Mahler 8 - the view from centre stage
Post categories: Proms, Radio 3, behind the scenes
|18:14 UK Time, Saturday, 17 July 2010
BBC Symphony Orchestra sub-principal viola Phil Hall reports on the First Night of the Proms
My daughter's ex piano teacher once scoffed: 'Surely you can't be satisfied just sitting in the middle of an orchestra day-in, day-out?' Well, yes, there are times when a conductor you don't care for is conducting a piece you don't like very much and your desk partner's perfume is quite literally getting up your nose; or you're jet-lagged, the soloist is murdering the concerto you love and you really wish the person next to you wouldn't play that pizzicato early all the time. But it's rare that all of these unfortunate factors line up. Happily there are also times when you absolutely don't want to be anywhere else.
Playing Mahler's towering masterpiece in a hall actually big enough to withstand it on the illustrious First Night of the Proms is not just a good day at the office, it's a privilege. Indeed, sitting in the middle of a large orchestra and choir going at full tilt can provide enough of a thrill to rival any adrenal rush. People often ask what it's like to play in the Royal Albert Hall. I guess it's an obvious question given the enormity of the space. Well, actually it's surprisingly easy, in fact it is easier for us to hear each other across the orchestra on stage in this vast mausoleum than in Maida Vale studio 1! I think it is not always so easy for the audience to get a good balance and I wish everyone could get a listen from my seat as the surround sound is little short of awesome, to use that greatly overused import. Admittedly you'd get way too much viola but hey, doesn't that make a change?! You also get a rather pleasant vibration sensation courtesy of 'The Voice of Jupiter', as the mighty organ is known.
For health and safety reasons (there are over 600 performers) the majority of rehearsals this year have taken place at the RAH. The orchestra hasn't played here since a Monty Python concert in October and it's always a pleasure to be back after some months. It has a special place in music lovers' hearts and for many is synonymous with the Proms. Like a lot of people I heard a great deal of music here for the first time as a lad, much of it with the BBCSO. I'm also fond of the First Night in particular since it was with Elgar's Dream of Gerontius in 1991 that I first played with this orchestra.
We have had two rehearsals in the hall so that the cameras, off-stage brass, soloists and myriad choirs have a chance to get used to their positions. I find myself a bit squashed next to a grand piano (I think it's the only time Mahler uses one in a symphony) and a robotic camera which moves like something out of Star Wars. I keep expecting it to talk or fire something at me.
On the day of the concert we just have a half-hour seating call and at five minutes to 8 o'clock, in our poshest bib and tucker, (minus my braces which unfortunately I neglected to pack) we're lining up in the so-called 'bull run' and ready to do battle. I have a chat to Malcolm Hicks the organist who will kick things off tonight. I ask how much would I have to pay him to play an E major chord at the beginning instead of E flat. Fortunately for all it's a lot more than I have on me...a quick check of the bow tie in the huge mirror in the wings and I'm ready for my close-up Mr DeMille.
There's such a unique atmosphere at the Proms (where else does an audience stand in silence for two hours for a Classical concert?) and that makes playing here very special. The performance goes by in a flash. The next time I look at my watch it's 9.30 and Jiri is leading the soloists on and off the stage and the patient audience (who were rapt throughout) are roaring. Backstage is all ordered chaos, like a beehive, with orchestra, chorus and cassocked choir boys all hastily making their way to their respective dressing rooms. As I put my viola away a small choirboy passes by and asks his choirmaster: 'Can we do it all again tomorrow please sir?' Well, I'm game if he is...
- The photo above is courtesy Nikos Zarb and a copyright image.
Comment number 1.
At 16:05 19th Jul 2010, ariel unbound wrote:Thanks Phil, this is really nice writing and I hope you keep it up! I enjoyed the concert on TV, but hoping to come to see you all play again live at a forthcoming Prom. And what it is with snobbery against orchestral players? I think from people who haven't even experienced the joys and hugely enjoyable learning curve from such ensemble playing, or who simply haven't even broken out into life itself, yet. Glad you all keep going! The priceless bits must be worth the ones with rough weather.
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