Revolution & Romance: Musical Masters of the 19th Century

[ardcarp]

...she did however give due weight and importance to Weber and Der Freischutz.

[Barbirollians]

Indeed -about time I played the Carlos Kleiber recording of Der Freischutz again .

[Richard Tarleton]

- a favourite here too. I liked what they did with the overture in the prog. I have an older recording (on tulip label DGG LPs ) - Jochum, with a slightly less-than-at-her-best Irmgard Seefried, Rita Streich etc., Bavarian Radio SO....

Point taken Barbs. Once you start on Wagner where do you stop. A well-structured programme.

I liked the bit about people having to wait for the interval if they die at Bayreuth. I've been to a couple of concerts which have been ruined by St J's A officiously and noisily removing people who have croaked during a performance. The music comes first, I say

[richardfinegold]

Is this a reference to some past misdemeanour, richard ?

It's actually a very good series, on the whole.

At least you Cobblers don't hold grudges

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Is this a reference to some past misdemeanour, richard ?

A reference to Ms Klein's referring to criticisms of the programming of Club Anthems at the Proms last year as "a load of old cobblers":

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3151597/Don-t-like-dance-music-Proms-snobs-says-host-Suzy-Klein-says-criticism-cobblers-says-institution-look-future.html

It's actually a very good series, on the whole.

I preferred last week's episode - much patchier this week.

[Richard Tarleton]

A reference to Ms Klein's referring to criticisms of the programming of Club Anthems at the Proms last year as "a load of old cobblers":
I preferred last week's episode - much patchier this week.

I'd forgotten that, apologies richardfg. - I was going to say everyone deserves another chance but I've changed my mind.

[mercia]

well I've learnt one thing: Ms Klein can walk. Towards the camera. Away from the camera. From left to right and from right to left. Remarkable.

[ardcarp]

ALL producers do that silly stuff. One just has to accept it..or get highly frustrated.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Erm ... so Mallarmé's L'Apres-Midi d'un Faun is about a DEER???!!!

And the Indonesean Musicians had "no formal training"???!!!

These careless oversimplifications and inaccuracies - and downright bonkers statements - have peppered and spoilt this series.

[Richard Tarleton]

Erm ... so Mallarmé's L'Apres-Midi d'un Faun is about a DEER???!!!

You beat me to it ferney.

Yes I lost interest in this episode, basically a vanity project.

[oddoneout]

Perhaps this episode is intended for pre watershed culture-lite transmission on Beeb 2 at some point.....It did feel rather thin on content compared with the previous 2, and the camerawork for the orchestral Mahler was of the hyperactive nausea inducing visual disturbance variety.

[Richard Tarleton]

The first two progs were more about the music, I thought, this one more about the hardware, as if part of a different series...

[Stanley Stewart]

A most refreshing and enlightening series in so many aspects. Developments in music at the centre, of course, but I was also fascinated by the social developments, post French revolution of 1789; the subsequent changes throughout the 19th century with the emergence of Germany and Italy, and the explosion of popularity of theatrical and musical performances enhanced by the increased mobility in public transport by rail or by sea. Even Beranger's protest songs in the 19th century, paved the way for Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan!

Last night's feature also included a sequence of the Paris exhibition, 1889, and how music had blossomed since the revolution of 1789, alongside the musical performance made by the building of opera houses, theatres and concert halls. Adolphe Sax, too, as he pushed instruments and sound to its limit in the mid-19th century, together with Thomas Eddison's later phonograph which left listeners amazed at the marvel of recorded sound - and even the usual nay sayers lamenting the moral degradation of the can-can at the Moulin Rouge!

Did an overnight transfer from HD to DVD of this fine 3-part series for regular reference.

[Richard Tarleton]

Room for some interesting discussion about medium and message here Stanley - I thought last night's way too self-indulgent and presenter-centered (a tendency which began in the middle episode, after an excellent start, where SK's musical skills were deployed to a useful end) - but such is the way of things these days . For me, all the "business" in part 3 got in the way of the story, or plot, which I'd largely lost by the end.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Room for some interesting discussion about medium and message here Stanley - I thought last night's way too self-indulgent and presenter-centered (a tendency which began in the middle episode, after an excellent start, where SK's musical skills were deployed to a useful end) - but such is the way of things these days . For me, all the "business" in part 3 got in the way of the story, or plot, which I'd largely lost by the end.

Yes - SK's attempts to join in the protest songs, the meeting with the Verdi male voice choir, her gurning to the camera, as well as the factual errors (which made me question all the other "facts" she chucked into the mix) and questionable statements made for a frustrating series for me. For someone with a First in Music from Oxford, she made some basic "A"-level errors - it might as well have been Alan Titchmarsh presenting.