In another of their
series of live concert recordings from
the 2003 Henry Wood Promenade concerts,
Warner give us another mixed bag of
hit and miss performances, in close,
boxy sound that could rival the old
Columbia record label in its heyday.
If Her Majesty was
hoping to wax nostalgic about her coronation
with this performance of the Walton
Te Deum (written for the 1937
Coronation; not the one in 1953) she
was certain to have left the hall disappointed.
The choir nearly barks out the text
with the orchestra playing with no subtlety
whatsoever. There is nothing refined
about the singing with practically no
contrast in dynamics and no focus or
clarity to the choral tone. In short,
this is a shouted, ugly performance
that belies a cavalier attitude toward
works with chorus. It is as if Andrew
Davis was required to perform this piece
and would have rather been on the golf
course.
Edward Elgar is represented
by his devoutly beautiful Sea Pictures,
at one time practically the sole property
of Dame Janet Baker and Sir John Barbirolli.
This performance is perhaps the highlight
of the entire program, with Catherine
Wyn-Rogers rich and expressive mezzo-soprano
carrying loftily over the orchestra.
Her careful attention to the texts makes
for a very moving performance indeed.
Arnold Bax, a composer
who has thankfully in recent years become
recognized for the fine artist he was
comes in next with the tone poem November
Woods. This rhapsodic work has a checkered
history, having been inspired by an
incident when the composer was caught
in the rain returning home after visiting
his extra-marital lover. Despite its
rather shady origins, this is a work
of exciting sweep and grandeur and is
given a fine, energetic performance
by the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Andrew
Davis captures all of the scenery of
the woods during a storm and there is
some fine solo playing by the principal
clarinetist and the concertmaster.
One of Benjamin Britten’s
early assignments was with the British
government’s Crown Film Unit, and his
masterful set of variations of a march
of Henry Purcell, better known as the
Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra,
began life as the soundtrack to an educational
film. Still a splendid concert piece,
the work takes us on a walking tour
of the sections of the symphony orchestra,
and is at times performed with narration,
although not here. This performance
is a little on the raucous side, but
nonetheless effective.
This disc, despite
some really rather strong performances
rises only to the level of ‘acceptable
alternative’ or ‘good document of what
must have been a nice concert.’ This
is due mostly in part to the rather
flat, boxy sound quality of the recordings.
Perhaps the Albert Hall is not the ideal
venue to record music, or perhaps the
recording is just a one-off and was
carried out rather carelessly. Whatever
the reason, the results are detrimental
to the final product.
Kevin Sutton
Jonathan Wearn
comments
I was very sad to read the review of
the Elgar Prom and KS refferring to
the perceived box like acoustic. I have
recorded there many times and it has
a wonderful recording acoustic if approached
properly.
The problem at the Royal Albert Hall,
the Barbican and the RFH, is the common
and misguided opinion the BBC and others
seem to hold that you have to fill the
hall with dozens of cardioid microphones
to record any orchestral music.....
It is a false view not backed by good
science.
To achieve that all important 3rd dimension
in live recordings three Omnis is all
that is needed to achieve a wondrous
result. Audience noise adds to the realism
of a live concert -
The balance has to be the conductor's
responsibility not some arrogant engineer
or producer in a multi track booth with
all to little knowledge about orchestral
music.
Many years ago Thomas Frost (director
of CBS Masterworks for 19 years) switched
from using multi-miked productions to
just three in spaced array and the results
quickly told...... He followed the Mercury
Living Presence principle with Telarc
and Dorian hot on their heels - Sadly,
in England we appear not to have learned
this lesson. But then, we always seem
to fall behind in just about everything....
Sad really.... but a sign of the times.
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Sir Andrew Davis 