I was very moved by Prom 41 this year. Over the last 4 years, the BBC have been highlighting the ghastly events of the first world war. This year we approach the armistice of 11/11/1918.
Two works framed the great cello concerto of Edward Elgar.
The first work was a short seven minute Cantata Pour Les Funerailes d'un Soldat, for large Orchestra, Chorus and Baritone by Lili Boulanger . However the emotion and foreboding packed into those seven minutes was totally unsettling. It is a masterpiece.
Now Lili Boulanger was the sister of the famed Nadia Boulanger who had a great influence on composers of the 20th century. However her sister Lily was by far the greater composer. Unfortunately she had severe Crohn's disease from early childhood and died in 1918 age 24. So Lily Boulanger was 19 when she wrote that cantata. How she at that young age foretold and warned of the horrors to come is quite astonishing.
The all too few compositions of this young composer have been receiving a lot of attention of late, as indeed they should.
The Elgar cello concerto received one of the best performances I have ever heard. I think because of the context of the night. This work so often misunderstood and over sentimentalized was delivered on this occasion as the composer intended.
This greatest of all cello concertos is all about loss and regret. The horrors of the Great War of 1914 to 1918 were so great that Elgar could not write a note. At the end of 1918 he wrote this masterpiece of softly spoken rage and regret. It is a requiem for the lost and a lost world.
The final work was Vaughn Williams Dona Nobis Pacem. Written in 1936 as the storm clouds were gathering again over Europe, Vaughn Williams wrote this rarely performed work as a prophetic warning and plea for peace. Set for large orchestra, Chorus, large organ, soprano and baritone soloists. It skillfully sets some poems of Walt Whitman. This is really Vaughn Williams War Requiem. It clearly had a huge impact in the composition of the War Requiem of Benjamin Britten.
The conductor Edward Gardner said in preparation he had listened to Vaughn Williams own performance of the work and had been surprised to find how violent his interpretation was. Gardner follows in the composers footsteps and delvers a dramatically shocking performance. The mid section especially contains some violent dissonant music which does resolve in to a church like setting in the final Dona Nobis Pacem with the soprano Sophie Bevan (who incidentally is the granddaughter of my high school music teacher the late Roger Bevan) singing from the organ balcony. I was reminded of a recent interview I heard between the young 13 year old composer Alma Deutscher and BBC music commentator Tom Service. Part of the interview got around to dissonance in music. Ms Deutcher maintained that dissonance must always be resolved. This was a wide ranging interview and I was interested to learn she is currently studying the symphonies of Anton Bruckner and Alban Berg. She illustrated some of her remarks from the piano.
This was just a program of great insight and superbly performed. I have watched it twice and committed the audio to a hard drive. This is a concert I will treasure. Music making of the highest order.
