Sequenza21/The Contemporary Classical Music Weekly

My Time At the Proms--Pt I

I assume that the amount of newish, new, and newer music at the Proms is constant over any one year and that one's perception of the whole (unless you're around for all of it) is really determined by the slice of it that one happens to get. My slice this year has lots. I got to London on Tuesday morning (when getting there was still relatively easy), and there was something every night this week.

Tuesday night Yan Pascal Tortelier and the BBC Philharmonic did an all French concert, which, along with Ravel and Roussel, included Metaboles by Dutilleux. Written for, of all people, George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra in the 60's, Metaboles is a sort of concerto for orchestra in five movements which are played without a break, each focussed on an "abstract" (whatever that means)issue, usually having to do with texture. The third, with pizz. basses (going through all 12 notes of the chromatic scale)and a certain amount of brass, suggest some sort of very cool jazzy music that would go to some very cool early Godard or Malle movie. It's really a first rate piece, and it got a first rate performance. (As did everything else.)

Wednesday's concert, by the BBC Scottish Orchestra and Ilan Volkov included ...towards a pure land by Jonathan Harvey. A pure land, the composer explained in his program notes, is a state of mind beyond suffering--paradise, in fact. In this case a Bhuddist concept. The work features a small ensemble, more or less hidden in the orchestra, refered to as the 'Ensemble of Eternal Sound,' which (surprise) plays slow and peaceful music, which a certain amount of 'exotic' percussion, most of the time. In the foreground the rest of the orchestra plays sequentially a variety of musics which moves toward and then away from a central point occupied by a sort of void. This progress is described by Harvey as being an arch, but an arch with developments. The realization of this does not sound particularly schematic or mechanical, in fact, it has a rather attractive surface.

In certain respects the main event of the week was the first performance on Thursday night by Volkov and the BBC Scottish orchestra again, joined by pianist Noriko Kawai, of James Dillon's Andromeda, a piano concerto in all but name--and in fact there's some confusion about that. Dillon is often classed with Ferneyhough and Finnissy as being part of the 'new complexity' school. This piece, which lasted 35 minutes, is certainly as fancy and busy as anybody could ever want. According to Dillon it is in 15 sections, which are like a series of waves, each 'giving birth to the next,'...'The rhythm of the unfolding sections remain the same, yet the internal forms are always different.' In fact the sections are grouped so that there are three large sections, in a fast, slow, faster (with breaks) pattern.

I find I have difficulties with pieces in this style in general, and I had them with this piece. If you have a lot of very complex lines going on simultaneously, lopped right on top of each other, you run the risk of their cancelling each other out and ending up with a big wash of sound with no particular texture or detail--and no particular rhythm or tempo. With a lot of activity of a fairly high degree of complexity of rhythm and notes going on all the time in all the registers it can get pretty hard to follow the argument of the piece. You (one, I) begin to wonder if it really would matter is section thirteen came where section eight does, for instance.

Given that, this was a pretty high class example of the genre. It has a certain luminous sound to it. It also got a completely committment and extremely accurate performance.

The difficulties the piece presented were not helped at all by the hall. Fortunately as well as streaming concerts on the web as they're happening, the BBC makes recordings of them available for a week after the actual performance. Since the concerts are rebroadcast later and the rebroadcasts are also available for a week, it's possible to listen to anything that's been played on the Proms for about two weeks after it's happened (For instance, Julian Anderson's new piece, which was played on August 6, is still available for listening). This means that you don't have to take my word for it, you can listen for yourself. Check out the Proms website (www.bbc.co.uk/proms/) and look for the Listen Again section.

(To be continued...)

posted by Rodney Lister 8/15/2006