Walton's Belshazzar's Feast

Aside from Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, our second Prom included three other works.



Following the Fantasia, we performed something of a curio by John Ireland, his choral work These Things Shall Be. Requiring the same forces as the Walton (baritone solo, massive choir, very big orchestra, many earplugs if you were sitting near anything that emitted a big sound), I couldn't quite warm to this work (believe it or not, this does sometimes happen).



It has some really beautiful moments, but the first half is terribly stressful - very fiddly, many, many possibilities for spares. I appreciate principal trombone, Donal Bannister's take on the work though, that you have to look at things in their historical context; written in the middle years of World War Two, the slightly old fashioned style of this work is perhaps a nostalgic look back at a Britain that although maybe never truly existed, would certainly never exist again after the war.



The second half began with Fredrick Delius' orchestral interlude The Walk To The Paradise Garden, from his opera A Village Romeo And Juliet. Many members of the brass in particular were amused to learn that the Paradise Garden in question was not some flowery literary euphemism for the love of the village Romeo and Juliet, but instead refers to the pub in the opera!



The closing number of the Prom was Walton's Belshazzar's Feast. A massive congratulations must go to our chorus and the BBC Symphony Chorus. It would be no exaggeration to say that they were absolutely fantastic. Throughout our own season we work closely with our chorus (with director, Adrian Partingtion, and their never tiring, always pleasant, corus manager Osian Rowlands), and it was with great pride that we could collaborate with them on the Proms stage again.



I find Belshazzar's quite a tiring play (especially the last three pages or so), but it is a great work. I love how he describes all of the Babylonian gods and I think the chorus' unaccompanied Praise Yet is truly exhilarating.



In rehearsal, the massed forces of choir and orchestra, were utterly deafening. I'm not a grump about noise in work, I simply stick my ear plugs in when I need to, but I did find myself wearing them for the entirety of the rehearsal.



Yet in the Albert Hall the sound seemed to fit perfectly. Every year, someone has a gripe about some aspect of the Albert Hall's acoustics, but I feel that its space really allows works such as this to, well, work. There is the scope in the hall for the choir to open up full throttle, not to mention the brass, and the wind and strings can leather in for all they are worth. However, it also allows you to really play with pianissimo dynamics, something that Otaka always challenges us to do.



The Prom is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.