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Prom 2: Haydn: The Creation
- Date Saturday 18 July 2009
- Time 7.00pm - c9.00pm
What more natural selection with which to launch our 'Creation'- themed first Saturday, and to mark the joint anniversaries of Haydn and Darwin (the latter born in 1809, the year of the former's death). Haydn's Handel-inspired hymn to God’s 'glorious work' burst into life 60 years before Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, but its masterly depiction of each new-created phenomenon – from blinding first light through primordial chaos to the arrival of mankind – has proved no mere seven-days'-wonder.
Paul McCreesh conducts massed Gabrieli forces in a recreation of the giant versions that Haydn himself directed in the last decade of his life. Celebrating 40 years as a music school, Chetham's sends its chamber choir to swell the vocal ranks. Mark Padmore and Neal Davies return later in the season for Handel's Samson (Prom 47).
There will be no interval
- Haydn The Creation (sung in English - ed. Paul McCreesh/Timothy Roberts) (109 mins)
- Rosemary Joshua soprano - Gabriel
- Sophie Bevan soprano - Eve
- Mark Padmore tenor - Uriel
- Neal Davies bass - Raphael
- Peter Harvey bass - Adam
- Chetham's Chamber Choir
- Members of the Wroclaw Philharmonic Choir
- Gabrieli Consort & Players
- Paul McCreesh conductor
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2009 Calendar
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July | ||||||
| 17 | 18 | |||||
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | |
| August | ||||||
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
| 30 | 31 | |||||
| September | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
See also
Within BBC Proms
On bbc.co.uk
On the web
- BBC Music Magazine: Proms Diary
- The Times: Proms
- Telegraph: Proms
- Independent: Reviews
- Guardian: Classical Music
- Proms reviews at musicOMH.com
- Proms reviews at Classical Source
- Proms reviews at Musical Criticism
- Proms reviews at Seen and Heard
- Dilettante
- the promcast
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Comments
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I really enjoyed this performance of Haydn's oratorio, and felt the passion and big sound intended by the composer was portrayed extremely well. The decision to cast five soloists rather than doubling Adam and Eve's parts was a good choice, as I've heard performances where the doubling of parts has an obvious strain on the performers.
Kudos to Neal Davies; enjoyed his Raphael a great deal.
I missed the first night, and have yet to listen to it on iplayer, so this was "first night" of 2009 for me, and I was not disappointed!
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Yes indeed, this was a very committed performance of an irrepressibly joyous and uplifting work. The soloists all seemed to relish their roles, particularly Sophie Bevan, who took the part of Eve. I very much look forward to hearing Neal Davies and Mark Padmore in Handel's Samson. While I'm not always a fan of period orchestras, I felt that the massed forces of the Gabrieli Consort and two choirs cut through any reservations I might otherwise have had - their sound was resplendent throughout. Congratulations to all involved!
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After a solid start on Friday, this was a stunning follow-up, in a sense the real start to the season, both in terms of theme and quality. Paul McCreesh's athletic marshalling of forces in the overture was as astonishing as the opening music. Here, in sound, was the finely honed big bang of the season's birth, followed by mesmerising glimmers of beautifully held faint notes that slowly built to the fruits of the Creation but also, hopefully, that presage the pleasures of the next eight weeks. The soloists were uniformly excellent, blending especially well in the trios and duets. Top marks though to the conductor, if only for that electrifying start.
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As I am not a fan of Haydn I approached this concert with no little trepidation. I need not have feared. The music making was of such a high standard that any worries I had were swept away by the powerful music making of allthose involved. To have used the English language version of this work was a masterpiece helped by the crystal clear diction of both soloists and chorus. I had the programme in front of me to help but I really didn't need it.
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I was lucky enough to be at the Albert Hall last night and on the whole enjoyed this performance immensely. The Orchestra, Choirs and soloists were marvelous, particularly the lovely Sophie Bevan and Mark Padmore. I have some issues with the translation, and the reasons given for changing from the usual. Whilst accepting, both as a listener, and as a singer, that sometimes translations can be clunky, I think there is an arrogance in altering a classic due to some perceived mis-translations, when in fact the alterations added nothing to the meaning. Like rewriting Shakespeare because his English wasn't always good grammer as recognised today.
That said if one could forgive the indecent haste with which Paul McCreesh herded the Choirs through some of the chorus, I had a most wonderful experience.
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I thoroughly enjoyed the refreshing performance of Saturday evening's Haydn's "The Creation" prom (and indeed derived some increased understanding of the work by attending the wonderful pre-prom talk across the road). The 3 soloists in parts 1 and 2 were up to their usual superb voices, but I was blown away by the synergistic renditions from Adam and Eve in Part 3. I welcomed most of McCreech's & Robert's "updated" translations, but "springs UP" rather than "springs FORTH" grated badly in my ears, and I found myself wrestling with the idea they could employ "txt spk" for their next re-translations , & which idea temporarily distracted my attention for the next few moments. The "enlarged" Chorus and Orchestra worked excellently, and all round it's one of the best I have heard yet.
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I thoroughly enjoyed the performance and thought Mark Padmore was wonderful! I agree that some speeds in the choruses were very fast. I had to be restrained from joining in while listening on the train! The soprano improved as we went along!
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I just listened to the audio file of this performance, and I really enjoyed it. On a personal note, it brought back fond memories of the mid-1960's, when I performed in the school orchestra as we joined forces with our school choir and local opera soloists in giving two performances of it.
This was in the "good old days" in the U.S. when schools had substantial music and arts programs. I was assigned the bass trombone part, which I much later discovered was considered one of the most difficult parts for that instrument in all of the literature. I was especially pleased when the school system's director of orchestras came up to me during the second interval to praise my solo in the chorus that ends Part 2. For a kid, that kind of praise lasts forever.
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