Prom 46: conducts the LSO in Schoenberg ’s Gurrelieder, with Si ... Pàgina 1 de 3

Schoenberg Gurrelieder – in three parts for solo voices, chorus and orchestra to a text from Gurresange by Jens Peter Jacobsen in the German translation by Robert Franz Arnold [sung in German]

Waldemar – Simon O’Neill Tove – Eva-Maria Westbroek Wood Dove – Karen Cargill Peasant – Christopher Purves Klaus-Narr – Peter Hoare

Thomas Quasthoff (speaker)

CBSO Chorus Orfeó Català London Chorus

London Symphony Orchestra Sir Simon Rattle

(http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007v097/episodes/player)

Prom 46: Simon Rattle conducts the LSO in Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder, with Simon O'Neill, Eva-Maria Westbroek, Karen Cargill, Christopher Purves, Peter Hoare, Thomas Quasthoff

Saturday, August 19, 2017 , London Written by Peter Reed

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What is it about doomed lovers and the inexorable progress towards a New Music? First Tristan und Isolde, then Pelléas et Mélisande, and, almost as though he wanted to have the last word, the young , music’s saviour from the straitjacket of tonality (or so he thought then), slapped down his late- romantic credentials with Gurrelieder, about Waldemar and Tove’s forbidden love, Tove’s death at the hands of Waldemar’s jealous wife, Waldemar’s cursing God for allowing such a tragedy and his being condemned to ride the land with his spectre-vassals until the whole gothic contraption is subsumed into a glorious sunrise. http://www.classicalsource.com/db_control/db_prom_review.php?id=14749 28/ 08/ 2017 Prom 46: Simon Rattle conducts the LSO in Schoenberg ’s Gurrelieder, with Si ... Pàgina 2 de 3

Phew, what a scorcher – and romanticism’s last, long exhalation has been raising the Royal Albert Hall’s rafters fairly frequently over the past half-century; my first Gurrelieder was with Jessye Norman unforgettable as an orchestra-surfing Tove. It’s a work Simon Rattle has championed throughout his career, and you can see why. It plays to all his conducting strengths in terms of drama and its open-ended potential, and it takes him well and truly into his comfort zones.

The sheer scale of Schoenberg’s dramatic setting may seem daunting – a vast orchestra with, for this Prom, the LSO muscled up with twelve double basses, Wagner tubas, multiple woodwinds and brass and those notorious chains, six soloists including a -anticipating Sprechgesang role and a mighty male chorus taking to its hellish steeds – but, while Rattle is not afraid to let rip he is just as keen on releasing the score’s detail and translucence.

Gurrelieder is certainly one of German romanticism’s most-extreme offspring, but Rattle channels Schoenberg’s exuberant scoring through a French-style impressionist sensibility. He and the LSO were spot-on in tracking the changes in the composer’s style in a work that took a decade (1900-10) to complete, resulting in a beginning that sounds very different from its end. It’s a compelling mix of style coming up against taste, and Rattle and his orchestra-in-waiting – he assumes the LSO’s music directorship next month – pulled it off with astonishing panache, in a way that was, importantly, hugely supportive of the singers, mainly because his preference for nuance and separation of texture over orchestral bulk gave the über -expressive Germanic vocal lines a chance to make their mark. Even so, it is Wagner’s presence that looms largest, with due deference to the Mahler of Das klagende Lied, and there are rich pickings to be heard from Lohengrin, Die Walküre and the torment of Parsifal cleverly absorbed into Schoenberg’s constantly overheating -oratorio, nature- worshipping tone-poem hybrid. Rattle relished but never traduced its extravagance.

There is nowhere to hide for Waldemar. Not only is he present for all three parts – and leading the first two – and the vocal line is punishingly high. Simon O’Neill gave his heldentenor its all both musically and as the regal essence of romantic agony. There were moments when even this consistent, superman tenor was pushed under by orchestral might, but his ardour was unassailable in passages such as ‘Du wunderliche Tove’. As the latter, Eva-Maria Westbroek was radiant and unashamedly operatic, piling on the eroticism as she and her lover get nearer to Tristan-like oblivion. Both singers’ alternating songs spared nothing as they raised the temperature of desire. Oddly, there is no lovers’ duet, but Jacobsen’s ballad-poem steps into the breach with the sort of burgeoning, even bulging sexual imagery that would keep a sex therapist in business for ever. When it’s all over for Tove, implied by a brooding interlude, Karen Cargill sang a hair-raising account of Tove’s death and funeral in the ‘Song of the Wood-Dove’, her sumptuous lower range bringing Part One to its tragic conclusion.

