I thought the two longer pieces were very good indeed. Job took a while to get going, but thereafter was very well-paced structurally, particularly regarding loud and soft sections. However, my neighbour was so bored by it that he left at the interval (and tbh I was glad he did; he made his boredom quite clear with the volume of his distracting huffs).

Symphony 9 was a strange but nice mixture of Shostakovich (the opening) and Rawsthorne (the saxophones dissenting against the rest of the orchestra at the end of the first and last movements), which I liked.

If only I hadn't been deafened by the group of superficial teenagers to my left who whooped their way through the whole evening

But it was still a very enjoyable concert.

I picked out the larger, less familiar pieces too, Eruanto.  I thought the Fantasia a little understated but it was probably a perfectly respectable performance of a piece that's now so frequently programmed that only a remarkable reading gets ones attention.


I'm sorry to hear of your experience.  I didn't notice any of this on the radio.  Ironically, the thing I noticed was that, having spent most of the season wishing that audiences would leave a respectful silence before applauding, there was an extremely respectful silence after Job - to the extent that I began to wonder if there was anyone in the hall who knew it was over!  It is, though, infuriating when you find yourself trapped next to people who seem to have no idea how intrusive their behaviour can be.  I must say, however, that I experience this far more in a seat than in the arena - to the extent that by the interval of my last Prom I was seriously wondering whether I should book any seats at all next season.  The conductor was already raising his baton when a group of about half a dozen people were let in and, ignoring the rows and rows of empty seats by the entrance, made their way towards the row behind us.  The performance was well under way before they finally sat down - and then a couple of them began conversing.  In addition to this, the seats next to me were occupied by a young couple accompanied by two children who must both have been under 10.  I don't get worried about children at concerts - I find that, on average, they behave rather better than adults - but these two really didn't want to be there.  A few minutes into the Slavonic Dances they were fidgeting and kicking the seat in front; and when a minority in the audience decided each one of the dances deserved its own round of applause you could see the hope in these children's eyes as they thought it was over!  Luckily there were hundreds of empty seats so we were able to relocate for Osud.  I had to wonder what kind of parents would take children so young to a concert (i.e. visually static) performance of an opera in Czech! 


Indeed it was.

There was a your favourite VW symphony poll at TOP this last week, in which the 9th symphony came a clear 3rd, behind clear winner the 5th, and clear second the 6th (my personal favourite  . There's a strong campaign to have us believe the 9th is his best, but I'm not in that camp. It was a great ending to last night's superb concert, however.

Parallel fifths are of no concern to RVW, eru: take a look at the first six bars or so of A Pastoral Symphony, where the undulating quaver triads fill every beat of the 6/6 bars unhindered; there must be the best part of forty in quick succession. (My first hearing of those as a teenager was akin to a mystical experience, binding me in thrall to the composer's world of sound forever.)

If you've not heard Handley's Job, then it would be a cheap and fascinating voyage of discovery: far better paced and pointed, with a level of detail that makes last night's effort look two-dimensional.

In which case listening to the Handley is likely to confirm your feelings still further, prawn. 

For what it's worth that's in a (printed!) marginal note in the score I have which is dated 1969 so it's not quite as new as all that.

The note is at the beginning of the score and reads:




It has been decided that, from the beginning, this passage has been placed incorrectly in the score and parts, despite the perpetuation of the accustomed reading in recordings and early published material.

The timpani should play from 3 bars before 10 (not 2 bars) to 4 bars after 10 (not 5 bars); the separate orchestral parts are being corrected accordingly.



I do like the way it manages to be so precise while leaving untouched the not entirely unimportant matters of How The Heck Did This Happen, Why Did No One Notice Given That Many Persons Have Dealt With This Score Who Are Ignorant Neither Of Music Nor Of Vaughan Williams, Who Finally Twigged and How Should They Know.