Proms 2015: Prom 22, Aurora Orchestra: 'refreshing' Beethoven intended his 1808 Pastoral Symphony, despite a brief
astoral Symphony, despite a brief storm in the
A mix of Beethoven, Mozart and contemporary works reflected and
celebrated the glories of nature, says Jonathan McAloon
The downside to an afternoon concert in the
summer is having to step from a lovely day into
a dark room. What a relief, then, that Prom 22's
programme of Beethoven, Mozart and
contemporary works reflected and celebrated
the glories of nature.
The Aurora Orchestra perform
at the Proms Photo: Chris Filling the Royal Albert Hall with fresh air was
Christodoulou the Aurora Orchestra, who – with conductor
Nicholas Collon and violinist Thomas Gould at
the helm – played half of the concert without
seats or sheet music.
The opening piece, Australian composer Brett Dean's 2000 Pastoral Symphony,
was far from tranquil, exploring the dangers that man poses to nature. Along with
pre-recorded samples of birdsong, barely audible violas ushered in a primeval-
sounding horn section. Piano strings were played with beaters; violins were
sounded with the wooden backs of bows. In the course of this chaotic but
plaintive piece, the birdsong gave way to recordings of bulldozers, out of which
lonely wind instruments struggled to emerge.
This was followed by Mozart's 26th Piano Concerto. Popular in the 19th century,
it has come to be seen as a slight: the composer demonstrating his usual technical
talent but using only half of his imaginative gift. Its incomplete score even
suggests Mozart would have made parts of it up when he performed it. Here, the
highly praised young Mozart interpreter Francesco Piemontesi gave us his own
completion of the piano part. In true Mozartian fashion, his marvellous playing
seemed to swim in and out of the foreground, while conductor Nicholas Collon
achieved a refined play of dynamics from the orchestra. It was pleasing, but
lacking verve.
More compelling and effective was a new commission by Scottish composer
Anna Meredith, played from memory. At the 2012 Proms, Meredith's Hands Free
saw the National Youth Orchestra down instruments and clap. The rhythmically
complex, riff-based Smatter Hauler was similarly percussive, and jolted the
audience to attention in preparation for Beethoven's 6th Symphony.
fourth movement, to be a placid 40 minutes of music, so the concern for today's
performers is how to keep it fresh, and keep an audience's attention. A whole
orchestra standing and playing without scores sounds insignificant, even
gimmicky, but not being tied to the spot seemed, refreshingly, to make the
performers bolder, as well as more bonded to their conductor's vision.
Collon coaxed a wonderfully clear-running duet from principal flautist Jane
Mitchell and oboist Thomas Barber in the second movement. The third movement,
meant to represent a country dance, actually felt like one. When the storm arrived,
it was as if the festivities had been interrupted by the weather, and you realised
that the atmosphere had been ionised for a while. Nature, being the subject, felt
natural again.
There are plenty of other beloved but staid pieces from the Classical and early
Romantic repertoire that could do with this kind of treatment.
Exercise 1. On the basis of the text that you have read answer the following
questions:
1. What kind of modern playing techniques were used in Brett Dean’s Pastoral
Symphony?
2. What does the author mean by saying that Mozart’s Piano Concerto has come to
be seen as a slight?
3. What do the two pieces by Anna Meredith performed during Proms have in
common?
4. What kind of challenge does Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony pose to today’s
performers?
5. Was there anything innovative about the orchestra’s performance of the Pastoral
Symphony? What was the result?
6. Find words form the text which mean the following:
the negative part or disadvantage (par. 1) -
to be in charge of something (par. 2) -
coming from the beginning of time or from the beginning of the Earth (par. 3) -
expressing sorrow or melancholy; mournful (par. 3) –
elegant and sophisticated (par. 4) –
interesting and exciting (par. 5) –
calm and peaceful (par. 6) -
done to show off and make people notice someone or something (par. 6) -
to persuade somebody to do something (par. 7) -
serious, old-fashioned and boring (par. 8) –
7. List the adjectives and expressions that are used in the text to assess and review
the performance.

A concert review – structure 4. Come up with ideas that could finish the following sentences that
come from a concert review. Complete each sentence.

The concert was held……

The concert was organised …
The repertory included…

The composition depicted…

The instruments sounded like…
The music seemed to….
There were many moments…..

The music was performed………..

The performers managed to….
The conductor’s interpretation contributed to…
As far as the choir is concerned….
The only shortcoming was……

The audience was impressed with….

3. Suggest different kinds of factors, performance aspects, conditions
etc. that a reviewer might describe and give opinion on when writing a The audience responded with…
concert review. The audience’s reaction was…

The music made me …..

