| Main Performers | Alban Gerhardt - cello
Ildikó Komlósi - 'Judith',
John Relyea - 'Duke Bluebeard' |
| Orchestra or Band | Royal Philharmonic Orchestra |
| Set List | 'Cello Concerto in B Minor', Dvorák (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Alban Gerhardt)
ENCORE
'Prelude, D Major', Bach (Alban Gerhardt)
INTERVAL
'Duke Bluebeards Castle', Bartók (Ildikó Komlósi, John Relyea, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra) |
| Performance Notes | The gothic horror story of Duke Bluebeard prompted some of the most imaginative, descriptive and shocking music Bartók would write. With its huge orchestra, underpinned in this concert performance by the mighty Royal Albert Hall organ, Bartóks score speaks of the darkness of Bluebeards vast castle and the cold-blooded murder of his six wives. Under Principal Conductor Charles Dutoit, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conjures up Bartóks unsettling realm after Dvoráks Cello Concerto, which the composer believed outstrips the other two concertos of mine.
"If a hot, fidgety crowd in an overbright interior can listen intently to Bach's D major Prelude, allow its final note to decay, and leave a long, sweet silence, anything is possible. Dutoit's reading of Duke Bluebeard's Castle was audaciously beautiful...the grotesque shivers and quivers of harps, celesta and woodwind were made over as exquisite hot-house blooms."
(The Times, 5 August 2016) |
| Related Archival Material | Proms Guide (RAHE/1/2016/50),
Programme (RAHE/1/2016/74),
Mini-Guide (RAHE/6/2016/45),
Digital Photographs |