With Christopher Purves’s excellent Peasant describing the Wild Hunt, it was a relief to hear a male solo not straining for top notes, and together with Peter Hoare’s highly characterised Klaus the Fool they briefly eased the dramatic tension. Thomas Quasthoff (who was performing the role of the Peasant until he retired from singing in 2012) took the Speaker’s part. It was more Sprech than Gesang , articulate but frankly not loopy enough. It is much more effective taken by a woman – the composer approved either genders.

The other, very minor heavy-metal disappointment was the chains that are supposed to add an Edgar Allan Poe-like frisson to the Wild Hunt. When you could hear them it was more jingle than clank – I’ve heard them sounding like the contents of the cutlery drawer dropped onto a sheet of metal – but otherwise the sound was superlative, from the glittering, Ravelian opening supporting a thread of silvery trumpet, to the overwhelming volume of the Hunt to the decidedly post-romantic chamber forces delicately accompanying the Speaker, it was all done with immense conviction. As for the chorus, the men in the Hunt were tremendous and the sight of the full forces cupping their hands over their mouths for more volume in the final, unbelievably grand hymn capped the impact of this stupendous evening.

• Broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 (available on BBC iPlayer for thirty days afterwards) • BBC Proms www.bbc.co.uk/proms (http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms)

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Schoenberg Gurrelieder ; Simon O'Neill, Eva-Maria Westbroek, Karen Cargill, Thomas Quasthoff, London Symphony ballet review Orchestra, Simon Rattle; BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall Barbican BBC Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Aug 19 2017 Star rating: 4.0 Buxton Festival by Schoenberg's outrageous masterpiece in a performance which brought out the beauties of the work's orchestration ⚫ Powerful & compelling: With its gargantuan forces and rather outrageous sense of heightened Romanticism, Arnold Schoenberg's Wagner's Tristan und Isolde cd news cd review Gurrelieder seems an ideal work for the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall . On Saturday 19 August 2017, Sir Live reviews Simon Rattle brought the London Symphony Orchestra (whose artistic director he becomes next month) to the ⚫Bach in context: Competition concert review Proms to perform Schoenberg's late-Romantic masterpiece (a work that the orchestra would be unlikely to be able St John Passion to perform in the confines of their regular home, the Barbican Hall). Rattle and the LSO were joined by three , ⚫Dark & complex: Saint-Saens' Samson et Dalila Covent Garden diary the London Symphony Chorus , the CBSO Chorus and Orfeo Catala (all three have as director/chorus ⚫O, What a remarkable score! : director/principal conductor) and soloists Simon O'Neill (Waldemar), Eva-Maria Westbroek (Tove), Karen Cargill Oklahoma! at the BBC Proms ⚫Popping Up at Grimeborn: (Wood-Dove), Peter Hoare (Klaus the Fool), Christopher Purves (Peasant) and Thomas Quasthoff (Speaker). Chabrier’s Une Education Manquée ⚫Schütz and Bach at : Garsington Schoenberg started the work in 1900, intending a song-cycle setting Jens Peter Jacobsen's verse sequence Gurresange in the Monteverdi celebrates Reformation recently published German translation. The work still has the feel of a song cycle, albeit in Mahler's mode, Grange Park Opera More concert reviews Grimeborn GSMDGuest Posting even though Schoenberg decided to vastly expand the work and set the whole verse sequence (as well as adding an extra Jacobsen More opera reviews Handel interview poem for the final section). Between 1900 and 1901 he drafted it all in short score, but it was not until 1910 that he completed the Kings Place orchestration of the final part, and the work did not get its premiere until 1913. By the time he came to complete the orchestration, music Schoenberg's style had changed radically, and the final section has a very different feel with greater fleetness and a far sparer use of the orchestra. These changes, owing to the work's long gestation, are akin to what happened to Stravinsky with Les Noces , which was conceived for large-scale Rite of Spring forces, but eventually orchestrated with a far smaller ensemble. opera Opera Holland Park opera CD Reviews magazineOpera North ⚫ Viola & accordion: Duo van Vliet's opera review Not only does Schoenberg use large forces, but he is almost determinedly cavalier in their deployment. The women of the huge Lachrymae ReVisited ⚫ 21st century violin concertos: An Eventful Morning in performance chorus only sing in the final number (the men's chorus has two numbers on their own), whilst many of the soloists have a single East London ⚫ Stylistic virtuosity: preview Proms number (albeit a meaty one). music of Daryl Runswick ⚫ the century: Leonard Elschenbroich in Though Rattle drew large scale sounds from his forces where necessary, with a resounding climax and some thrilling moments on French cello music ⚫ Remarkable double portrait: Michael Spyres & Joyce the way, he was also determined to bring out the beauties of Schoenberg's orchestral writing, often paring the sound right down. It El-Khoury on Opera Rar ⚫ South was beauty, transparency and elegance of the orchestral playing which really impressed. Given his huge orchestra, Schoenberg Footsteps: Joby Talbot's Path of showed his mastery in the way he used the forces flexibly, and Rattle and his players brought this out. Miracles ⚫ Holding our attention: Stradella's Santa Pelagia ⚫ That said, Schoenberg does not make it easy for the soloists. Simon O'Neill was stylish and tireless in the taxing role of Waldemar, TallinnTemple Music perfums: Christiane Karg in settings of French symbolist poets The singing with great elegance of line and much heroic ardour. There was no denying, the way Schoenberg really pushes the tenor to Sixteen theatre the limits, and meaning that romantic ardour and beauty of tone sometimes had to give way to more heroic timbres. We were sitting ⚫ More CD reviews at the side of the stalls, and it seemed as if Rattle, for all his concern for the details of the orchestration, could sometimes have been kinder to the soloists but the balance might have been different in the centre of the hall. I did wonder what the effect of the stage video Enjoy Planet Hugill? performances of the work might be, something that happened at Netherlands Opera in a production by Pierre Audi (see review on Bachtrack ), the orchestra being in the pit would certainly help balance.