For me it was…

By and large…
5. Concert/ your concert - vocabulary and expressions you may use in a Kind/ type of
concert review. Put the groups of words and phrases under the appropriate performance/music
heading in the table and explain the meaning.
Description of Positive
A) ordinary; usual, traditional performance evaluation
B) international/national; concert/recital; classical/jazz/pop/rock/folk/electronic/ Neutral
contemporary/early; performed by orchestra/ensemble/band/singers/choir Evaluation
B) distinctive, unique, original; immortal; adorable, amazing; astonishing;
attractive; beautiful, brilliant; charming; enjoyable; excellent; exciting; Negative
expressive/ unexpressive; extraordinary; fabulous; fascinating; gorgeous; evaluation
impressive; incomparable; interesting; invaluable; magnificent; marvellous;
mysterious; perfect; pleasant, remarkable; splendid; spectacular; thrilling; Description of Mood
music
D) awful, terrible, horrible; boring, dull; unexpressive, expressionless;
unpleasant; Elements
E) respectable, authoritative; accidental, random/non-random;
friendly/unfriendly; sincere/insincere; open-hearted; well-wishing; reserved; Description of
pleasant/unpleasant, annoying; impulsive/passive; conservative; predetermined; musicians/performers
sarcastic; narrow-minded/open-minded; thoughtful/light-minded;
Description of the audience
F) cheerful/sad, melancholic; joyful; romantic/unromantic; sugary; tearful;
relaxing; disturbing, with lots of passion, peculiar, mystic, sweet, soft, powerful,
dramatic, wild, catchy, memorable, recognizable, haunting, expressive, solemn,
distinctive, soothing, sentimental; familiar

G) popular/unpopular; well-known; renowned, distinguished, remarkable,

famous, celebrated; outstanding, prominent, eminent; unknown; infamous,
notorious; light-minded/serious; talented/untalented; gifted/ ungifted, ham;
skilful, skilled/unskilled; experienced/ inexperienced; successful/unsuccessful;
lucky/unlucky; well-educated/self-educated; sociable/unsociable; self-obsessed;
extravagant; reserved/ expressive; charismatic; a dreamer; an idol, a celebrity;

H) with a pronounced rhythmic element, with a lot of discords, with very loud
passages, challenging, complex, with song-like melodies, with predominantly
simple/complex harmonies, well-structured, combining several styles, changing
key a lot, sounding like machinery; diatonic, chaotic, minimalistic, rich/poor;
tender/ rough;

Example of Concert Review Essay
On February 17, 2005, the Jazz Ensemble at Tarleton State University had
their first concert of the spring semester with special guest trumpeter, Daryl
White. The jazz ensemble collectively performed thirteen pieces during the
concert, but there were three main stylistically different compositions that
allowed the audience to experience the various sounds of jazz music.
“Fly Me to the Moon”, written by Bart Howard, is an upbeat standard sung
most famously by Frank Sinatra. During the concert the audience could listen to
an instrumental version of this song arranged by Sammy Nestico. “Waltz for
Debby”, written by Bill Evans and arranged by Don Sebesky, was a consonant,
slow-beat waltz. The third piece – “Ancient Memories”, by Fred Hamilton and
arranged by Paul Ferguson, was played at the night of the concert by the guest
trumpeter, Darryl White, who is a professor of trumpet at the University of
Nebraska. The piece is the title track on his 1999 album, also called “Ancient
Memories”
“Fly Me to the Moon” was for me a song of romance from the moment the
first note began. The song was passionate and displayed dialogue without using
any words. A piano and saxophone alternated the melody of the song as though
they were dancing like two lovers. As the passion of the song heated up, the
texture changed within the song as the saxophone took the melody and the piano
and other instruments within the ensemble were in accompaniment. The rhythm,
which was continuously steady seemed to get faster like a heart beat by the
climax of the song. I found listening to this song a worthwhile experience and it
was a fantastic beginning to the jazz concert as it was familiar to the audience.
The texture of “Waltz for Debby” remained the same through the entire piece,
the 1,2,3 pattern was also very noticeable throughout the composition and the
ensemble did a fabulous job of keeping with the beat. Although the song was
quite pretty, it was of a different genre than that of the other pieces played during
the concert and it is honestly hard for me to recommend this song to anyone, for I
thought it was dull and lacked the depth of the other songs throughout the evening.
It made me wonder who Debby was and why someone would write such an old-
sounding song for someone they loved.
“Ancient Memories” began with very dissonant tones with the introduction of
a piano and drums. The song then changed into a more consonant harmony and
remained like that till the end. The texture was polyphonic played by trumpet and
piano, the melody was bright and happy in some places within the song and more
cool and relaxing in other parts as the tempo changed and the notes of the trumpet
were held for emphasis. It was a beautiful piece. I am not sure what I enjoyed
more, the fact that Mr. White played with such passion and made the song his own
life force or that this piece reminded me of my childhood. The song was fun and
although it had a lot of repetition, I loved listening to the changes over and over
again.
The Jazz Ensemble concert at Tarleton was an enjoyable evening full of great
music and intellectually stimulating experiences, which was confirmed by the
audience’s reaction. The variety was an important feature as the music that was
played has roots in various genres and recognizing this enriches us as individuals.