United Kingdom BBC Proms 2022 [6], Promenade 6 – Vaughan Williams, Tippett: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra / Sir Andrew Davis (conductor). Royal Albert Corridor, London, 19.7.2022. (KMcD)
Vaughan Williams – Symphony No.4 in F minor
Tippett – Symphony No.4
This pairing on the ‘Full Fourths’ Promenade of two symphonies by British composers who on paper no less than seem diametrically opposed when it comes to substance, kind, and method, turned out to be a canny one on the a part of the BBC. Though brief in size – in complete there was simply over an hour of music – this snapshot of British music, separated by 4 a long time, was each enlightening and rewarding. It’s laborious to know whether or not the programme, intense warmth, or a mix of the 2 was the rationale for such a small viewers, however what it lacked in numbers, it made up for in appreciation of the BBC Philharmonic’s enjoying, and Sir Andrew Davis’s conducting on the shut.
Given the Proms is celebrating Vaughan Williams’s one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of his delivery, deciding which works to programme can not have been a straightforward activity. His Fourth Symphony actually stands out from the remainder of his symphonic output (aside from possibly the Sixth Symphony), in that the composer eschews the idyllic pastoral temper that permeates a lot of his work. This abrasive, ferocious symphony – nearly an unremitting cry of angst and ache – actually shocked, shook and confused the viewers at its premiere in 1935. Certainly commentators have been at pains to get the composer to elucidate what he meant by this lurch in the direction of caustic, ‘trendy’ music. ‘I don’t know whether or not I prefer it, nevertheless it’s what I meant’, was his cryptic reply throughout rehearsals for the premiere.
It is vitally a lot left to listeners to make up their very own minds however given Vaughan Williams wrote it when fascism was on the rise in Germany, there isn’t any escaping the realisation that its rage and sense of desolation appear a precursor to the horrors of struggle that have been unleashed 4 years after its premiere.
The marketed conductor, Omer Meir Wellber, needed to withdraw, and he was changed by Davis. Few British conductors have such impeccable credentials in terms of decoding British music and Davis’s in-depth data of each symphonies on the programme was evident in each bar. Having mentioned that, the opening of Vaughan Williams’s Fourth appeared oddly reticent, the discord soft-grained, reasonably than attacked, whereas the tempo he set for the rest of the primary motion was a notch or two on the leisurely aspect. After all, all of it comes all the way down to style and subjectivity. I missed the ferocity different conductors carry to this work, nevertheless it was completely clear because the symphony progressed that Davis’s view was legitimate by itself phrases.
He captured the sense of desolation completely within the second motion, shaping the lengthy melodic traces lovingly, and in doing so made the climax all of the extra viscerally thrilling. There was loads of sardonic chunk to the Scherzo – braying woodwinds and brass including to the sense of menace – whereas the final motion, with the return of the menacing, chromatic four-note theme from the primary, powered on to its inexorable decision. All sections of the BBC Philharmonic performed brilliantly for Davis, it needs to be mentioned, however general a way of abandonment was lacking from the conductor’s cautious interpretation.
Commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and first carried out beneath Sir Georg Solti’s baton in 1977, Tippett’s beguiling Fourth Symphony is never heard lately, so this the proper alternative to revalue this idiosyncratic work. Tippett typically drew on the unlikeliest sources for his works, and his Fourth is not any exception. Impressed by watching a fast-motion movie of a rabbit foetus, this single-movement symphony explores the distinct phases of human life, from delivery to demise. At the beginning, shut and punctuated all through the work, he requires a ‘respiratory impact’ – initially offered by a wind machine, however right here by CJ Neale, whose amplified respiratory provides an otherworldly dimension to the work and regardless of preliminary reservations, overcomes any Darth Vader connotations early on.
Davis arguably is aware of this rating higher than anybody else – his management over its often-unwieldy construction was safe, and he drew magnificently-assured enjoying from his orchestra. There may be an abundance of musical concepts on this rating – arguably too many – however Davis managed to weave them right into a wealthy orchestral tapestry that greater than did justice to Tippett’s unusual, but evocative work. The expanded brass part deftly navigated all of the complicated writing thrown at them, whereas the string tone was strong all through. While a couple of niggling doubts remained on the finish as as to whether all of it ‘works’ as a symphony, it’s laborious to think about a greater case being made for its continued toehold on the repertory than Davis and his Manchester forces.
Keith McDonnell
