The Best of the Best Proms

[antongould]

As the great day approaches again I wonder if any of you would like to list their 10 greatest Proms - no need to have been present - listening on Radio 3 / The Third Programme works for me at least. 10 is not mandatory more or less will be readily accepted ....... Complete lack of interest also accepted ........

[MrGongGong]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/events/ezgj5v

http://www.bbc.co.uk/events/ezgj5v

What more do you need ?

[antongould]

B

http://www.bbc.co.uk/events/ezgj5v

http://www.bbc.co.uk/events/ezgj5v

What more do you need ?

Did you mean Proms 20 and 21 as it seems the same link?

[MrGongGong]

No

I meant this one

http://www.bbc.co.uk/events/ejvfxj

(and the Stockhausen)

[EdgeleyRob]

Never been to one AG.

Via Radio 3.

Havergal Brian - Gothic Symphony
RVW 4,5 and 6 - Manze
RVW Sea Symphony - Hickox - 1984 ish
Delius - Mass of Life - Sir Charles Groves - 1988
The Evgeney Kissin recital (the one with all the encores) 1997

[Hornspieler]

As the great day approaches again I wonder if any of you would like to list their 10 greatest Proms - no need to have been present - listening on Radio 3 / The Third Programme works for me at least. 10 is not mandatory more or less will be readily accepted ....... Complete lack of interest also accepted ........

I think that "favourite" is a better word.

I try not to use superlatives, except to say "the best that I have heard, seen or experienced"
It's a choice between objectivity and emotion and my training in the former tends to override my personal reaction when reporting on a performance.

Certainly where the Proms are concerned, the different performances in style and interpretation by orchestras and ensembles from all over the world make it mandatory for me to go no further than to say "I preferred .... "

HS

[antongould]

I think that "favourite" is a better word.

I try not to use superlatives, except to say "the best that I have heard, seen or experienced"
It's a choice between objectivity and emotion and my training in the former tends to override my personal reaction when reporting on a performance.

Certainly where the Proms are concerned, the different performances in style and interpretation by orchestras and ensembles from all over the world make it mandatory for me to go no further than to say "I preferred .... "

HS

Good points well made - feel free to prefer away ......

[Hornspieler]

Good points well made - feel free to prefer away ......

Thank you for your acknowledgement, Anton.

I feel that the use of superlatives immediately invites contradiction, which can lead to confrontation and unneccesary argument and (sometimes) invective.
There is already perhaps too much of that on all of these forums for my liking and I am too old to join in.

My favourite among all of last season's proms was that of the Tonhalle of Zurich, closely followed by those three RVW symphonies played by the BBC Scottish under Andrew Manzie.

HS

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The Cage Roaratorio that MrGG mentions is the Prom that most immediately leapt into my memory, too - followed shortly thereafter by the final Wand/BBCSO Bruckner #8.

But whilst there have been many very good Proms that I have greatly enjoyed over the years, I haven't experienced that "Wow!" feeling at many of them - there's something about the RAH in midsummer that I don't really like.

[Daniel]

But whilst there have been many very good Proms that I have greatly enjoyed over the years, I haven't experienced that "Wow!" feeling at many of them - there's something about the RAH in midsummer that I don't really like.

I kind of agree with that, though there's something about the RAH in midsummer I do like - just not the horribly unreliable acoustics. It's such a shame. If the sound could be sorted out to any degree of reliability, then the Proms would be of a different order of thrillingness I think. I'd certainly go to way more Proms than I do. (I've enjoyed far more Proms on the radio than in the hall.)

Some years ago I was in the arena at a Prom featuring Volkov and the BBSSO. Kurtag's Stele (with very large orchestra) was in the first half and the sound seemed fine. After the interval came Mahler 9 (only slightly less large orchestra) and it was almost like listening through cotton wool! There was no real chance of any visceral connections with the might and breadth of the score.

Odd that it changed so much from one piece to the next, but to have such sound at one of the world's major classical music festivals, seems incredibly poor. I'd gone with a few people who didn't know much about classical music, and I can't think the experience inspired them to change that state of affairs.

(Sorry to have only moaned on a thread celebrating the Best of the Proms ... I have enjoyed many Proms - the Striggio Mass in 40 parts in 2007 springs to mind - it just seems that if there was the will to improve the acoustic then I could enjoy them much more.)

[MrGongGong]

just not the horribly unreliable acoustics. It's such a shame. If the sound could be sorted out to any degree of reliability, then the Proms would be of a different order of thrillingness I think.

There's nothing "unreliable" about the acoustics
they aren't necessarily suited to all the music that is played in the room

http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0471847895.html

[rauschwerk]

1st August 1968: Proms premieres of Arcana, Ionisation (Varese), Requiem Canticles, Le Roi des Etoiles (Stravinsky) then Le Sacre to finish. John Alldis Choir, BBCSO/Boulez . Heady days!

[Daniel]

There's nothing "unreliable" about the acoustics

There is if you're going to a concert hoping to hear reasonable sound. And although I'm sure you're right when you go on to say -

There's nothing "unreliable" about the acoustics
they aren't necessarily suited to all the music that is played in the room

- you could extend that to say that nothing is 'unreliable', it is only unsuited to the conditions it exists in. The unreliability obviously comes about in one's expectations. That doesn't mean the situation can't change does it, which was what I was attempting to express in my post. Anyway, if you'd like to elaborate about acoustics elsewhere, I'll read with interest, but I feel we're somewhat dampening this thread's progress.

Back on topic ... I'd somehow misremembered the OP as meaning Proms one had been at .. as far as broadcasts go, Rattle BPO, Schoenberg Five Orchestral Pieces (2010) was a wonder of fastidious orchestral detail and colour I thought (particularly suited to his atomised way with conducting). Robin Ticciati conducting Beethoven's Eroica with SCO, was for me like hearing it for the first time almost. And last year's Britten War Requiem with Nelsons and the CBSO was pretty special I thought.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I'd somehow misremembered the OP as meaning Proms one had been at.

Oh! So had I! If there is a sub-Thread "Proms you'd wished you'd been to" I'd add Lennie and the VPO in Mahler #5 and the two all-night Indian Music events to my list. And the Boulez Varese, Stravinsky gig to the sub-sub-Thread "Proms you'd've loved to have gone to if you hadn't been a kid/not yet born at the time"!

[antongould]

There is if you're going to a concert hoping to hear reasonable sound. And although I'm sure you're right when you go on to say -

There's nothing "unreliable" about the acoustics
they aren't necessarily suited to all the music that is played in the room

- you could extend that to say that nothing is 'unreliable', it is only unsuited to the conditions it exists in. The unreliability obviously comes about in one's expectations. That doesn't mean the situation can't change does it, which was what I was attempting to express in my post. Anyway, if you'd like to elaborate about acoustics elsewhere, I'll read with interest, but I feel we're somewhat dampening this thread's progress.

Back on topic ... I'd somehow misremembered the OP as meaning Proms one had been at .. as far as broadcasts go, Rattle BPO, Schoenberg Five Orchestral Pieces (2010) was a wonder of fastidious orchestral detail and colour I thought (particularly suited to his atomised way with conducting). Robin Ticciati conducting Beethoven's Eroica with SCO, was for me like hearing it for the first time almost. And last year's Britten War Requiem with Nelsons and the CBSO was pretty special I thought.

"... Rattle BPO, Schoenberg Five Orchestral Pieces (2010) was a wonder of fastidious orchestral detail and colour ......" Totally agree Daniel - would be on my list of favourites. Like ER I have, sadly, never been to a Prom. This hasn't stopped me starting the most confusing and incorrectly titled thread ever.......