{"id":109263,"date":"2026-07-29T00:07:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T00:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/109263\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T00:07:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T00:07:10","slug":"from-the-alps-to-the-auvergne-review-three-musical-visions-of-nature-at-the-bbc-proms-bbc-proms-reviews-concert-and-recital-reviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/109263\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Alps to the Auvergne review \u2013 three musical visions of nature at the BBC Proms | BBC Proms Reviews, Concert and Recital Reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"London\"London<\/p>\n

London Philharmonic Orchestra (Photo: BBC\/ Chris Christodoulou)<\/p>\n

This imaginative Prom, conceived as an exploration of the natural world from three strikingly different musical perspectives, began with the UK premiere of Kristine Tj\u00f8gersen\u2019s Between Trees. Rather than painting a picturesque landscape, the Norwegian composer creates an immersive sonic ecosystem, drawing listeners beneath the forest floor where trees communicate through intricate fungal networks. It made for a fascinating curtain-raiser, superbly realised by Edward Gardner and the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO).<\/p>\n

Tj\u00f8gersen\u2019s score demands an extraordinary array of extended techniques, with players coaxing an astonishing palette of sounds from their instruments \u2013 many so unfamiliar they seemed electronically generated, despite being entirely acoustic. The percussion section was particularly busy, producing an assortment of clicks, scrapes and rustlings that blended seamlessly into the orchestral fabric.<\/p>\n

Yet the work never felt like an exercise in novelty. Gardner ensured its episodic surface retained a strong sense of direction, allowing its shifting textures to unfold naturally. Strange, imaginative and unexpectedly moving, Between Trees proved one of the evening\u2019s highlights. Inspired by the idea of taking listeners inside the forest rather than observing it from afar, the work achieved exactly that.<\/p>\n

\"London\"London<\/p>\n

Louise Alder & Edward Gardner (Photo: BBC\/ Chris Christodoulou)<\/p>\n

Nature assumed a more human face in Canteloube\u2019s Songs of the Auvergne, where Louise Alder offered performances of unaffected warmth and effortless poise. Rather than presenting authentic folk songs, Canteloube clothed traditional melodies in rich, impressionistic orchestral colours, creating an idealised vision of rural France that is as much memory and fantasy as documentary. Alder\u2019s lyric soprano has seldom sounded more radiant, floating above the orchestra with luminous ease while preserving the songs\u2019 essential simplicity.<\/p>\n

She captured the playful charm of La pastoura als camps before bringing touching restraint to the melancholy of La dela\u00efss\u00e1do, where the LPO\u2019s woodwind provided eloquent commentary. The lively Deux bourr\u00e9es offered welcome contrast, before principal clarinet Benjamin Mellefont\u2019s beautifully shaped solo provided an extended bridge into Ba\u00efl\u00e8ro. His playing seemed to suspend time, allowing Alder to spin the selection\u2019s most famous melody with unaffected grace, Gardner ensuring the orchestra remained beautifully transparent throughout.<\/p>\n

Having conducted a superb performance of An Alpine Symphony with the LPO at the Royal Festival Hall last year<\/a>, Gardner returned to the score with undiminished conviction. If anything, his command of its enormous musical architecture felt even more assured.<\/p>\n

\"London\"London<\/p>\n

Edward Gardner (Photo: BBC\/ Chris Christodoulou)<\/p>\n

The LPO responded magnificently, with gleaming brass, characterful woodwind and tireless strings meeting Strauss\u2019 formidable technical demands with apparent ease. Gardner judged the vast structure expertly, ensuring its 22 connected sections flowed naturally from one to the next while never losing sight of the work\u2019s broader trajectory. Strauss\u2019 monumental scoring also made full use of the Royal Albert Hall\u2019s formidable organ. At key moments, Richard Gowers\u2019 deep, sustained pedal notes seemed to shake the very foundations of the building, adding a thrilling physical dimension that few concert halls can match.<\/p>\n

However, the Royal Albert Hall proved something of a mixed blessing. While Strauss\u2019 largest climaxes gained thrilling physical impact, the cavernous acoustic often blurred the intricate inner detail. Passages that emerge with greater clarity in other venues sometimes disappeared into the building\u2019s generous resonance. None of this reflected shortcomings in either conductor or orchestra \u2013 both were exceptional throughout \u2013 but it did occasionally soften Strauss\u2019 richly detailed orchestral writing.<\/p>\n

Nowhere did the hall play more convincingly to the music\u2019s strengths than in the thunderstorm. Crashing percussion, blazing brass and surging strings filled the vast space with exhilarating force, while the organ added an almost seismic weight beneath the orchestra. Gardner unleashed the full power of Strauss\u2019 writing without ever surrendering control, creating the evening\u2019s most viscerally exciting moments.<\/p>\n

This intelligently planned programme revealed how composers separated by more than a century have found fresh ways of depicting the natural world \u2013 from Tj\u00f8gersen\u2019s intricate forest soundscape, through Canteloube\u2019s idealised rural landscapes, to Strauss\u2019 overwhelming Alpine panorama. Under Gardner\u2019s assured direction, the LPO proved equally at home in all three musical worlds.<\/p>\n

The 27 July Prom can be streamed from BBC Sounds.<\/a>
\nFull details of all BBC Proms events can be found here:\u00a0bbc.co.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"London Philharmonic Orchestra (Photo: BBC\/ Chris Christodoulou) This imaginative Prom, conceived as an exploration of the natural world…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[16],"tags":[50,53169,53170,53171,53172,53173],"class_list":["post-109263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-alps","tag-alps","tag-benjamin-mellefont","tag-edward-gardner","tag-london-philharmonic-orchestra","tag-louise-alder","tag-richard-gowers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/117000355863147449","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}