Eva-Maria Westbroek was richly ardent as Tove, but her tone was too often dramatic with a strong vibrato and sense of the music's strenuousness when what I wanted was a more sensuous beauty to the performance. It was Karen Cargill, as the Wood-Dove who Help keep us free Never miss a post - showed how to combine beauty of tone, elegance and expressivity with dramatic power in her account of the Wood-Dove's solo, follow us by Email which made it one of the highlights of the piece. One of Feedspot's Top Email address... Submit The other soloists were strongly characterised, with Peter Purves as a bluff peasant, and Peter Hoare in brilliantly incisive form as Klaus the Fool. Thomas Quasthoff projected the tricky spoken part from quite superbly. Planet Hugill has been named as one http://www.planethugill.com/2017/08/large -scale -beauties -schoenbergs.html 28/ 08/ 2017 Planet Hugill: Large -scale beauties: Schoenberg's Gurrelieder at the BBC Proms Pàgina 2 de 3

When the finally came in (at the beginning of Part Three) the mens chorus (around 180 of them, I think) fully matched Rattle's of Feedspot Blog Reader 's concept of the work producing a wonderfully focussed sound. And the final chorus was glorious. Blog Archive Opera Blogs & ▼ 2017 (590) Websites Gurrelieder is one of those works which spans the 19th and 20th centuries, building on Wagner's Tristan und Isolde yet indicating a 50 Classical Music ▼ August (49) path along which it would be difficult to go further. Magnificent though Gurrelieder is, you can understand why composers turned Blogs on the Web Quickening on iTunes away from this style as the 20th century progressed. and Amazon Session report: The concert is available on BBC iPlayer for 30 days. Recording the music of Kenneth Elsewhere on this blog: Fuc...

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United Kingdom 2017 BBC PROMS 46 – Schoenberg, Gurrelieder : Soloists, CBSO Chorus, London Symphony Chorus, Orfeó Català, London Symphony Orchestra / Sir Simon Rattle (conductor), Royal Albert Hall, London, 19.8.2017. (AS)

Simon O’Neil (Waldemar) with the London Symphony Orchestra (c) BBC/Chris Chistodoulou

Cast :

Tove – Eva-Maria Westbrook Waldemar – Simon O’Neill Wood-Dove – Karen Cargill Klaus the Fool – Peter Hoare Peasant – Christopher Purves Speaker – Thomas Quasthoff

It’s true that huge choral forces took up the entire section of seats behind the orchestra on either side, but otherwise the hall was pretty well full to capacity at this concert, and the arena was packed. I imagine that many came to this event in order to experience Sir Simon Rattle’s first Prom concert with the LSO, but it was heartening to see such a large audience for a work that is still a rarity in performance. And that audience was very attentive. Gone were most of the coughers, the fidgets, the neighbours muttering to each other in stage whispers and all the other usual Prom distractions. The atmosphere was indeed electric as we saw and heard a most wonderful performance unfold in front of us.

Simon Halsey is the chorus-master of all three bodies listed above, and his contribution in training his forces to the pitch of excellence they displayed must be acknowledged. We take the excellence of the LSO for granted: on this occasion it was a much augmented ensemble, with not only a large battery of percussionists and numerous brass players, but with extended string forces – there were for instance 20 first and 20 second violins.

The soloists (Eva-Maria Westbrook, Simon O’Neill, Karen Cargill, Peter Hoare and Christopher Purves) were all first-rate, all highly experienced and entirely comfortable in their roles. It would be invidious to select any one for particular praise, though an exception might be made in the case of the Speaker, Thomas http://seenandheard -international.com/2017/08/sir -simon -rattles -inspirational -gur ... 28/ 08/ 2017 Sir Simon Rattle ’s Inspirational Gurrelieder at the Proms : Seen and Heard Inte ... Pàgina 3 de 6

Quasthoff. Schoenberg apparently wanted this part to be taken by a retired singer, and Quastoff’s bass- baritonal Sprechgesang resounded throughout the hall with magnificent effect.

