Opera on 3

[Guest]

So, another season from the Met is upon us, and tonights seems to have a strong cast and so it should be a pleasure to listen to.

So why do I view this with such apprehension? Is it the sugary tones of Margaret Juntwait with pet poodle Ira Siff reading (badly) from the script ? Or is it the band of happy-clappy campers determined to be the first to applause in the most inappropriate place?

Whichever, sadly come around 6pm I will probably be shouting at the radio....must try and calm down, it's Christmas

[DracoM]

Erm......just to add to above that it's Don Carlotonight!

[bluestateprommer]

Given various expressions of angst over the perceived omission of British symphonies and such at The Proms, it's perhaps worth mentioning the recent BBC SO semi-staged concert of William Alwyn's Miss Julie:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00093j6

Presumably this is an long-term offshoot from Oramo's Proms performance of Alwyn's Symphony No. 1 a few summers back (I would have advised Oramo to choose WA's Symphony No. 2, but I'm obviously not David Pickard, so there we are). Basically, if people want more big-scale British works, they have to express interest. I'm still catching up with the last of belated Proms listening, but I'll make time for this one when I have the chance.

In the meantime, do feel free to use this as a "Opera on 3 one-stop shop" thread :) .

[Master Jacques]

Given various expressions of angst over the perceived omission of British symphonies and such at The Proms, it's perhaps worth mentioning the recent BBC SO semi-staged concert of William Alwyn's Miss Julie:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00093j6

Let me say that there was nothing "perceived" about that absence, bluestateprommer. The Proms, which Henry Wood set up to promote British music, did not this year programme a single British symphony - the major symphonic corpuses of Bax, Rubbra, Vaughan Williams, Maxwell Davies, Walton, Elgar were completely ignored. Never mind the "and such": no symphonies equals no programming integrity.

The "expressions of angst" were actually serious expressions of angry despair. This is our heritage, our gift to the symphonic world, that we're talking about here. The absence of these works contributed to the not-uncommon feeling, that this was the worst Prom season in living memory.

A single concert performance of a moderate opera which has already had its chance, and proved not up to snuff (neither on commercial CD, nor on stage or concert) doesn't compensate for BBC's dereliction of duty, as perhaps you'd agree. There's no reason we should feel grateful.

[bluestateprommer]

Getting back to said moderate opera. Oramo and the cast (particularly Benedict Nelson, on something like 2-3 days notice) did a very, very fine job indeed with Miss Julie, and the word from Fiona Maddocks' Observer review is that Oramo will take or has taken it into the recording studio. Andrew Clements' Grauniad review is a very fair evaluation:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/oct/04/miss-julie-review-bbcso

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/oct/12/silver-lake-seraglio-english-touring-opera-eto-review-eno-orpheus-underworld-miss-julie-barbican

I would agree with AC that the work does feel a bit long, but with that, it is well constructed, and easily merits revival. Oramo clearly believes in it to lavish his efforts on it.

The larger point is that when R3 does give its resources and attention to a British work that's fallen between the cracks, if you want more of them, you need to pay attention to what they do offer. It says something that the only commenter on this particular performance was one of the token Americans here.

I remember years back happy discussion on the old BBC 3 chat boards of Sinaisky's BBC Phil Prom of Moeran's Symphony in G minor. However, unfortunately, on-line interest was not completed matched by people in the RAH, as David Gutman bluntly noted at the time:

http://www.classicalsource.com/db_control/db_prom_review.php?id=7290

"All the evidence suggests that the lobbyists for mid-twentieth-century English tonalists, vociferous – and eccentric – as they so often are, are record collectors rather than concert attendees and the Royal Albert Hall was two-thirds full at best. Perhaps they were listening at home."

Less harsh in word choice was Bob Briggs here:

http://www.musicweb-international.com/SandH/2009/Jul-Dec09/prom9_2307.htm

"A too small audience had much to enjoy tonight but I wonder why the Albert Hall wasn’t full to overflowing? Surely English music – especially English music of this stature – cannot still be scaring off listeners."

Obviously no one can make every event, and people here have indeed attended where they can, as other threads have noted. But it can't be a case of "I want the BBC to program more British music - but not THAT piece". The world isn't ideal. Unless all of us suddenly are put in positions to make repertoire choices, you have to take what you can get.