Proms: Much Manfred from Liverpool
Jul. 19th, 2010 09:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sawylThe RLPOs prom was book-ended by pieces inspired by Byron's play Manfred. The first was Robert Schumann's Manfred Overture and the second Tchaikovski's Manfred Symphony, a vast work about which I knew nothing and about which I am still undecided — although the performance seemed perfectly good.
Tucked between the two hefty slices of brooding Byronic melodrama was a piece of shameless romanticism, in the form of Rachmaninov's 2nd piano concerto with Simon Trpčeski as soloist. I really liked the freshness Trpčeski and Petrenko brought to the old warhorse, bringing out Rachmaninov's wonderful melodies but resisting the temptation to wallow in them à la Brief Encounter. Delightful.
Tucked between the two hefty slices of brooding Byronic melodrama was a piece of shameless romanticism, in the form of Rachmaninov's 2nd piano concerto with Simon Trpčeski as soloist. I really liked the freshness Trpčeski and Petrenko brought to the old warhorse, bringing out Rachmaninov's wonderful melodies but resisting the temptation to wallow in them à la Brief Encounter. Delightful.