Then there was Sir Simon Rattle. In this kind of repertoire he is at his very best, and at his best there is none better than he as an inspirational generator of performance energy in front of large choral and orchestral forces. The manner in which he conjured up and maintained an exotic, hypnotic atmosphere throughout the varied episodes of the work was quite extraordinary. No passage in its 110-minute length flagged; every episode was characterised with compelling richness and complete understanding of Schoenberg’s unique demands.

Finally, the music itself. Should we regret that this was Schoenberg’s only choral essay of this character and magnitude, and that he soon abandoned its highly expressive, very late-Romantic style for more astringent methods of composition? I think not. As the programme note reminded us, he was already going down the path towards atonality before he finally completed the Gurrelieder , and he could not have gone back to such a lavishly expressive style with any degree of comfort. He did of course return to tonality on occasion after he had evolved his serial technique, but his remaining works in traditional forms are smaller in scope and range of expression. In the Gurrelieder there are continual intimations of things to come, both in the work’s instrumentation and in its expressive explorations of the extremes of tonality: sometimes tonality is already breached. The Gurrelieder is an unique work. It has absorbed Wagnerian and other influences and speaks with a completely individual voice. Alan Sanders

For more about the BBC Proms click here .

Posted by Alan Sanders | Filed Under BBC Promenade Concerts 2017 , Concert Reviews , UK Concerts

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Prom 46 review: Gurrelieder, LSO, Rattle - gorgeous colours, halting movement in Schoenberg's monsterpiece Karen Cargill and Thomas Quasthoff provide the tingle quotient in a Proms spectacular

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Proms at... & Prom 56 reviews: Multi- Story Orchestra / BBCSO, Hrůša - the Eva-Maria Westbroek and Simon Rattle in Part One of Schoenberg's 'Gurrelieder' best of all possible worlds All images by Chris Christodoulou/BBC A great festival day, from one hundred schoolchildren to male BBC voices singing Czech From sunset to sunrise, across aeons of time, usually flashes by What a in Schoenberg's polystylistic epic. Not last night at the Proms : Prom 54 review: Kavakos, Filarmonica miracle Rattle della Scala, Chailly - cool Milanesi Simon Rattle is too much in love with the sounds he can get made of those mute Roman exuberance from the London Symphony Orchestra - here verging on a Bumpy Brahms and finely coloured but reserved Respighi Berlin beauty - to think of moving forward the doomed love of portions of the Danish King Waldemar and the beautiful Tovelille. Still, score Classical CDs Weekly: Dutilleux, occasional stickings in the gold-studded mud apart, the variety Dvořák, Ravel, Tchaikovsky completed in Russian drama, French impressionism and and vividness of the work, the Albert Hall coming into its own as 1911 fter the an enterprising new orchestra's CD debut it often does for big chorus-and-orchestra events and the steady discovery of a Edinburgh Festival 2017 review: Iestyn addition of more ideal soloists than the ones with which we Davies, AAM - exquisite and started, worked their magic. new enlightening Expressionism Droll introductions and sensitive It may be because two nights earlier I'd heard Paavo Järvi and the musicianship in a memorable morning concert Estonian Festival Orchestra give such a white-heat performance of Sibelius's Second Symphony - another work of huge originality from theartsdesk in Estonia and Latvia - around the same time as Gurrelieder 's 1900 inception - that the rating Pärnu Music Festival's great orchestra goes south unfolding of Schoenberg 's gorgeous love-themes came across as self- Orchestral playing on fire, revelatory conscious, narcissistic even. The same had been true of Rattle's chamber music in two Baltic countries Wagner Tristan Prelude with the LSO at the Barbican earlier this related articles summer. But then these two lovers weren't quite right in their roles, Prom 51 review: Perianes, BBCSO, either. Gurrelieder, Hallé, Oramo - brightly coloured musical BBCPO, Elder, postcards Waldemar needs to be a baritonal heldentenor with vivid involvement in Bridgewater Hall, A glossy, glittering and a Manchester the texts of what in effect are five Lieder interlaced with four from the deeply felt symphony Edinburgh Festival 2016: soprano; Simon O'Neill's delivery was under-nuanced, the tone Così fan tutte, Pekka Prom 50 review: Josefowicz, Clayton, unballasted, so that when he did let rip at the top - which happened Kuusisto, Gurrelieder CBSO, Gražinytė-Tyla - personality in much more effectively in his later monologues - it came as a surprise. Kozhukhin, LSO, Rattle, every bar And Tove needs to be luminous, sensuous; Eva-Maria Westbroek is Barbican Light rather than power in Beethoven, plus two superb soloists in Stravinsky and Barry such a sympathetic, engaged performer that I wanted to love her, but DVD: Anna Nicole the tuning was awry in what should be the bewitching echo of clarinet Prom 15: Die Walküre, at the declaration of love, the wide-spread tone too monochrome. Proms 47, 48 & 49 review: Staatskapelle Berlin, Reformation Day - superlative Bach as Miscasting, in short. Barenboim the bedrock From organ glory to congregational chorales, another epic journey in the Royal Albert Hall

