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A A midnight prom can sometimes be like a Rennie song, a refreshing grind after 90 minutes worth of heavyweight music. Fortunately, nothing was needed here. At the beginning of the evening program John Storgårds kept the BBC Philharmonic enough to shine on his feet, while Sueye Park made a very poetic Proms debut in Sibelius’s violin concerto, the cornerstone work was from start to finish.
If opening the washing of the strings was difficult to hear on the whirr of Royal Albert Hall air-con, it didn’t take long for the South Korean violinist to grab us, his low, silvery tone and lilting voice. In fact, Storgårds seemed to be so worried that he kept playing slow music for a long time. Park, a well-known lyricist, filled the first movement with long romantic sweeps before creating a laser-straight firework that led to the final dance.
Betsy Jolas, who turns 100 in just two weeks, wrote Tales of a Summer Sea in 1977 to overcome her childhood fear of the sea. The music and the timpani make the storm disappear while the strings of fur and the storm are shaken and worked, their appearance is different from the tom-toms, vibraphone and celesta. At 15 minutes, it took a while, but with seven busy musicians it didn’t happen often.
Richard Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra fit the Albert Hall well and Storgårds knew it well. The powerful roar of the underground organ produced the familiar opening cheers; burning cords drawn to the heart by Great Desire. Putting the bell in the storeroom was an interesting midnight ringing for Nietzsche. If The Dance Music lacked the final degree of Viennese schmaltz, it failed to diminish what was clearly the most vivid and definitive.
So, what about after-hours mouthwash? Founded by lutenist Thomas Dunford, Jupiter Ensemble made an unconventional debut at the Proms alongside the British tenor Laurence Kilsby. The program was created by Dowland to mark the 400th anniversary of his death, as well as Purcell, a composer who is welcome at any time.
Kilsby’s debonair vocals bounced around in the breathless Come Again, Sweet Love and were at their best when paired with the ever-sympathetic Dunford in the moving renditions of Dowland’s Flow, My Tears and Sadness, Stay. Jupiter, meanwhile, was hot on their heels in Galliard’s The King of Denmark, where Can She Excuse My Wrongs was cleverly paired with his original lute piece, The Earl of Essex Galliard. The energetic performances may have strayed from the old musical traditions, but the spirit was undeniably contagious. You have to listen to the broadcast if you want to know how Dunford helped us all sing Hey Jude.
