YouTube: the thread for interesting video links

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • seabright
    Full Member
    • Jan 2013
    • 625

    They played "The Flight into Egypt" from Respighi's "Church Windows" on Breakfast this morning and it reminded me that the work still awaits its Proms Premiere, It's tailor made for the RAH, as it has a big organ solo in the 'Papal Coronation' finale. Who do we write to and ask for its inclusion next year?! ... It's in Vasily Petrenko's repertoire, so he could easily take it on, though the organ in this Italian performance is pathetically weak ...

    Comment

    • seabright
      Full Member
      • Jan 2013
      • 625

      I was looking at the John Wilson Orchestra in its Proms performance of Franz Waxman's "Ride of the Cossacks" and wondering who all those excellent musicians were. One source merely says the orchestra is "made up of some of the top players in London" and I recognized some from the BBCSO. Do other London orchestras - like the LSO, RPO, LPO etc. - also supply some of the players and are there a number of free-lancers in there too? ... Anyway, this "Ride" has been described as 'epic' and the word is right. Nice to see some Wagner Tubas in the mix too! ...

      Comment

      • smittims
        Full Member
        • Aug 2022
        • 4086

        Has 'Feste Romane' ever been done at the Proms? That seems to me just as much a Prom piece as Church Windows. Good work for teh National Youth Orchestra with all their extra wind and brass.

        I expect teh 'John Wilson Orchestra' is similar to the revived 'Sinfonia of London' in drawing on the vast pool of orchestral players in the area. It's a long-standing tradition, and deserves a book on the subject.

        Comment

        • seabright
          Full Member
          • Jan 2013
          • 625

          Yes, Roman Festivals was indeed done at the Proms for the first time in 2009 with the National Youth Orchestra. Vasily Petrenko did push the kids to their limits with some hair-raising tempos but they came through it virtually unscathed. Incidentally, as previously stated, the RAH is absolutely ideal for these Roman Tone Poems so I do hope the Proms organizers soon give the Church Windows their long over-due Proms Premiere ...

          Comment

          • Pulcinella
            Host
            • Feb 2014
            • 10892

            Originally posted by seabright View Post
            Yes, Roman Festivals was indeed done at the Proms for the first time in 2009 with the National Youth Orchestra. Vasily Petrenko did push the kids to their limits with some hair-raising tempos but they came through it virtually unscathed. Incidentally, as previously stated, the RAH is absolutely ideal for these Roman Tone Poems so I do hope the Proms organizers soon give the Church Windows their long over-due Proms Premiere ...
            The performance was issued on a BBC MM CD: Volume 20, Number 1.
            Hair raising indeed!

            Comment

            • hmvman
              Full Member
              • Mar 2007
              • 1097

              I saw a Proms performance of 'Feste Romane' conducted by John Adams. I can't recall which year but I think it was seven or eight years ago.

              Comment

              • Pulcinella
                Host
                • Feb 2014
                • 10892

                Originally posted by hmvman View Post
                I saw a Proms performance of 'Feste Romane' conducted by John Adams. I can't recall which year but I think it was seven or eight years ago.
                All Performances of Ottorino Respighi: Roman Festivals at BBC Proms

                2009
                8 Aug
                Prom 31
                2012
                16 Jul
                Prom 4: Respighi, Ravel and Adams
                2014
                1 Sep
                Prom 60: Roman Holiday

                Comment

                • smittims
                  Full Member
                  • Aug 2022
                  • 4086

                  Many thanks for that information. I always watch the NYO Prom so I must have seen it and forgotten except for my subconscious!

                  Comment

                  • seabright
                    Full Member
                    • Jan 2013
                    • 625

                    ^^^ Thanks for the Feste Romane listings. It reminded me that when Michael Tilson Thomas was with the LSO all those years ago, he said in an interview that he'd suggested a performance of the work to Robert Ponsonby who replied: "Oh, we don't do that kind of thing at the Proms." There was and probably still is some snootiness about Respighi but at his best he could always be well worth a listen. For example, The Pines of Rome finally had its Proms Premiere in 1986 under Edward Downes. Although it wasn't televised the radio engineers gave the broadcast some excellent first-class sonics. The BBCPO was on top form too and at the end of the Pines of the Appian Way, the guys on the bass drum and timpani really went to town! ...

