On Tuesday we were at the Royal Albert Hall in London for our first visit to the BBC Proms in many years. The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by John Storgårds, were in impressive form. The programme opened with 'Tales of a Summer Sea' - a piece by Betsy Jolas, who is due to celebrate her 100th birthday this year. This was a belated UK premiere for her 1977 reworking of elements of the incidental music she wrote in 1962 for a production of 'The Tempest'. It's an atmospheric piece that conjures up the power of the ocean through a large orchestra including masses of percussion and two sets of timpani. We then heard Sueye Park perform the Sibelius 'Violin Concerto' - one of my favourite pieces and one I have played in the orchestra for on several occasions. Sueye Park played beautifully and delicately but the acoustics of the vast Albert Hall made it quite a strain to hear the solo violin. John Storgårds restrained the orchestra volume very effectively but I would have preferred to hear both soloist and accompaniment a little more off the leash. The second half of the concert featured 'Also sprach Zarathustra' - Richard Strauss's orchestral tone poem inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's huge poem. The opening fanfare must be one of the most famous moments in classical music, from its use in the film '2001: A Space Odyssey', but the 35 minutes that follow are rarely heard. Which is a shame as it is a great piece - powerful, playful, spectacular and serene. Though I know the work from recordings, I had never heard it live before and it was really helpful to see it performed in order to make sense of the different sections of the music and the instrumentation. It was wonderful to hear the mighty Albert Hall organ. The tubular bells chiming midnight, heralding the quiet, enigmatic ending of the piece, rang out brilliantly from the balcony at the top of the Albert Hall. It was a very entertaining concert, excellently performed.
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