Butty Bach: High Spirits from John Butt and the OAE

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (left), John Butt (centre), Choir of the Age of Enlightenment (right)
Photo credit: BBC

The B Minor Mass. Nobody quite knows why Bach wrote it, its length making it completely inappropriate for a liturgical setting, Catholic or Lutheran, yet the music itself stands as a beautiful and deeply affecting spiritual experience in the concert hall. Such is its popularity that it was a full house which greeted John Butt, Director of the Orchestra and Choir of the Age of Enlightenment as he came onto the Proms stage to conduct them.

Butt chose a stage layout that could be best described as interesting. With a division of the forces, the instrumentalists and choir were split from one another, taking opposite sides of the stage. Of course, even the suggestion of this being a replication of a liturgical setting would certainly not be 'historically informed'! Sadly, in a work where interplay between soloists, choir, and orchestra is so vital, including Bach's continuo and obbligato parts, intelligibility for all those that were not standing where John Butt was conducting suffered at key moments, notably with the woodwind soloists, with the four flutes relegated to the extreme left of the stage, whose fine work in the obbligato to the Domine Deus could not be properly appreciated.

However, OAE soloists have to be credited with fine work throughout the evening, particularly the three trumpeters, distinguishing themselves with precise technicality and thoroughly sensitive playing in the Gloria which left me wishing that I, in order to hear more of them, was on the other side of the gallery, behind the singers, not the orchestra! Perhaps it was better on radio...

Butt conducted with constant pace and drive (not something unwelcome when standing as a prommer!), qualities certainly present in the 50-strong choir, rather large for 'Historically Informed Performance' Bach (though just the right size for the Albert Hall). However, once again it was the staging which led them to come off with such overwhelming strength to feel almost old-school. Still, over-exposure at times could be forgiven for the moments of sensitive beauty which were the stand-out moments of the evening; the change of mood into the dark Adagio in the Et exspecto resurecti was superbly controlled by Butt, with tense lyric lines held stunningly by the choir, morphing into a transformational, boundless joy which carried into an exuberant and exciting Sanctus. 

The Albert Hall acoustic is notoriously devilish for singers, and indeed, sopranos Mary Bevan and Rachel Dedmond, as well as bass Matthew Brook performed with mixed results in the cavernous hall, not helped by Bach's 'fiddly' vocal parts! However the countertenor Iestyn Davies impressed in a stand-out performance, with a penetratingly clear voice which seemed to embrace and coax the whole hall during his delivery of a simply heavenly Agnus dei. A fine and subtle Benedictus came from tenor Guy Cutting, and by the time of the closing Dona Nobis Pacem, all were left in no doubt that despite minor hiccups and inconsistencies, the drive and excitement of the OAE to play and sing one of the greatest works in the repertoire was to be grateful for.

Life-Affirming Nielsen from Dausgaard and the BBC SSO

A pair of matched concerts were to be Thomas Dausgaard's farewell to the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, whom he has led for the last six years. A Beethoven Piano Concerto, a Nielsen Symphony on both nights: tonight, Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.1 and Nielsen's Symphony No.3 'Sinfonia espansiva'.  First on the plate, however, was Ravel's La Valse, a piece full of drama and infectious style. All played as if they were soloists, which certainly brought a vibrant orchestral colour palette, though one that was perhaps a little too heavily laden, becoming almost indulgent, dangerously luxurious and heavy, as Dausgaard laid layer upon layer on the waltzing line, making it difficult to imagine the ballet Ravel envisioned.  

The performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.1 proved no such problems. Light, punchy natural trumpets punctuated the BBC SSO, ensuring that the orchestra kept up with soloist Behzod Abduraimov's wit and play, refusing to be mere accompanists. Indeed, I often find natural trumpets a danger for orchestras, it being too easy for them to be overbearing and, put simply, too loud. No such issues here; Dausgaard energised the orchestra with them, proving true partners to Abduraimov's natural and fluent playing. Especially worthy of note was his interpretation of the concerto's second movement, its intimacy brought out with care and respect to every note. A spirited, exciting finale ensured that playfulness was the byword of Abduraimov's performance.

This continued into a spirited encore of Mercutio from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, leading the Prommers to applaud wildly. But wait! His wagging finger reminded us there was still the coda to go! A few bars later, laughter and deserving applause broke out in its entirety. I shall never shake my head at clapping too early again...

