Prom 1: First Night of the Proms: 14 July 2023

[ahinton]

Much better work than Britten’s though isn’t it ?

Well, yes but very different in intent and effect so I would be wary of comparing them...

[gradus]

I like what I've heard of the conductor's work, she strikes me as first rate.

[Ravensbourne]

Hazarding a guess, I'd say you might change your mind!

I have to say, The Young Person's Guide, without the prim introductions of Peter Pears, will never do it for me! In any case the mini intervals between the variations make no musical sense without an announcer. Britten (or someone) should have composed an alternative version.

Do we know for certain that the narrator in Sibelius's Snöfrid wont stay on for The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra?

[Ein Heldenleben]

What a pleasure to be the first to comment on the First Night and thanks so much to French Frank, Andrew and Mark for creating this magnificent new home. I thought it was an excellent start to the season . Impressed with Paul Lewis’s unhistrionic Greig and the virtuosity of the BBCSO in the Britten.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I very much enjoyed the Sibelius but found it rather disconcerting that Lesley Manville , who narrated the Saga excellently , was last seen by me torturing the luckless Stanley Tucci in the rather overblown spy series Citadel on Amazon Prime.

[Bryn]

Does anyone here know the provenance of the particular version of Finlandia, with chorus, used for this concert? All other versions with chorus that I have previously encountered lacked the early appearance of the chorus and only brought them on for the hymn toward the end.

[Barbirollians]

Nope but I enjoyed this concert a lot especially Paul Lewis’s very fresh and bright performance of the Grieg Piano Concerto.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Nope but I enjoyed this concert a lot especially Paul Lewis’s very fresh and bright performance of the Grieg Piano Concerto.

Yes indeed . The first few days have turned into something of a mini festival or indeed celebration of British pianists. The wonderfully shaped and not overblown Greig from Paul Lewis , staggering virtuosity From Ben Grosvenor in his solo transcriptions recital and a magisterial Rachmaninov First PC from Stephen Hough last night.

[antongould]

Nope but I enjoyed this concert a lot especially Paul Lewis’s very fresh and bright performance of the Grieg Piano Concerto.

As did I

[jonfan]

What a pleasure to be the first to comment on the First Night and thanks so much to French Frank, Andrew and Mark for creating this magnificent new home. I thought it was an excellent start to the season . Impressed with Paul Lewis’s unhistrionic Greig and the virtuosity of the BBCSO in the Britten.

Agree with all the above sentiments. A buoyant concert full of optimism.

[Alison]

Having said I wouldn’t join a new forum, I missed the board like hell when it was unavailable! So my apologies for the waspish comment.

Ended up really enjoying this concert, Clive Myre notwithstanding. On paper this looked a lacklustre opener and again I was mistaken.

[Barbirollians]

I rather enjoyed that it did not have some hefty choral work that seemed to have become common .

[pastoralguy]

First of all, THANK YOU to the team who have successfully got the forum up and running again.

‘Finlandia’ is a work that has run like a thread throughout my life. I must have encountered it as a child since I was obsessed by the ‘Karelia Suite’ and my parent’s records had ‘Finlandia’ as a precursor to ‘Karelia’. ( The Sargent Vienna Philharmonic Lp).

It was a work I often played in our local school’s orchestra and I tend to groan a bit when it comes on the radio. However, I had a real lump in my throat when I heard it on Friday night especially when the choir joined in. I found it unbelievably moving.

Great to be back!

[antongould]

Having said I wouldn’t join a new forum, I missed the board like hell when it was unavailable! So my apologies for the waspish comment.

Ended up really enjoying this concert, Clive Myre notwithstanding. On paper this looked a lacklustre opener and again I was mistaken.

delighted to see you here Alison

[Petrushka]

Having said I wouldn’t join a new forum, I missed the board like hell when it was unavailable! So my apologies for the waspish comment.

Ended up really enjoying this concert, Clive Myre notwithstanding. On paper this looked a lacklustre opener and again I was mistaken.

Glad you reconsidered, Alison, and good to see you here.

It turned out to be a reasonably good concert, three crowd-pleasers, a rarity and a short new commission which somehow managed to hang together but didn't feel like a First Night to me. Very poor TV presentation from Myrie treating the viewers as if they were a class of six year olds to Toksvig and Lapwood laughing like a couple of schoolgirls. Dire.