Only one thing to say to Philippe Graffin this morning: "MERDE!!!!"
You can listen to the Prom tonight via the internet from anywhere: here's the link.
Meanwhile... Tom and I are still reeling from yesterday: we went to see 'The Producers'. Now I know where opera houses go wrong: they're not doing this show! It's the best thing I've seen in a theatre since 'Meistersinger'. And I don't think I've laughed so much since I saw the Marx Brothers for the first time. If you are in London or New York and you have only one free evening to do something, then do this! (Unless that evening is in London tonight, in which case you have to come to the Prom...)
5 comments:
Just finished listening to it, Jessica, and the applause is still ringing through my computer speakers over here in the US. What a fresh tone, full of joy has Philipe Grafffin, and his skill and style find a perfectly luscious match in the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor concerto.
Oh, and thanks to you I have a new addiction in BBC Radio! Now I'll be neglecting my work, husband, home, friends, children, laundry, charity and dogs, listening to Proms all day long and likely on into the wee hours of the night ...
Incredible, really, what we can do with the Internet these days. I'm glad you were able to listen to it, Andrea - and that you enjoyed it so much.
Here's what The Classical Source has to say about the concert. There was another good review in the Daily Telegraph (not online yet) and to judge by the roster of critics who were there, that won't be all. I'll post the links as/when they're available.
My take response is simply this: Philippe played like an angel; the orchestra didn't...
I studiously avoided mentioning the orchestra, but since you bring it up, I'd call their performance sluggish and overblown, when really a sweet and tender touch was called for.
Perhaps this is the kind of orchestra that waits for someone important to say this is how we play Mahler, this is how we play Mozart. They give the impression then or waiting for a template so to speak, here, this is how we play Coleridge-Taylor, and lacking that they just play obstinately loud and hard. At any number of points, I hoped they would employ just one drop of innate musical sensitivity to uncover and present for us his unique style, to play Coleridge-Taylor like, well, Coleridge-Taylor!
I think Mr. Cooksey is right to a limited sense in calling this piece a problem child. Its only a problem child for orchestras that have no soul, and, failing that, cant even be decent accompanists! I personally take a very dim view of an orchestra that insists on fighting the soloist tooth and nail against his interpretation in that manner.
Graffin makes me cry his playing is so beautiful, though.
I think that, to be fair, the problem was that PG knows the piece backwards, whereas the orchestra had never played or even heard it before, and there was very, very little rehearsal. Philippe is a very 'free' kind of player and because he knows the work like the back of his hand, he can soar up to the sky and loop the loop etc etc without worrying about it. On no more than two rehearsals (possibly even only one - I don't know), it's unlikely that any conductor & orchestra would be able to match that understanding, even with the best of intentions.
DO try to hear his recording. Here it is on Amazon.com, USA.
Thanks, Jessica, you're right, of course. I recalled late yesterday evening the controversy over Proms and too little rehearsal time. It's a real problem, isn't it?
I mean, it's really not fair to basically make the orchestra sight read through the performance!
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