                    Comment

                    • smittims
                      Full Member
                      • Aug 2022
                      • 4086

                      I wondered why Guido Cantelli never (as far as I know) conducted Respighi, when he did champion lesser Italian composers. Toscanini was quite unashamed to conduct 'Feste Romane '

                      Mention of Michael Tilson Thomas reminds me that I came across his name playing Harpsichord on the 1967 CBS Monteverdi Vespers recording conducted by Robert Craft.

                      Comment

                      • hmvman
                        Full Member
                        • Mar 2007
                        • 1097

                        Originally posted by Pulcinella View Post
                        All Performances of Ottorino Respighi: Roman Festivals at BBC Proms

                        2009
                        8 Aug
                        Prom 31
                        2012
                        16 Jul
                        Prom 4: Respighi, Ravel and Adams

                        2014
                        1 Sep
                        Prom 60: Roman Holiday
                        Oh wow, I didn't realise it was that long ago! Thanks for the info.

                        Comment

                        • smittims
                          Full Member
                          • Aug 2022
                          • 4086

                          By coincidence I obtained yesterday a copy of the Toscanini recording in its first British issue, a 10" HMV LP with the original red/cream sleeve with the big pictire of 'Nipper' and the royal coats of arms.

                          I was amused by the review of it in The Record Guide' on its first appearance in the early '50s ; it's full of the 'snootiness' referred to earlier : 'the worst of Respighi... lapse of taste... love of noise.. might have been commissioned by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer...' and so on.
                          Last edited by smittims; 24-03-23, 14:23.

                          Comment

                          • seabright
                            Full Member
                            • Jan 2013
                            • 625

                            Originally posted by smittims View Post
                            By coincidence I obtained yesterday a copy of the Toscanini recording in its first British issue, a 10" HMV LP with the original red/cream sleeve with the big pictire of 'Nipper' and the royal coats of arms.

                            I was amused by the review of it in The Record Guide' on its first appearance in the early '50s ; it's full of the 'snootiness' referred to earlier : 'the worst of Respighi... lapse of taste... love of noise.. might have been commissioned by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer...' and so on.
                            The phrase "lapse of taste" reminds me of a BBC 'Music Magazine' tribute to Stokowski on the latter's 90th birthday in 1972, given by Hans Keller of all people. At the end of his survey of the conductor's career, Keller remarks: "Give me Stokowski's tastelessness every time. Those who pride themselves on their taste, have it instead of everything else."

                            Leopold Stokowski celebrated his 90th birthday on 18th April 1972 and to mark the event the BBC radio programme 'Music Magazine' featured a tribute by Hans K...


                            Here's the Toscanini "Feste Romane" but the treble screams like a wild cat in this bassless upload, typical of many Toscanini LPs of the time, I fear ...

                            Ottorino Respighi (1879 - 1936)Feste Romane, poema sinfonicoI CircensesII Il GiubileoIII L'OttobrataIV La Befana Arturo Toscanini...

                            Comment

                            • smittims
                              Full Member
                              • Aug 2022
                              • 4086

                              Thanksl. I must say there's a lot more bass on my copy of BLP 1011, and after a few more cleanings and playings I expect it will get less crackly!

                              Hans Keller was full of surprises: his love of football, for one. I'd never have predicted that.

                              Comment

                              • seabright
                                Full Member
                                • Jan 2013
                                • 625

                                I dare say we've all heard "The Planets" more than enough times by now but I have to say this performance from Germany was well worth viewing. I wonder how familiar this work is to foreign orchestras and audiences these days? In any case, this splendid performance of "Die Planeten" by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, under the American conductor Hugh Wolff, was certainly well-received ...

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X