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explore topics Prom 46 review: Gurrelieder, LSO, Classical Reviews Rattle - gorgeous colours, halting music movement in Schoenberg's Schoenberg LSO monsterpiece Karen Cargill and Thomas Quasthoff provide the tingle Royal choral quotient in a Proms spectacular Albert Hall music Proms Simon Rattle Classical CDs Weekly: Krenek, Belfiato Quintet, Bjarte Eike's Barokksolistene share this article Atonal piano concertos, Czech wind music, and a trip to a 17th century pub Share Edinburgh Festival 2017 review: Andreas Haefliger A recital that was both frustrating and visionary from the Swiss-born pianist

Proms 37 / 38 review: Latvian Radio Choir, Gavrylyuk, BBCSSO, Dausgaard - numinous Rachmaninov triptych Everything we'd been missing came in spades as mezzo Karen Cargill Symphony, concerto, chants and Vespers combine for a vintage night at Royal Albert Hall (pictured above ) turned the lamentatory screw in the Wood-Dove's plaint for the murdered Tove: here at last was a wealth of colours from cavernous chest-voice to bright high notes, and a commitment to newsletter match. Cargill's was the true vocal triumph of the evening, matched at the other end of the mood-spectrum by Thomas Quasthoff's narration Get a weekly digest of our critical highlights in of redemptive nature: such projection, such inflection of Jens Peter your inbox each Thursday! Jacobsen's strange visionary text in German and such ecstasy at the Simply enter your email address in the box below invocation which finally brings in the crowning sun-chorus.

Combined forces of the London Symphony Chorus, City of Sign up for our newsletter Symphony Chorus and Orfeó Català - Barcelonan choristers whose home thoughts must have been sombre indeed - seemed to rise up to the rafters behind the orchestra, filling every available space there, but View previous newsletters to be honest they didn't quite make a noise to match. The men as God- cursing Waldemar's ghost riders should have raised the hair on our necks; they needed an injection of the raucousness we got from the National Youth Choir of Scotland in last week's Berlioz Damnation of Faust . In any case Rattle's brass - always resplendent, it has to be said, from the first trumpet solo onwarrds - was so much on the rampage that they proved stronger than the riders, and even the umpteenth percussionist whose duty it is to rattle chains couldn't be heard.

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But what a miracle Rattle made of those portions of the score completed in 1911 after the discovery of a new Expressionism, above all the summer-wind sequence with Quasthoff and the cosmic cabaret as Klaus the Jester bowls forth to complain of his part in the wild ride. This is a part made for the splendid Peter Hoare, who would have been even more vivid still if he'd been onstage and liberated from the score. Here, and in Quasthoff's narration, it's most essential that audience members don't have their heads buried in their programmes and are able to follow the English translation on the big screens we'd had for the only time this season in Khovanshchina two weeks earlier. So for a third time this season, a plea must conclude the review - write to the BBC if you think surtitles should be obligatory for the big vocal works at the Proms - alongside immense gratitude that such a massive assemblage of musicians should be possible, and in the right place. The biggest, of course, is last: a blazing affirmation of the C major that Schoenberg had abandoned by the time his hymn to universal love stunnd Vienna in 1913. http://www.theartsdesk.com/classical -music/prom -46 -review -gurrelieder -lso -rattl ... 28/ 08/ 2017 Prom 46 review: Gurrelieder, LSO, Rattle - gorgeous colours, halting moveme ... Pàgina 4 de 4

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Submitted by Stephen Winfield (not verified) on Sun, 20/08/2017 - 13:01 Stuart Neill???!!! Reply

Submitted by Andrew Morris (not verified) on Sun, 20/08/2017 - 14:23 I think you mean Simon O'Neill, David? No issue with brass-obscured riders from where I was standing, so maybe a quirk of the ever-fickle acoustic. I know the piece primarily from Rattle's recording so I wasn't so aware of his tempo manipulations. Still, I'd like him to give in to the temptation to go wild once in a while. It's no mean feat to balance a lot of that texture, though - a less carefully prepared 2012 Proms performance came off as quite a lot of exciting noise. Reply

Submitted by david.nice on Sun, 20/08/2017 - 14:51 Thanks, both - corrected. I know him well but blame a late night and an early start. My first Gurrelieder was Michael Gielen's at the Proms, and though advance press labelled him a rather pedestrian conductor, how it surged and flowed. Of other performances - and there have been a lot, surprisingly - I remember Hans Hotter as the Sprecher and Margaret Price towards the end of her career for Nagano in Paris - that was impressive too.

