Interact & Reviews / Reviews

Moray McConnachie
Overall a slightly disappointing concert. The Tallis Fantasia certainly improved, but at its best it is a seamless masterpiece, which it wasn't here. Other reviewers noted The Serenade To Music's main problem, the soloists. One assumes that the BBC's budget for fees for sixteen soloists for 11 minutes in a concert which demanded such considerable orchestra resources might be rather low. Several of the soloists were very good, but such short lines demand 'invariably good' if an atmosphere is to build during the piece - if there is a weak solo entry (and there were several), the piece dies. That said, using young musicians at an early stage in their careers is an idea Vaughan Williams would surely have appreciated.

The problem of variable quality applies to the 9th Symphony too, but not in the orchestral playing (which was good), but in the underlying quality of the music. Vaughan Williams in bombastic mode is never totally appealing, and his main weapon, the orchestral hit, is overused here. However, the orchestra played well, and the many fine bits of music in the piece produced some very moving moments.

On the plus side, I had never heard Job: A Masque for Dancing live, and it was marvellous. I have a special affection for the organ cameo anyway, and with the Hall's all-singing all-dancing bone-shaker pounding away, Satan's powers were pretty convincing. It is a shame it seems unlikely I will ever see this as a danced ballet. I can understand the affection of the Proms crowd for Sir Andrew Davis, so long at the heart of the Proms, but it is not always fully justified by the music he produces, and this was such an occasion. I sloped off somewhat before that 7-minute ovation completed.

Adrian Woolliscroft
A magnificent concert containing some stunning playing by the BBCSO, notably in the vastly underrated Ninth Symphony. An amazing achievement for any composer, let alone an 85 year old whose powers clearly remained undimmed right up to the end of his long and fruitful life. I am sure the Proms this year have opened the eyes of many for whom Vaughan Williams wrote cowpat music, composed the Lark Ascending, and arranged Greensleeves. Congratulations to the BBC for a wonderful tribute to a truly great composer.

Hopu
The 9th symphony began to dawn on me in this performance. Overall, however, the concert was a lovely occasion and confirmed my own opinion that Job is the greatest of his works. For me it encompasses virtually every aspect of his music in a single span and at the highest level of inspiration. The playing of Eliahu's dance was wonderful and so well conveyed an intensely moving turning point in Job's travails. The nightmare vision of Satan ascending the throne of heaven will remain with me for a long time. Congratulations to all.

Megaped
This was an exquisite concert. The orchestra took a few minutes to warm up in the Fantasia, with a slightly lack-lustre and wobbly start, but soon hit their stride to give a sumptuous performance. The soloists in the Serenade were a little disappointing, but this might have been due to the distance of my seat from the stage - it is a big space to fill. Andrew Davis brings out the best in any orchestra, but the BBC SO seem to respond particularly well to him, as do the audience. A great night out.

Lovely. I thoroughly enjoyed this concert. The 9th Symphony was absolutely brilliant - including awesome saxophone playing which I'd not previously heard quite so clearly (ie. on a recording). Vaughan Williams's 9th is a magnificent and hugely under-rated piece which got a stunning performance this year at the BBC Proms, and I hope will be played more often in the future.

Rare indeed comes a time when Londoners will queue for blocks down the street in order to climb mountains of vertigous stairs, swelter in the heat and stand for hours (let alone navigate safely amongst the other, perhaps slightly more eccentric audience members) JUST to listen to a piece of classical music, but so they did on Tuesday in order to sample the audio delights that Sir Andrew Davies spirited from the scores of the ever-popular Ralph Vaughan Williams on this, the 50th anniversary of his passing.

Commencing proceedings with a slick and very knowing rendition of the Thomas Tallis Fantasia, there wasn't a single soul in the full to capacity crowd whose attention wasn't commanded by this popular and ever-green work. Indeed, it seemed as though the audience willed the orchestra to play as well as they did and wanted to enjoy it as much as they could on this very special Prom in honour of this bastion of English music.

Those who hadn't heard his ballet score Job before were in for a treat as the orchestra hurtled full pelt through the movements, crescendoing with the famous Albert Hall organ for the scene in which Satan assumes God's throne - the sound coming from the stage emenated like a blast of music which stirred and sullied, whipping the audience into a frenzy of applause just to mark the conclusion of the first act.

The second act cantered on with a rare and delightful performance of the 16-voice Serenade to Music which Davis seemed to particularly enjoy, before moving on to a note-for-note perfect expression of VW's 9th - the orchestra seemed to be enjoying themselves by now, knowing they were bringing to a close a truimph of an evening for an avid audience who had hung on their every note, and indeed they were duly rewarded with no less than 7 minutes of applause, concluding with a special cheer as Davis held aloft the sheet music of the man who he held in such high esteem and who that night had kept everyone so entralled.

All too soon the programme had come to it's end, but I would put money on it that there wasn't a single member of the audience who wouldn't happily swelter in the heat for many hours more just to experience such orchestral magic. A Prom highlight - catch it if you can on Radio 3 or the listen again service and kick yourself that you didn't get there in person.