Prom 1: The First Night, BBC SO/BBC SC/BBC Singers, S. Bevan/I. Kanneh-Mason/Chan

[Pulcinella]

We're still to eat so will watch later and use the red button (or whatever it is) to start from the beginning (and ideally fast forward through ....)

[teamsaint]

This has been the first time I've used the RAH website to book for a Prom. I haven't gone for a few years and always got them in the queue on the day. Is it always as rubbish as this? I had to log back in because the site kicked me off.

Haven't prommed for a few years, but it was a pretty mediocre experience, esp when buying more than one ticket, as there was a one per account limit .

[teamsaint]

We're still to eat so will watch later and use the red button (or whatever it is) to start from the beginning (and ideally fast forward through ....)

A red button should be pretty self evident ?!

[Ein Heldenleben]

This encore : Grainger arrangement of Gershwin’s Man I Love sounds like music of Rachmaninov quality compared to the musically rather thin Clara Schumann Piano Concerto

[bluestateprommer]

Fine first half of this First Night, where I lean towards Barbirollians and Darkbloom in terms of the choice of selections so far. The first half of this First Night actually turned out to be a well-balanced variety of works, in their contrasts. Nice choice of encore by Isata K-M, even if Percy Grainger's arrangement of Gershwin's "The Man I Love" repeated the first theme one time too many.

While I do see Petrushka's earlier point, several big blockbuster works do come later on, namely Verdi's Requiem next week and Britten's War Requiem on August 17, as well as two full operas, the Heiner Goebbels, the Berlin Phil's two concerts, and so on. Clearly not all the summer's money could be spent in just one place :) .

On EH's point: I would agree that Clara S.'s concerto doesn't hold a candle to Robert S.'s, or the two Felix Mendelssohn concerti (one passage towards the end of Clara S.'s concerto put me in mind of Felix M.). But I have to remember that Clara S. started writing it at age 13. In that context, the piece may not be great, but it's not bad for a teenager.

[Darkbloom]

I'm enjoying it, standing near the front of the arena. Good mix of pieces, although I was unfamiliar with the Schumann and need to listen to it again because I don't think I got enough from it the first time. Enjoyed the Bruckner, another new piece for me. Unmistakable from the first few bars who the composer is

[Ein Heldenleben]

Fine first half of this First Night, where I lean towards Barbirollians and Darkbloom in terms of the choice of selections so far. The first half of this First Night actually turned out to be a well-balanced variety of works, in their contrasts. Nice choice of encore by Isata K-M, even if Percy Grainger's arrangement of Gershwin's "The Man I Love" repeated the first theme one time too many.

While I do see Petrushka's earlier point, several big blockbuster works do come later on, namely Verdi's Requiem next week and Britten's War Requiem on August 17, as well as two full operas, the Heiner Goebbels, the Berlin Phil's two concerts, and so on. Clearly not all the summer's money could be spent in just one place :) .

On EH's point: I would agree that Clara S.'s concerto doesn't hold a candle to Robert S.'s, or the two Felix Mendelssohn concerti (one passage towards the end of Clara S.'s concerto put me in mind of Felix M.). But I have to remember that Clara S. started writing it at age 13. In that context, the piece may not be great, but it's not bad for a teenager.

True but that’s not a reason for including it in “the world’s greatest classical music festival.”
Ditto this Hallelujah piece which is terrible. I mean really awful. There are so many really good contemporary composers around and we get this mickey-take

[Ein Heldenleben]

Not enjoying this Beethoven 5 . I have no problem with a fast tempo but it sounds hurried . I thought something might be up when , in interview , she sung the famous da da da da motto and it sounded like machine gun fire . To me it’s not it that staccato in articulation . If you play it like that is sounds almost irritating.

[edashtav]

Not enjoying this Beethoven 5 . I have no problem with a fast tempo but it sounds hurried . I thought something might be up when , in interview , she sung the famous da da da da motto and it sounded like machine gun fire . To me it’s not it that staccato in articulation . If you play it like that is sounds almost irritating.

You've nailed it. Elim(inate) comes from a fast city and she reduced the heroic finale so that it might have fomed a frantic ounterpoint to John Adams' Short Ride in Fast Machine.

No NO NO!

