Daniel Harding conducts The Planets in Chicago

[richardfinegold]

For as often as I listen to The Planets, I’ve never seen it concert until last night. . It was well done with highlights to numerous to mention, but for me the principal joy is seeing what instruments Holst combined to produce the harmonies. In Neptune the Chorus was offstage; is this the norm? I was gratified to note that despite my recent terrible audiogram results I seemed to be able to hear their last, softest, remotest tones.
The fillers were Schumann’s ManfredOverture and Brahm rarely heard Song of Destiny ( management probably figured, what the heck, we’ve already booked the chorus…). Both were well done but are somewhat timid sounding next to Holst raw red meat of a blockbuster

[PatrickMurtha]

Wasn’t Daniel Harding going off to become a pilot or something? The whole situation sounded very odd…

[mopsus]

In Neptune the Chorus was offstage; is this the norm?

Holst's instructions are for the choir to be an an adjoining room and the final diminuendo is to be achieved by slowly closing an intervening door on them. This is often disregarded in performance.

[Pulcinella]

Holst's instructions are for the choir to be an an adjoining room and the final diminuendo is to be achieved by slowly closing an intervening door on them. This is often disregarded in performance.

Or you hear the door bang shut!

[smittims]

In the old days in the Free Trade Hall the offstage chorus was accompanied by the sound of washing-up from the bar next to the auditorium.

[Ein Heldenleben]

In the old days in the Free Trade Hall the offstage chorus was accompanied by the sound of washing-up from the bar next to the auditorium.

Reminds me of the offstage trumpeter in Leonora 3 who was moved on by a Royal Albert Hall jobsworth with the words “you can’t play that thing here mate there’s a performance on. “

[richardfinegold]

Reminds me of the offstage trumpeter in Leonora 3 who was moved on by a Royal Albert Hall jobsworth with the words “you can’t play that thing here mate there’s a performance on. “

Or the story about Claudio Abbado attempting to lead the offstage band in Mahler2 via a closed circuit TV during the proms. The fire Marshall apparently demanded the door be closed earlier in the work. Abbado made gestures to the chorus to urge them to play louder, to no avail

[gradus]

In the old days in the Free Trade Hall the offstage chorus was accompanied by the sound of washing-up from the bar next to the auditorium.

The Corn Exchange Ipswich was beset with a similar problem when first converted to a concert hall.

[EnemyoftheStoat]

Or the story about Claudio Abbado attempting to lead the offstage chorus in Mahler2 via a closed circuit TV during the proms. The fire Marshall apparently demanded the door be closed earlier in the work. Abbado made gestures to the chorus to urge them to play louder, to no avail

That would be the offstage band(s) in Mahler 2, no? A propos of Proms Mahler 2, there's the story about the choir being in their seats waiting for the orchestra who were late on stage, and the prommers - back in the day when they had anything amusing to say - posing the question: "Arena to Chorus: do you know the a capella version?"

There are all sorts of things that can go wrong with the offstage bands in Mahler 2, and while you'd think they'd be sorted out in rehearsal, and usually are, you can never quite rule out some jobsworth putting their oar in. And in general we now have additional stupidity like the lighting effects we have to suffer at the Proms, with some "expert" in that department deciding it's all about them. One almost legendary Proms rehearsal saw the otherwise mild-mannered Jiři Bělohlavek stopping a run-through when the lights went mad and informing the stage crew, in no uncertain terms: "If you do that during the performance, we stop."

One final thought here on Mahler 2: the concert I always wanted to sing in, but never did, was that same symphony as part of Jiři's Mahler cycle. I won't go into why it was not assigned to the orchestra's (and, as he said at one LNOP, "his") own chorus, but it did not do our relations with management much good.

[Serial_Apologist]

Wasn’t Daniel Harding going off to become a pilot or something? The whole situation sounded very odd…

A religious person might say only God can conduct the planets!

[Tapiola]

Holst's instructions are for the choir to be an an adjoining room and the final diminuendo is to be achieved by slowly closing an intervening door on them. This is often disregarded in performance.

When I was a student, I took part in a performance of The Planets. The ladies choir was indeed offstage and out of sight, with the door ajar. For some reason , the conductor did not trust the choir and had secretly put together an electronic version of their part, to be played at the requisite point. When said point arrived, the person in charge of "pressing the button" to start the electronic version came in too early, resulting in choir and electronics being totally out of synch with each other. It was horrible.

[richardfinegold]

That would be the offstage band(s) in Mahler 2, no? A propos of Proms Mahler 2, there's the story about the choir being in their seats waiting for the orchestra who were late on stage, and the prommers - back in the day when they had anything amusing to say - posing the question: "Arena to Chorus: do you know the a capella version?"

There are all sorts of things that can go wrong with the offstage bands in Mahler 2, and while you'd think they'd be sorted out in rehearsal, and usually are, you can never quite rule out some jobsworth putting their oar in. And in general we now have additional stupidity like the lighting effects we have to suffer at the Proms, with some "expert" in that department deciding it's all about them. One almost legendary Proms rehearsal saw the otherwise mild-mannered Jiři Bělohlavek stopping a run-through when the lights went mad and informing the stage crew, in no uncertain terms: "If you do that during the performance, we stop."

One final thought here on Mahler 2: the concert I always wanted to sing in, but never did, was that same symphony as part of Jiři's Mahler cycle. I won't go into why it was not assigned to the orchestra's (and, as he said at one LNOP, "his") own chorus, but it did not do our relations with management much good.

Yes, I meant to say offstage band.
land I wasn’t aware of a Jiri Mahler cycle. I shall investigate
edit- nothing on Apple Music-was the cycle recorded?

[Alison]

Yes, I meant to say offstage band.
land I wasn’t aware of a Jiri Mahler cycle. I shall investigate
edit- nothing on Apple Music-was the cycle recorded?

No, performed and broadcast. The orchestra’s playing improved greatly during Jiri’s reign and in evidence throughout the series.

[LHC]

Wasn’t Daniel Harding going off to become a pilot or something? The whole situation sounded very odd…

Harding is a licensed airline pilot and intended to take a sabbatical from conducting in 2020 to fly for Air France. His plans were scuppered by Covid and the drastic reduction in passenger flights in that year.

He's not the only musician to fly planes. Karajan owned several planes including a Lear Jet that he piloted. Its rumoured that he was allowed to take the controls in Concorde several times. Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden is also a licensed pilot and has flown commercial aircraft many times. He has also piloted several high profile 'rescue' missions to collect British citizens stranded in war zones. In 2008 he piloted Iron Maiden's Boeing 757 to fly the band and its equipment during their world tour.

[pastoralguy]

In 2008 he piloted Iron Maiden's Boeing 757 to fly the band and its equipment during their world tour.

What I particularly admired about that tour was that Iron Maiden intentionally planned the tour to include several places where the indigenous population would never have the opportunity to hear the band. There’s a fascinating documentary about that tour. (The behaviour of the local police towards fans was absolutely shocking! A bunch of uniformed thugs.)