This was a curious programme for a Proms opening night. My memory of previous occasions is that programmers either went big (i.e. Mahler's 8th, Janacek's Glagolitic Mass) or else went British. In this case, we had neither (although there was a little bit of Britten to cover the second remit).
Some commentators have pointed to this being down to a lack of ambition and/or money but, whatever the reason, it's nice to have an opening night which charts a fresher course, in this case offering us a sort of musical tasting menu of various delights. Classical music is not just one type of sound, and a first-time listener tuning in might just be encouraged by that; if they didn't much care for Mahler or Janacek, what reason would they have to continue listening?
After a hearty cheer given by the Promenaders for the BBC Singers, recently given a stay of execution, Sibelius' Finlandia got things off to a rousing start. The BBC Symphony Orchestra's playing was wonderfully crisp, no mean feat in the cavernous acoustic of the Albert Hall. They had clearly been drilled well by guest conductor Dalia Stasevska. As the massed forces of the BBC Singers and BBC Symphony Chorus entered, there were some intonation issues present, as well as problems with diction, but the range of the singers was notable; from quiet and dignified to brilliant and stirring.
Ukrainian composer Bohdana Frolyak's Let There Be Light was a BBC commission for this concert. In a pre-recorded interview, the composer noted that the current plight of her country was - quite understandably - impacting the music she was writing. Her piece called for a glitzy, Hollywood-esque use of the orchestra; lighter, shimmering textures were contrasted with a sort of darker, more dissonant lyricism, all with a certain melancholy. The piece's ending was particularly striking: a build up of dense textures - Ligeti-esque, but with that same sort of Hollywood lushness - gave way to some incredibly sparse and delicate sounds - including harp harmonics, which carried well over radio (as did the audience's coughs - a bugbear) but which I worry might have been harder to pick up in the hall.
It's not easy for a composer to distil what they want to say into a five minute piece - there's always a risk of it feeling too short-lived or crammed. Frolyak did a good job, I think, of offering us a snapshot of a much larger being, not being afraid to leave some things unsaid - much like a good author would in a short story.
As the BBC presenter announced the next piece was to be 'Grieg's Piano Concerto', I wondered how many people listening, as I did, internally followed up with 'by Grieg'. It's been ages since I heard this piece in its entirety; every time I rediscover it really is a joyous occasion for being reminded that this piece has so much more to it than that small passage which Morecambe and Wise hacked to death back in the 1970s.
There was perhaps a slightly lacklustre start from Paul Lewis - perhaps nerves - but he provided wonderfully crisp playing thereafter, well-mirrored by the orchestra in its accompaniment. An appropriately dreamy second movement then gave way to the rugged Norwegian folk tune which kicks off the 3rd movement. We've become accustomed to soloists treating us to an encore after a concerto performance, but it probably wasn't necessary in what was already a varietous programme.
I was reminded in the interval just how much I've missed the Proms Extra features which used to fill this period (they were dropped in 2020 when COVID hit).
Recorded as a pre-concert talk for prommers and then edited in time for broadcast, one or two experts would shine a light on a particular aspect of the concert that evening - a brilliant way of fulfilling the BBC's Reithian remit to 'inform'. Instead, we were treated to the presenters - and one or two others - giving us their highlights for the season ahead. Which would be fine enough, I suppose, had the entirety of the day's programming on Radio 3 not already been dedicated to doing just that.
Losing Proms Extra to COVID - and then presumably to budget cuts thereafter - is understandable, but surely a little more imagination could be utilised as to how to fill these slots? For the very brief role she was to play in the next piece, it might have been nice to hear from Lesley Manville. What was it like to be working with a world-class symphony orchestra? What did she have to say about the Sibelius piece she about to narrate from a non-musician's perspective? Alas, not.
Lesley Manville has had quite the meteoric rise. It's incredible how an artist can always be present, and yet very suddenly burst into one's own consciousness. After her brilliant turn as Princess Margaret in The Crown, alongside starring roles in Magpie Murders and the rather tender-hearted Mrs Harris Goes to Paris, I was very excited to see her on the bill for this concert, as I'm sure many other viewers/listeners will have been too.
Manville's own role in Sibelius' Snöfrid was only very brief, which was a shame. There's nothing that can be done, of course - it's what Sibelius wrote - but it would be lovely to have her back in a more substantial piece. I can imagine the gravitas she brought to the Sibelius lending itself well to Walton's Henry V, for instance.
Capping the concert off - vis à vis a short-lived Just Stop Oil protest - was Britten's A Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra. The piece is designed to showcase the various sections of the orchestra and so was, in the words of presenter Petroc Trelawny, 'a fantastic way to show off the strengths of every section'. I couldn't agree more - bring on the rest of the season.