SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Prom 24, Bach/Klenovsky, Smyth and Rachmaninov: Tasmin Little (violin), Richard Watkins (horn), BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Stefan Solyom, Royal Albert Hall, London, 4.8.2008 (BBr)

J S Bach, orchestrated by Paul Klenovsky (aka Henry J Wood): Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV565 (c1708 – 1929)
Ethel Smyth: Concerto for Violin and French Horn (1927)
Sergei Rachmaninov, orchestrated by Henry J Wood: Prelude in C sharp minor, op.3/2 (1892 - 1913)
Sergei Rachmaninov: Symphony No.2 in E minor, op.27 (1906/1907)


Henry Wood’s preposterous orchestrations of Bach and Rachmaninov are totally enjoyable. Poor Bach, he was a great arranger of other composers music but he could never have envisaged anything quite like this Wagnerian concoction – the orchestra includes six horns and four each of trumpets, trombones and percussionists. Not to mention the organ. It’s overblown, highly technicoloured and great fun. The Rachmaninov Prelude is scored for a slightly smaller orchestra – albeit with two tubas – but it’s still over the top. Solyom played them for all they were worth – the orchestra having a really good time.

Mention of 'Timber' brings me to a point which has been worrying me for a while. Why has the BBC dropped Wood’s name from the Proms? It now seems that we attend the BBC Proms, not the BBC Henry Wood Proms. Although the ticket mentions Wood in very small print, it is the BBC which receives top billing. This “world’s greatest classical music festival”, as the BBC calls it, wouldn’t exist were it not for the 50 years of work and dedication which Sir Henry gave to it. Please BBC, reinstate, in large print, the name of Henry J Wood. He deserves it.

Ethel Smyth’s Concerto is a difficult work to bring off successfully not least because of the scoring. Horn and violin is a difficult combination to balance at any time – even the violin, horn and piano trio is  tricky and this work also exists in such a version. Richard Watkins has recorded the piece so he obviously knows it well but he seemed reticent tonight. Admittedly, this isn’t a virtuoso part, but his presence was not really felt. Tasmin Little had the lion’s share of the tunes and she made what she could of them but I didn’t feel much personality in her playing. This is a lovely work but this performance seemed to be without character and the accompaniment was laboured and lack lustre. One wonders if it didn’t receive sufficient rehearsal time. I listened to the replay on BBC iplayer and felt exactly the same, so it wasn’t just the hall and the event itself which gave me dissatisfaction.

After the interval we heard Rachmaninov’s glorious 2^nd Symphony. Solyom gave this a big and romantic interpretation, taking the music and molding it in his vision. He pulled the score round, changing tempi when it suited him and encouraging his players to revel in the brilliance of the piece. As with Bruckner’s later Symphonies, this one needs the time and space to make its full presence felt for any audience, and the long first movement was allowed to unfold gradually, giving us its splendours bit by bit. The scherzo was fast and furious, the fugue, which replaces the conventional trio, was wild and manic. Then came the great slow movement, full of tunes and emotion. Solyom built a fine climax and then, in the long section which winds the movement down,  there was some fine playing from horn and solo violin. It was a fine achievement. The final movement is one of those Rachmaninov finales where caution is thrown to the winds and passion and the freewheeling spirit take control. Solyom was suitably wild and freewheeling, so much so that, for some inexplicable reason, he cut 33 bars from near the end of the work; these 40-odd seconds didn’t really bring the conclusion of the work about any sooner than it would have come with their inclusion so why do it? We’re living in 2008 and I would have thought that any sensitive musician – especially one who could bring about such a fine performance as this – would have the intelligence to understand that the composer knows best – not to mention the sense and taste to leave well alone. I will not accept that because Rachmaninov cut the work, to make it more palatable to an audience, this gives anyone the right to do it. When we hit the moment at which the music was excised I was quite violently jolted and lost the argument for a moment or two. This was an unnecessary decision to make and it broke the spell which had been woven for the past 60 minutes or so. I hope that Solyom, whom I know to be a fine musician from his work in Sweden with the Swedish Radio Orchestra, will reconsider this action and not butcher this work again.

That said, the BBC Scottish Orchestra responded exceptionally to his demands and interpretations and hopefully we will hear more of their work together. A fine concert overall : and I do not think I protest too much when standing up for the composers rights when he isn’t available to do the same.

Bob Briggs


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