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Schoenberg's Gurrelieder review – size does matter in this magnum opus Royal Albert Hall, London The supersize scale did not disappoint as Simon Rattle lead the LSO and a superb lineup of soloists in Schoenberg’s answer to Tristan and Isolde

Flora Willson Sunday 20 August 2017 17.07 BST

hen the Royal Albert Hall opened in 1871, the Victorian craze for so-called W “monster” concerts was in full swing. Cathedrals, exhibitions and concert halls regularly staged performances involving hundreds or even thousands of performers. This was music on an industrial scale. Today we may be more concerned about the size of audiences for classical music than with counting musicians, but the Royal Albert Hall’s cavernous space allows for occasional excursions back to the age of the musically massive.

Few pieces have weightier vital statistics than Schoenberg’s late-Romantic Gurrelieder. With eight flutes, 11 horns (four moonlighting on Wagner tubas), seven trombones, four harps, an ocean of strings and an enormous chorus to https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/aug/20/schoenberg -gurrelieder -review ... 28/ 08/ 2017 Schoenberg's Gurrelieder review – size does matter in this magnum opus | Mus ... Pàgina 2 de 3 accommodate, even the RAH’s stage was at capacity. But the auditorium was also stuffed. This was, after all, a prom that looked good on paper: Simon Rattle with the London Symphony Orchestra (he’ll become their new in September) and a starry lineup of heavyweight vocal soloists. Tick, tick, tick.

The reality did not disappoint. As the narrative’s central figure King Waldemar, Simon O’Neill boasted serious stamina and an unerring sense of musical line. Balance is a real challenge in this piece, where even huge solo voices can be submerged, but O’Neill’s bright, hard, upper register largely carried over the orchestral groundswell, taking flight ever more extravagantly as the romance turned tragic. Eva-Maria Westbroek’s ill-fated Tove was warm and deeply, seductively expressive. Karen Cargill’s Wood-Dove emerged from an earthy, covered start to soar, seamlessly legato, to the part’s higher reaches. In the smaller roles, Christopher Purves was a rich, lyrical Peasant, Peter Hoare brought almost Beckmesser-ish characterisation to Klaus the Fool and Thomas Quasthoff was a compelling Speaker. The chorus provided a tour de force of fine diction and sustained energy.

And then there was Rattle and the LSO. Rattle’s gestures ranged freely from the cartoonishly expansive to minute, barely visible caresses as he teased individual lines from the supersize orchestral fabric. The results were as viscerally exciting as any orchestral performance I can recall – from the languorous trumpet solo and velveteen strings of the Prelude, via taut col legno clatters and abrupt, resonating pauses, to cymbal shivers, sinuous unison cellos, and occasional flashes of silver-screen glissandi in the violins. This was, above all, an intoxicating embrace of the gigantic ebb and flow of Schoenberg’s score – and an ecstatic celebration of a work in which size really does matter.

On BBC iPlayer until 18 September. The Proms continue until 9 September. Box office: 020-7589 8212. Since you’re here … … we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. And unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can. So you can see why we need to ask for your help. The Guardian’s independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our perspective matters – because it might well be your perspective, too.

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Become a supporter Make a contribution Topics • Proms 2017 • Classical music • Simon Rattle • London Symphony Orchestra • reviews

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Prom 46: Rattle's Gurrelieder an irresistible force to move the hardest of hearts

****1 

By Penny Homer, 21 August 2017

Saturday night's Prom provided a tantalising glimpse of what is to come z SEE FULL LISTING with the London Symphony Orchestra (and their Chorus) under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle . The sheer scale of Gurrelieder shows the scope of “It felt as though we were Rattle's ambition. The Danish legend of doomed lovers King Waldemar on the sun itself, never and Tovelille is one of the largest choral works ever written, requiring five mind beholding it” soloists, a speaker, three large male voice choirs (joined by upper voices Reviewed at Royal Albert Hall, London in the final chorus) and an orchestra with no less than four Wagner tubas! on 19 August 2017

PROGRAMME

Schoenberg, Gurrelieder

PERFORMERS

Eva-Maria Westbroek, Soprano

Simon O'Neill, Tenor

Karen Cargill, Mezzo-soprano

Peter Hoare, Tenor

Christopher Purves, Baritone

Thomas Quasthoff, Baritone

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Chorus Sir Simon Rattle conducts the LSO Orféo Català © BBC | Chris Christodoulou London Symphony Chorus With such massive forces, the main concern would always be whether the London Symphony Orchestra orchestra and voices could maintain a balance, particularly in an acoustic such as the Royal Albert Hall. Some rose to the challenge more than Sir Simon Rattle, Conductor https://bachtrack.com/review -prom -46 -gurrelieder -rattle -oneill -westbroek -cargill ... 28/ 08/ 2017 Prom 46: Rattle's Gurrelieder an irresistible force to move the hardest of hearts ... Pàgina 2 de 4

others, in spite of Rattle's sensitive reading of the acoustic. Simon O'Neill's Waldemar was much more convincing in death than in life, though even then there was still a sense that his approach came from an awe of the technical challenges rather than a deep connection with the text. Eva-Maria Westbroek took a while to warm up to her environment as his fated lover Tovelille, though once she had she was full of feeling and expression which more than compensated for a few moments of murky diction – even after Tove's demise, she (remaining seated on stage) was visibly moved by the music around her.

