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The Radio 3 Boards > Admin Boards > Viewable archives > Proms 2007 > Prom 53 Concertgebouw/Haitink
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Author Topic: Prom 53 Concertgebouw/Haitink  (Read 1724 times)
thompson1780
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« Reply #30 on: 00:55:47, 25-08-2007 »
Forgot to mention the seating for anyone not there....

Strings in the usual places, with 2nds next to firsts.

The front row of woodwinds we're as normal, with flutes to the conductor's left side and oboes to the right.  But clarinets were behind oboes and bassoons were behind flutes!

Then the brass, with trumpets behind the clarinets, and trombones behind the bassoons.  The tuba was to the left, as we looked, of the trombones.

And the horns took two rows to the left of him, with the back row of horns doubling wagner tubas.

Timps and perc were to the right of the trumpets.

Don't see that every day, do you?

Tommo
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Made by Thompson & son, at the Violin & c. the West end of St. Paul's Churchyard, LONDON
Notoriously Bombastic
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Never smile at the brass
« Reply #31 on: 09:40:14, 25-08-2007 »
All follows from seating the five tubas together.

NB
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Notoriously Bombastic
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Never smile at the brass
« Reply #32 on: 10:03:30, 25-08-2007 »
Quote from: Il Grande Inquisitor on 00:40:06, 25-08-2007
I was in the Stalls, directly behind the prommers, so was disturbed by the latecomers which the stewards let into the hall a minute before the first movement ended....grrrrrr!

Rather unusually I was in the circle instead of the arena.  As I was leaving I heard an unhappy audience member ask a redcoat why they had let in latecomers during the music, and apparently it was on a bluecoat's orders.

Still, a fine evening of music.

NB
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Ruth Elleson
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« Reply #33 on: 10:42:43, 25-08-2007 »
Tommo and eru, very nice to meet you last night.

I'm not going to pretend to be the world's greatest Bruckner aficionado but I was very very impressed, especially with the brass sound in the first movement.  And the big climaxes towards the end of the third and fourth were very powerfully done.  In the fourth the playing wasn't technically perfect, with the strings getting a little out of time with the rest of the orchestra, but luckily this was short-lived.

IGI, I asked another redcoat the same question about the latecomers and got the same answer.  Annoying anyway!  Though there really is no good time to admit latecomers.  I remember another Haitink Bruckner concert - No.7 with the Dresden Staatskapelle in the penultimate week of the 2004 season - where a lengthy pause was taken between mvts 1 and 2 to let in the latecomers.  Haitink turned to the front row of prommers (myself not included, as I'd arrived quite late from work and was way back behind the fountain) and made some remark along the lines of "Some people never learn..."

There were many preventable and unpreventable distractions last night, including coughers, a person being taken ill in the West Stalls during the second movement, and the aforementioned latecomers and alarm.  Oh, and if you heard a loud muffled sneeze during the third movement, I'm afraid to say that it was me  Embarrassed

Right, must get going now, it's the first nice day in ages and I think I fancy spending most of it in the queue Grin
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Oft hat ein Seufzer, deiner Harf' entflossen,
Ein süßer, heiliger Akkord von dir
Den Himmel beßrer Zeiten mir erschlossen,
Du holde Kunst, ich danke dir dafür!
thompson1780
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« Reply #34 on: 11:59:08, 25-08-2007 »
Quote from: Ruth Elleson on 10:42:43, 25-08-2007
Oh, and if you heard a loud muffled sneeze during the third movement, I'm afraid to say that it was me  Embarrassed

Didn't notice Ruth - although the coughers in the first movement should have been shot for overreaching the decibel count.

I read on tOP last night about the flutes being not together (Rob G?).  Well he was right, there were occasions.  Indeed, there was one moment where I thought the Brass and timps were hopelessly awry.  Usually these things really annoy me, and completely break the illusion of where I have been transported to.  (Does anyone else get that feeling where you are suddenly yanked back to relity by a teeny bit of poor intonation or poor synchronisation?)