[Ein Heldenleben]

You've nailed it. Elim(inate) comes from a fast city and she reduced the heroic finale so that it might have fomed a frantic ounterpoint to John Adams' Short Ride in Fast Machine.

No NO NO!

Thanks for agreeing withe me as I was reluctant to post the following because it I know just how hard all the performers must have worked on that….also some forumites may have enjoyed it and who am I to spoil their pleasure?


“The balance in the scherzo is so weird it’s turning the preamble into the 3rd / finale transition into a bassoon concerto. Have to admire the virtuosity of the first bassoon who should get a recording for their CV. Ditto the tremendous double basses coping with the headlong tempi . But oh dear where was the sense of triumph and exaltation?
Some great playing but come on let the music breathe. It sounded as if it was conducted by computer.


Possibly the worst first night I’ve ever heard.“

[eighthobstruction]

....at least this is an entertaining read....and I've spent no money...

[seabright]

Does anyone know what composers get paid when they churn out BBC Commissions? ... Better still, has anyone made a list of the BBC Commissions over the last 50 years and indicated which of them sank without trace after their first and only performance? ... I felt sorry for the chorus having to perform the rubbish on display tonight, not least because it went on far too long. The unbridled joy and elation evinced by Clive Myrie on the TV at its conclusion suggests he'd be better off sticking to reading the news. Oh, and TV viewers had a special treat in the interval because up popped Tom Service, jumping around the place as preposterous as ever. As to the metronomic 100-miles-an-hour, first-past-the-post, anything-you-can-play-I-can-play-faster Beethoven 5th, I'm glad I didn't waste money on a ticket!

[Ein Heldenleben]

Does anyone know what composers get paid when they churn out BBC Commissions? ... Better still, has anyone made a list of the BBC Commissions over the last 50 years and indicated which of them sank without trace after their first and only performance? ... I felt sorry for the chorus having to perform the rubbish on display tonight, not least because it went on far too long. The unbridled joy and elation evinced by Clive Myrie on the TV at its conclusion suggests he'd be better off sticking to reading the news. Oh, and TV viewers had a special treat in the interval because up popped Tom Service, jumping around the place as preposterous as ever. As to the metronomic 100-miles-an-hour, first-past-the-post, anything-you-can-play-I-can-play-faster Beethoven 5th, I'm glad I didn't waste money on a ticket!

It would be more than Beethoven got for writing the Fifth that’s for sure . If you thought the tv presentation was bad try the R3. It was so over the top - I mean ludicrous. What is going on at this once great network ?

[edashtav]

Prom1
Handel's Musick for the Royal Firework's is grand Occasional Outdoor piece. I've love Hervé Niquet's fresh-air take on the work and I wanted the concert's organisers or the trumpeters to have blown the roof open just like Centre Court.

I'm an avid Bruckner fan and have heard or sung most of his choral works. Psalm 150, a festival piece, was new to me. I now know why. Its stratospheric demands on sopranos- did I hear a top choral C? - make for a strenuous nine minutes. I've loved this Proms' performance

I enjoyed Ben Nobuto's HALELUJAH SIM ,a smash hit in the hall and with me. I adored its playfulness and light-footed wit. Michael Torke has worked with words and phrases chopped into syllables and then reconstructed in unusual order. BEN plays with that conceit by requiring his choir to respond in real time to instructions from a speaker. Using electronics the piece sounds and is a unforgettable jewel in the music of this young century. Were I still a choral conductor, I'd do anything necessary to programme this 8work with my choir.

Isata Kanneh-Mason one seventh of Liverpool's sorry NOTTINGHAMSHIRE'S Holy Family, joined the orchestra, bringing her calling card: Clara Schumann's only Concerto in three disparate but continuous movements.

No mistresspiece but a work that shows what might have been had it been born in a world of female equality. Isata is a compelling pianist equally at home in thin and thickly written music -- she is no shrinking violet but has an assertive personality; she can shrink her tone to suit the music's demands.
Gershwin/ Grainger The Man I Love was her well-chosen encore - sultry music for a sweaty Albert Hall.
I've commented on Beethoven's 5th earlier in response to a thoughtful analysis by Heldenleben.

With the exception of the Murder of Beethoven's Fifth by the Orient Express, this was the best of first nights and I reckon that I have experienced 50.

[Oddball]

Hard to tell how much Ben Nobuto received for that. He looked suitably embarrassed on the telly.
£50?