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Evening performance Eva-Maria Westbroek and the LSO Matinee performance © BBC | Chris Christodoulou 1 More Concert reviews Karen Cargill showed them all how it was done, with an absolute masterclass of a performance as the Wood-Dove; with clarity of diction A pioneering spirit: Rattle’s and tone, she was never swamped by the huge forces around her, even imaginary journey through Haydn as they erupted with her final declaration of flying far to seek out grief and Mark Thomas, 12th July death. A close second to her sheer brilliance was Peter Hoare as Klaus Sir Simon Rattle steers the LSO the Fool, clearly enjoying the madness of his moment, which could only through a sequence of Haydn’s most have been enhanced by slightly less reliance on the music. Christopher forward-looking pieces while Denis Purves also brought clarity to his turn as a terrified peasant watching Kozhukhin, as a late stand-in, is Waldemar's undead army ride by, while Thomas Quasthoff's Speaker immense in Bartók’s Second Piano was a tour de force , exhaling in the renewal of nature, ushering in the Concerto. final climax of the sun-chorus. ****1 READ MORE A Trip to the Moon misses its lift-off Sophia Lambton, 10th July Under Sir Simon Rattle’s baton, Andrew Norman’s children’s opera struggles to find either terrene or otherworldly land. **111 READ MORE

Robert Treviño triumphs in LSO debut Roy Westbrook, 26th June https://bachtrack.com/review -prom -46 -gurrelieder -rattle -oneill -westbroek -cargill ... 28/ 08/ 2017 Prom 46: Rattle's Gurrelieder an irresistible force to move the hardest of hearts ... Pàgina 3 de 4

Nietzsche's Midnight Song is the stillest piece of music in all Mahler, and Treviño’s poise and Larsson’s rich voice cast a powerful and profound spell. ****1 READ MORE

Playing the Game: Symphonic Odysseys Danny Riley, 21st June The latent complexities of Nobuo Uematsu's video game music come to the fore with this orchestral makeover by the LSO. ***11 READ MORE

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Karen Cargill and the LSO © BBC | Chris Christodoulou

And what a chorus it was, combining the forces of the LSC, the CBSO Chorus and Orféo Català. It felt as though we were on the sun itself, never mind beholding it, as hundreds of voices exploded with a crystal- clear diction "Seht die Sonne". It didn't matter that after this it was almost impossible to discern the rest of the text, the message was clear; after all Become a Bachtrack reviewer? the pain and glory and death, the sun rises again in splendour and hope is renewed. It more than made up for nebulous enunciation elsewhere from the men too, though they were beautifully hushed as they sank down to sleep the sleep of the undead. The tenor section in particular deserves huge credit – so delicate yet unstrained were their highest moments, it was easy to wonder whether they’d had support from the altos seated behind them (they hadn’t).

Gurrelieder at the BBC Proms © BBC | Chris Christodoulou

While at times it did feel like the voices and the orchestra were engaged in battle for supremacy, there were far more moments of synergy – https://bachtrack.com/review -prom -46 -gurrelieder -rattle -oneill -westbroek -cargill ... 28/ 08/ 2017 Prom 46: Rattle's Gurrelieder an irresistible force to move the hardest of hearts ... Pàgina 4 de 4

beautifully lyrical violins announcing Tove’s entrance, jubilantly underscoring Waldemar’s love for her, the huge percussion section bringing the dead very much to life with rattling chains and firing blistering heat into the final chorus. The orchestra also had their own moments in the sun (and shade) – the orchestral interlude before Tove’s death was heartbreaking, heaving with love, loss and foreboding, with haunting birdsong rounding out the prelude before the Wood-Dove’s entrance. It was also clear that the orchestra were enjoying themselves immensely under Rattle’s baton, and that the feeling was mutual. As an indication of what’s to come, this performance was an absolute treat.

