YouTube: the thread for interesting video links

[seabright]

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 ...

[seabright]

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! ...

[smittims]

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.

[seabright]

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 ...

[Pulcinella]

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!

[hmvman]

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.

[Pulcinella]

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

[smittims]

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

[seabright]

^^^ 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! ...

[smittims]

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.

[hmvman]

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.

[smittims]

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.

[seabright]

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."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxADxrUNiZQ

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 ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7U0kD0x9OQY

[smittims]

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.

[seabright]

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 ...