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<\/p>\nNature and music are so interconnected \u2013 from Bach, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky to name just three composers \u2013 that this Prom,\u00a0From the Alps to the Auvergne, took three markedly different composers, of differing temperaments, to bring nature into striking focus and pulsating life. With Kristine Tj\u00f8gersen\u2019s\u00a0Between Trees\u00a0we were taken into a literal underworld of feverish activity, before embarking on a journey of evocative passion in French songs by Joseph Canteloube and climaxing in the thrilling and terrifying Alpine scenery of Richard Strauss.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tj\u00f8gersen\u2019s\u00a0Between Trees\u00a0takes the listener close up to a forest in microscopic form, almost giving you the feeling of being inside it itself. Rather than viewing it from a distance, sounds from the orchestra are scaled back, or sclerotic: threads of sound grow in bursts as if connected to everything else around it, like tree roots. If the opening of the work feels airy, like wind blowing through leaves, it also feels like the trees are communicating. The orchestration is novel: water in brass instruments, \u2018prepared\u2019 harp, multi-layered woodwind sounds, string pizzicato, an array of percussion such as a whip and a metal sheet. If at times the scurrying orchestral textures suggested an underworld of insects to my ear rather than a network of fungal threads\u00a0Between Trees\u00a0proved a fascinating orchestral experience and it was played superbly and with consummate virtuosity by the LPO.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Joseph Canteloube\u2019s\u00a0Songs of the Auvergne\u00a0\u2013 of which the soprano Louise Alder sang six of them \u2013 are among the most luscious in the repertoire, influenced by both Vincent D\u2019Indy and Wagner. I think French songs (although these are in Auvergnat, a dialect of Occitan) are amongst the most demanding to sing for a non-native singer and Louise Alder was undeniably challenged at times by them. Having said that, the exuberance and passion which she brought to them did remind me of Frederica von Stade but there was little of the longueurs or lingering which one hears with Kiri Te Kanawa in her recording of the songs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alder was perhaps best in the more sombre \u2018La dela\u00efss\u00e1do\u2019 where her creamy voice was perfectly aligned to a beautiful and mournful cor anglais and oboe in the orchestra. Tempi were ideal and notes were floated with considerable agility. \u2018La pastoura als camps\u2019, which narrates a typical pastoral scene between a shepherdess and a young man, had wonderful rhythm to it, and she captured the work\u2019s change of metre well. The two songs of \u2018Deux bourr\u00e9es\u2019 offered a change of dynamic. Alder\u2019s voice was here lighter, more flexible, but also more prone to inaccuracy, especially with the scurrying semiquavers towards the end of \u2018N\u2019aii pas i\u00e9u de mio\u2019. In the first of two bird songs, \u2018Lo calh\u00e9\u2019 caught Alder on the whimsical side, full of animated touches in the voice. \u2018Lou coucut\u2019, with its repetitions, and bouncy orchestral accompaniment which replicates the cuckoo\u2019s call, felt too fast to me \u2013 and this didn\u2019t mask some serious diction problems. She returned to form \u2013 and near her best \u2013 in the final song, \u2018Ba\u00efl\u00e8ro\u2019, where Alder\u2019s magnificent ability to sing with serenity and lushness melded with the orchestral\u00a0pianissimos.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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There are, I think, a couple of ways to perform Richard Strauss\u2019s\u00a0Eine Alpensinfonie. There is the Mravinsky way, with one of the most dangerous ascents to the mountain imaginable, one fraught with terror: craggy ice, rock falls, an electric storm and a descent that is not without peril. It\u2019s as raw as the sound. And there is the Asahina way, an absolute monster of a performance, of incendiary power and blistering virtuosity. It would be true to say that Edward Gardner and the London Philharmonic Orchestra eschewed both these approaches for something more middle of the road, although it would not be true to say this was at times either a subtle or a particularly majestic performance either.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There were many fine things in this\u00a0Alpensinfonie\u00a0\u2013 beginning with splendid trombones and tuba outlining the mountain in \u2018Night\u2019. The cataclysmic entry to \u2018Entering the Forest\u2019 was exceptionally fine too \u2013 and off-stage brass (from high up in the Albert Hall) were magnificently atmospheric. If I don\u2019t think Gardner\u2019s ear for orchestral detail in this work rivals some conductors \u2013 like the late Giuseppe Sinopoli, for example \u2013 there was some interesting harp and celesta playing during \u2018At the Waterfall\u2019 which shone through. Likewise, cowbells were prominent. A shrill trumpet (out of tune) lost some detail at the point we reached the glacier. \u2018At the Summit\u2019 was taken at a broad pace (though harps were lost in the orchestral mix) and \u2018Vision\u2019 had an awestruck grandeur to it that was impressively realised: indeed, the organ and brass gave a compelling viewpoint of the mountaintop that was outsized. The \u2018Thunderstorm\u2019 was not the most exciting I have heard \u2013 and the wind machine had a tendency to fade in and out a bit \u2013 but nevertheless it brought enough thrills to ratchet up the tension as we began our descent down the mountain. The \u2018Epilogue\u2019 was beautifully crafted in its transcendent ecstasy, and \u2018Night\u2019 was as gloriously done by the brass as at the opening of the work.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This was largely a superbly played\u00a0Alpensinfonie\u00a0by the LPO, and one conducted with fluent pictorialism by Edward Gardner.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Marc Bridle<\/p>\n
From the Alps to the Auvergne<\/p>\n
Kristine Tj\u00f8gersen \u2013\u00a0Between Trees.Joseph Canteloube \u2013 Songs of the Auvergne: La pastoura als camps; La dela\u00efss\u00e1do; Deux bourr\u00e9s; Lou cocut; Ba\u00efl\u00e8ro. Richard Strauss \u2013\u00a0Eine Alpensinfonie.<\/p>\n
Louise Alder (soprano); London Philharmonic Orchestra; Edward Gardner<\/p>\n
Royal Albert Hall, 27 July 2026<\/p>\n
All photos \u00a9 BBC\/Chris Christodoulou<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nature and music are so interconnected \u2013 from Bach, Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky to name just three composers \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111947,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[16],"tags":[50],"class_list":["post-111946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-alps","tag-alps"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/117042819166878529","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111946","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=111946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}