Thomas Dausgaard wants his sound this big
Photo credit: BBC

Nielsen's rarely-performed Third Symphony followed the interval. Indeed, this work was receiving just fourth appearance at the Proms, and its first this century, being last performed in 1999 under the baton of Jukka-Pekka Saraste and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Based on tonight's performance, it's a work that certainly deserves more outings. The brass particularly distinguished themselves, carrying an immense energy throughout, with a distinctively Scandinavian firmness and edge that made the performance so compelling. 

A particular high point was achieved in the second movement. Nielsen wrote two wordless vocal parts, for soprano and baritone, which sing and float above the orchestra, with ethereal results. Elizabeth Watts and Benjamin Appl's placement, in opposing bays of the gallery, surrounded the Albert Hall in music that was simply otherworldly. Many looked up and gazed in wonder. A calling from the rafters, from beyond. Perhaps it was this which Nielsen meant by his subtitle: 'sinfonia espansiva'. If it was, Dausgaard achieved it in fine form. 

It was a simply life-affirming finale. With a heroic, noble opening tune that recalls Beethoven and Brahms in a 'Scandinavian Ode to Joy', unfurling to boundless energy and conviction, all left with smiles and cheers. 

Wang and Mäkelä thrill the Promenaders

Yuja Wang and the Oslo Philharmonic
Photo credit: BBC

"International Orchestras are back!" was the proud claim of this season's BBC Proms advertising. Though it has taken until Prom 35, the full house which greeted the Oslo Philharmonic was evidence of the excitement of the night.

Of course, many were in the hall for one person, the 'superstar' Yuja Wang. However, the curtain opener for the concert saw the young Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä, fresh from recording his much-discussed and lauded Sibelius cycle with his Oslo forces, present Sibelius' Tapiola. Mäkelä is indeed quite something. At only 26, already chief in Oslo and Paris, he is up to take on the job of Chief Conductor at the Concertgebouw in five years. He's made far more than waves in classical music. It's a tsunami. His confidence on the podium, his rapport with the orchestra were tangible. He sculpted structures of sound together with elemental strength, textures emerged clear-sighted, bold and confident.

With Yuja Wang coming onto the stage to the Prommers' cheers, I must admit readily that Liszt's Piano Concerto No.1 is not a personal favourite. However, the work can surely have no greater champion than her. I was surprised to find myself completely captivated in every note of her performance, bringing far more than the party-trick virtuosity it is easy to degrade the concerto for. Indeed, her performance brings a new dimension; she presented Liszt as not simply a virtuosic tour de force, though there were undoubtedly such moments, but with nuance, with moments verging on silence, hanging us on a thread of suspense in the Albert Hall with an astonishingly immersive and heartfelt intimacy. 

Of course, it is well known by now that Yuja Wang is, in fact, superhuman. Her show of a performance in her choice of encore would have made even Liszt stop in amazement: Horowitz's fiendish Carmen Variations, played with disarming ease and breakneck style. In the final coda, one could almost feel an audible gasp in the hall as Wang paused, then launched into the finale at what felt like double speed. Still, the Prommers' cheers could not be satisfied, and a sensitive rendition of Sgambati's arrangement of a melody from Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice proved once again Wang's mastery of  the emotional range of the evening's music.

Klaus Mäkelä conducts
Photo credit: BBC

Mäkelä drew an extraordinarily compelling sound from the amassed forces of the Oslo Philharmonic, coaxing a silky yet powerful sound from the strings, led by concertmaster Elise Bånet, whose solos, together with principal horn Inger Besserudhagen, were sublime. Holding back where necessary, yet beaming with excitement and an infectious energy, Mäkelä launched into Ein Heldenleben, and the Oslo Philharmonic followed him. It was the whole orchestra which followed him; from the superb woodwind soloists to a brass section on top form (special cheers for the two tubas!), the Oslo Philharmonic proved itself to be a true ensemble under the energetic baton of Mäkelä.

Indeed, in the often difficult to conquer acoustic of the Albert Hall, it was possible to hear every note; immense power, energy and excitement was a hallmark of the evening, a more than auspicious start from this new pairing. One can only hope they will make the Proms a regular summer stop.