shell - which is my preferred method - or struck against a separate wooden surface). Second, the final A-minor outburst at the very, VERY end of the symphony is taken a bit too swiftly for my liking. I like it when it's done slowly, such as on the Chailly or Zinman recordings of M6. I do wish that British orchestras would set their "whangy" sounding Paiste tam-tams aside, and buy themselves some good Wuhans. I also wish their tuba players would bring something bigger to the gig than a Besson Eb tuba (and I say that as someone who plays a Besson Eb tuba). Still, this performance received a highly enthusiastic response from the listeners, as well as from the BBC commentators themselves.
If this ends up as a CD on some future issue of BBC Magazine, I'll buy it!
Barry
Topic: M6 At The Proms: Prom 28, 8/5/2009...Available Online (Read 7397 times)