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Posted on Tuesday 22 August 2017 at 08:40 4 Wagner Tubas? Nothing special... Used by Wagner all the time! And other composers.Bruckner in 3 of his , Strauss in Elektra, Frau ohne Schatten and Alpensinfonie, Stravinsky Sacre du printemps and the Firebird. And they usually come in fours being played by the horn quartet. Penny Homer Penny Homer graduated from the University of Nottingham with a Bachelor of Music degree in 2003, where she was also a choral scholar at St Barnabas Cathedral. She is keenly interested in arts and education, and her work across both includes stints at Akademi South Asian Dance UK and Benslow Music Trust. Additionally she worked for Edition Peters in their sales department before joining the Association of British Choral Directors as their Training Manager. Penny currently sings at Eton Lower Chapel, St Andrews Fulham Fields, Wimbledon Choral Society, Londinium and Vocal Constructivists, and continues her vocal studies with Ian Kennedy.

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Festival marks Rattle’s arrival

BY ANDREW ANDERSON ON AUGUST 21, 2017 ANALYSIS MUSIC , NEWS

RECENT POSTS WHAT’S TRENDING? Simon Rattle will launch his stint as music director of London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) this September with an 11-day festival. Titled ‘This is Rattle’ the special concert series includes his LSO debut at Barbican Hall on 14 AUGUST 23, 2017 September. Don Giovanni with a feminine twist

“It is a huge moment in my life to be able to return to the UK and work with the orchestra I love,” said Rattle. “My ambition is to open up the electrifying experience of music and share my passion for music making with as many people as possible, whatever their age or whatever their background.” AUGUST 23, 2017 Representing Black Britain

The opening concert features a world premiere of Helen Grime’s Fanfare as well as Thomas Adès’ Asyla , ’s Violin Concerto , Oliver Knussen’s Symphony No AUGUST 23, 2017 3 and Elgar’s Enigma Variations . Rattle and the LSO are New commissions commemorate joined by German violinist Christian Tetzlaff. earthquake victims

Then on 17 and 19 September Rattle leads LSO and London Symphony Chorus in Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust , followed by an evening of Stravinsky ballets ( The Firebird , Petrushka and The Rite of Spring ) on 21 and 24 September. The Stravinsky programme will also be performed at Philharmonie de Paris on 22 September.

The opening concert will be broadcast live on a big screen at the Barbican’s Sculpture Court. All of the remaining LSO concerts featuring Rattle will be broadcast or streamed by BBC Radio 3, Classic FM, Mezzo TV and Medici TV. The final concert on Sunday 24 September will be live streamed on YouTube.

In addition to Rattle’s concerts there will also be four concerts programmed by British composers: Oliver Knussen (16 September), Thomas Adès (18 September), Helen Grimes (20 September) and Harrison Birtwistle (23 September).

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Find out more here [X] http://www.internationalartsmanager.com/news/music/festival -marks -rattles -arri ... 28/ 08/ 2017 Festival marks Rattle's arrival | International Arts Manager Pàgina 2 de 3

Meanwhile the Barbican hosts two This Is Rattle exhibitions. The Barbican Library will display a collection of photos and memorabilia relating to the conductor’s career, while the Foyer features Interlock: Friends Pictured Within , a visual media installation created by artist Jonathan Munro and musician Anna Meredith that responds to the Enigma Variations .

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Culture › Classical › Reviews Prom 46, Schoenberg - Gurrelieder, Royal Albert Hall, London, review: Thomas Quasthoff almost inevitably stole the show

The LSO and Sir Simon Rattle perform Schoenberg’s 'Gurrelieder' but soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek and tenor Simon O’Neill as lovers Tove and Waldemar fell short

Richard Whitehouse | Monday 21 August 2017 10:31 BST |  0 comments 6 shares M'agradaClick to follow The Independent Culture

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Prom 46: Simon Rattle underlined the work’s potent expressive range without risk to its overall cohesion

If Gurrelieder seems as though made for the Albert Hall, this is not merely to accommodate its vast choral and orchestral forces but because its intricacy of texture needs room to breathe. Tonight’s account encompassed the tonal and dynamic extremes of Schoenberg’s ambitious cantata yet without neglecting that human vulnerability, however well concealed, at its core.

Not that the performance was an unreserved success. Simon O’Neill’s often edgy Waldemar lacked sufficient heroism, with Eva-Maria Westbroek’s eloquent Tove hampered by unsteady vibrato. Karen Cargill was a Wood-Dove of real pathos, while there were persuasive cameos from Christopher Purves and Peter Hoare as the affrighted Peasant and battle-wearied Klaus the Fool. Thomas Quasthoff almost inevitably stole the show as the magnetic Speaker in the ‘Wild Hunt’ melodrama, which brings with it the most scintillating and provocative music.

A seasoned exponent, Simon Rattle underlined the work’s potent expressive range without risk to its overall cohesion. Combined choruses from London, Birmingham and Barcelona gave their collective all, while the London Symphony Orchestra responded with an energy though also dexterity that bodes well for when Rattle becomes Music Director next month. Not a flawless highlight of this current Proms season, maybe, but a highlight nevertheless.

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