Music
Youth and authenticity
Peter Phillips
The 99th season of Promenade Con- certs, as this year's is to be, has the aspect of an organisation clearing the decks for the Big One. I wonder if the BBC is financed in such a way that money saved from these concerts can be put towards next year's, or whether, like other grant- receiving bodies, extra cash raised or saved over the grant has to be returned to an anonymous and bottomless hole out of its control at the end of each accounting period.
Whatever the motivation -- to avoid debt or promote a centenary splash — alert Promenaders will note that the once fairly regular procession of foreign orchestras to the Albert Hall has been replaced by a suc- cession of youth orchestras, that Glynde- bourne cannot make it this year and that John Drummond has been won over, very late in the day and with some apparent reluctance, to the practitioners of authen- ticity.
It is fascinating to read how this conver- sion, if such it really is, is presented. As we all know, much too much scholarly fuss has been made in justification of inadequate performances of music written in the Early periods. None the less, the experiments which this movement provoked surely gave rise to that spirit in music-making which characterised the first decades of the Promenade Concerts. In those years risks were taken in such an eye-catching way that the tradition we now celebrate was able to grow. Mr Drummond himself writes in his foreword to the current brochure: As we inexorably approach our centenary it would be unacceptable if we were to diminish the sense of innovation and adventure that has been part of the Proms since the early
seasons under Henry Wood.
Quite so; though the wary Briton will immediately question whether a policy statement so self-evident from one in authority is not acting as a blind for an opposing reality.
Anyway, three paragraphs later Mr Drummond introduces his series of authentic-performance concerts:
We have also chosen to capitalise on the revival of interest in earlier music and perfor- mance style. No one can fail to have noticed that however much people argue about `authenticity', audiences flock to hear con- ductors like Roger Norrington, Trevor Pin- nock and Frans Bruggen with the groups that they have formed. I think this is entirely understandable, for they give fascinating per- formances full of musical insights, and with a sense of real freshness. The days of dubious intonation and questionable scholarship are over.
It sounds as though he is indeed making a really big effort. Given that the authentic- ity drive has been providing, along with contemporary music, the most exciting opportunities for innovatory concert-giving for nearly 20 years, I do find that the tone of this statement lacks a certain daring, indeed a necessary daring, from the plan- ner of the Proms.
Some of the concerts in this category include Handel's Deborah (1 August), the Consort of Musicke singing Monteverdi (25 August), Bach's Mass in B Minor (21 July) sung by the Cologne Chamber Choir under Peter Neumann, Haydn's Seasons (29 August) conducted by Roger Norrington, and Beethoven's Ninth (5 September) per- formed by Frans Bruggen and the Orches- tra of the Age of Enlightenment. Despite the preamble this is a very good list, the best ever at the Proms: I trust that next year will yield something similar.
As for the other side of the 'exciting opportunities' equation — new music there is a regular train of pieces receiving their first London/UK/world performances: Lutoslawski's Fourth Symphony (27 August), Hans Werner Henze's Requiem (5 September) and Takemitsu's From me flows what you call Time (15 August); less familiar perhaps will be the names of Nicholas Sackman, John Buller, Judith Weir and Robert Saxton, all receiving first performances, though the number of actual BBC commissions has been reduced.
Otherwise some incomparable music (lots of it to my taste this year) is to be played by orchestras of BBC, British or youthful provenance. The only exceptions are the Oslo Philharmonic under Jansons (23 and 24 August) and the Leipzig Gewandhaus under Masur (30 and 31 August). How one should react to the news that Bruckner's Fifth symphony, that rare and wonderful offering, is to be given by the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra (admittedly under Abbado) on 9 August is not clear. I hope for everyone's sake they play it well.
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