But last night, they didn't matter.  There was something else about it that still managed to hold me, and take me with it.  I guess people will react differently, so perhaps Rob G just wasn't grabbed.

Tommo
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Made by Thompson & son, at the Violin & c. the West end of St. Paul's Churchyard, LONDON
Bryn
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« Reply #35 on: 21:05:56, 25-08-2007 »
Quote from: Alison on 21:54:31, 24-08-2007
Please do record tomorrows Prom, Bryn.

Just in case my equipment and timer malfunction in my Bank Holiday absence.

You have kindly offered insurance cover in the past .....

Alison, I have recorded from DAB, and am currently saving from Satellite. However, both the satellite and Freeview broadcasts lost about a minute of sound near the start of the Prelude & Liebestod. :-(

Hopefully the same did not apply to the radio version.
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HtoHe
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« Reply #36 on: 22:27:07, 25-08-2007 »
Quote from: Bryn on 21:05:56, 25-08-2007
Quote from: Alison on 21:54:31, 24-08-2007
Please do record tomorrows Prom, Bryn.

Just in case my equipment and timer malfunction in my Bank Holiday absence.

You have kindly offered insurance cover in the past .....

Alison, I have recorded from DAB, and am currently saving from Satellite. However, both the satellite and Freeview broadcasts lost about a minute of sound near the start of the Prelude & Liebestod. :-(

Hopefully the same did not apply to the radio version.

I think you'll find DAB is OK, Bryn.  A few background noises - bumps, coughs etc - but no silences - at least none in the second half which I've just replayed.  And you'll have the encore, of course.
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Bryn
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« Reply #37 on: 23:47:21, 25-08-2007 »
Thanks, HtoHe, I can't check it myself until tomorrow, (I am saving right through until just after midnight, as a single file, and now intend to go to bed).
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harrumph
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« Reply #38 on: 11:27:20, 28-08-2007 »
Quote from: Ruth Elleson on 10:42:43, 25-08-2007
...There were many preventable and unpreventable distractions last night, including coughers, a person being taken ill in the West Stalls during the second movement, and the aforementioned latecomers and alarm...
Wasn't aware of your sneeze, but the car alarm was very aggravating. At least it had been silenced before we arrived at the G.P. three-quarters of the way through the slow movement.

From my seat behind and above him, I thought the timpanist was very good (I used to play timps, in a strictly amateur way, many years ago) and his drums were excellent - smaller than usual, except for one big low-pitched drum. I thought the orchestra as a whole less virtuosic than the Berliners of last year, but they seemed able to play with both tremendous clarity of sound and great blendedness... even if those do seem to be mutually exclusive.

One thing struck me - much as I love Bruckner, I seem to be unable to hold the whole structure of his longer movements in my head, even having heard them many times. When I listen on CD, I can glance at the elapsed time on the player and know when the final peroration is coming. In this concert, the suddenness of the flowering into C major took me a little by surprise.
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harrumph
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« Reply #39 on: 15:16:18, 03-09-2007 »
I thought those timpani were something out of the ordinary - and it turns out that they are a rare breed, Schnellars: http://www.nickwoud.com/page13.htm

A question for trumpet players - is it usual for Dutch trumpeters to play their instruments sideways (rather than with the valves uppermost), or were they playing something unusual (I couldn't see clearly)?

And another question - I was surprised to see that the three harps were all of the exact same design, implying that they belong to the orchestra. Is this the case? Does that mean that when a player gets a job with the Concertgebouw s/he has arrived in heaven and is issued with a harp?  Wink

To what extent do instruments nowadays belong to orchestras rather than to individual players?
« Last Edit: 15:55:55, 03-09-2007 by harrumph » Logged
David_Underdown
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« Reply #40 on: 15:45:42, 03-09-2007 »
They were C(?) trumpets with rotary valves, rather than the more familiar Bbs with piston valves.
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David
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