Non-encore (noncore?)

Can you have an encore that has never been performed before? And do we really need encores anyway?

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Prom No. 19: Hallé/Mark Elder
R. Strauss: Macbeth
Britten: Les Illuminations
Nielsen: Symphony No.4, 'The Inextinguishable'

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Obviously that is a largely pointless semantic/linguistic question, but one that arose following tonight's Prom concert at the Royal Albert Hall, where the Hallé Orchestra played as an encore a new orchestration (by Colin Matthews) of a previously lost, late piano piece by Debussy. According to conductor Mark Elder, the orchestration had never been performed before, so how could it be an "encore" (French: "again"). It is a frivolous debate, of course, but it did get me thinking about how I feel about this sort of Proms programming and encores in general.

I booked this particular Prom for the Nielsen symphony, and that alone. I was not bothered about the Strauss or Britten in the first half. And that is part of the problem with Proms programming these days - so often the really interesting stuff is mixed-in with seemingly more "safe" material that I can really do without. I know that this is partly an issue with my own tastes, which are probably much less conservative than the mainstream audience that the programmers are trying to attract. But when the notes in the printed programme describes a work (Strauss' 'Macbeth') in contrast to his "two real masterpieces" ('Don Juan' and 'Tod und Verkarung'), and refers to the "sometimes opressively heavy" execution, and a fanfare that is "hardly fresh to the ears", then one can hardly be blamed for not giving it much attention.

Britten's 'Les Illuminations' didn't do much more for me either. I really do not appreciate this kind of work, or the style of singing involved, and Joan Rodgers' operatic posturing was frankly embarassing at times. So, first half of the concert - not good. But I was not expecting much anyway.

Second half: Nielsen's Symphony No.4, 'The Inextinguishable' - Fantastic. I'm so fond of this piece, and all the wonderfully spine-tingly moments were there. The performance couldn't be faulted really, and I felt quite exhilarated at the end. So I was a bit aprehentious when they decided to do an encore.

It is difficult when a concert ends with a rousing or emotionally moving piece which has been performed well. The audience show their appreciation, but do you really want to spoil the impact of the performance by playing an encore? Of course one obvious response is to adhere to the original sense and meaning of the term and play the piece again (or at least the final section). I have heard that done before, usually to good effect, but all to often the encore is just one of the orchestra's standard set pieces - a short and usually frivolous piece that may have no relation to the main work preceeding it. When listening on the radio, these are usually prefaced by the announcer declaring that we are about to hear "a real treat". This usually spells disaster. I recall a Prom a couple of years ago when the Vienna Philharmonic followed the "Rite of Spring" with a couple of tacky J Strauss II waltzes. Just awful. It really spoilt my evening, like following a perfect steak with a malteezer McFlurry for dessert.

That said, a carefully chosen encore can enhance the overall experience. The Scandinavian/Nordic orchestras seem to be quite good at this, for example following a Nielsen symphony with his "Helios" or the Maskarade overture, or following a Sibelius symphony with one of the Lemminkainen legends or one of a number of other Sibelius 'shorts' like "Death of Melisande", "Valse Triste", "Alla marcia" or "Finlandia". But maybe I am naturally biased towards this music anyway.

At tonight's concert the Hallé's unusual approach to chosing an encore seemed to work reasonably well. By playing a piece that nobody had heard before (at least not in that form), it was guaranteed to engage some interest and not have that stomach churning "Ah! Now here comes a real treat" effect. And the work itself was 'light' enough not to compete with the main work, whilst being at the same time not too frivolous. I have to say that I could still have done without it, but at least on this occasion it did not ruin the "main meal".

Proms 2007

First Prom of the season:

Prom No. 5
Sam Hayden: Substratum (BBC commission: world premiere)
Bernstein: Symphony No. 2, 'The Age of Anxiety'
Ives: Symphony No. 4

Rather surprised at quite how small the audience is - can't be more than 25% capacity. I was expecting more, particularly for Ives' richly packed and rarely performed 4th Symphony.

At least the poor attendance meant that it was not too hot in there, but it was a strangely cold audience, and not a particularly memorable concert.

New tack and old chic

Today we went over to North Greenwich to have a look at the recently reopened millennium dome - now renamed The O2. We were not really sure what to expect, but I have to say that they have done a pretty uninspiring job of fitting it out. There seems to have been a complete lack of imagination in designing the new buildings and structures inside. Instead of taking advantage of the huge covered space, they have crammed it with traditional buildings along a traditional street pattern. The result is quite claustrophobic in parts, and all rather pointless. To make matters worse, most of the buildings have been designed in a chinzy fake art deco style, giving it all a kind of tawdry mock Miami Beach feel (complete with fake palm trees). As a result, there is nothing special here, it is just like being in any mediocre shopping mall, except there are no shops - just a lot of franchised overpriced restaurants.

What a wasted oportunity. When you are building under a giant weatherproof tent you don't need walls, windows, roofs (or even doors) in the traditional sense. They could have done some really great stuff in here, but what you have is actually worse than the original Millennium contents (and some of that was quite poor). Shame on the developers/designers for turning out this insipid tat.


Depressed by the dull and unimaginative experience of the O2, we decided to get a riverbus on Thames Clippers new scheduled service between the O2 and Waterloo, to go and take a look at the also recently reopened Festival Hall. Here the opportunity for innovation was much more limited as it is a listed building (even the carpet is listed). However, the refurbishment of the interior seems to have gone quite well (even if it is clearly not quite finished yet). The original layout is virtually identical, but they have managed to create more space and keep (improve even) the light and airy feel of the lobby and foyer spaces. We had a good look around (at my insistance - I don't think that Dave was that interested really), and it is all still there - all the old places, the tucked-away lobby areas, they just seem to be a bit bigger now. It will be interesting to see how it all works when there is a concert on.

Of course the carpet is still there (at least it is the same design, but new carpet), and the overwhelming feel is light-natural-beige, and the stylish 50s chic that we love the Festival Hall so much for. So I am quite encouraged overall, but we didn't get to see inside the auditorium itself. That will probably be the subject of another blog.