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

[edashtav]

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 ?

Yes, the R.3 presentation was execrable!

[Ein Heldenleben]

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 a 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 Holy Family, joioned 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.

Agree re Bruckner - yes it was a top C .
Schumann well played but not worth Isata’s time and trouble and talent . She played the Grainger Gershwin magnificently.
Already said my piece on Hallelujah
Agree re the Beethoven 5 obvs

strange there are so few other comments . I wonder if the early start time is a big scheduling error ?

[oddoneout]

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 a 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 Holy Family, joioned 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.

Nottingham I think?

[Dave2002]

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

Well now you have the second night to look forward to!

I turned on the radio just before 9pm expecting to hear some of the Prom and it took some time to figure that I wasn’t listening to CFM.
Then I looked at the schedule for tonight, and then for tomorrow …..

[LMcD]

[QUOTE=seabright;n1312713]
...., 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? .../QUOTE]

I wonder how many performances there have been of Anna Meredith's Five Telegrams since the First Night of the 2018 Proms.

[edashtav]

Nottingham I think?

Cheers, oddoneout, my mistake!

[Ein Heldenleben]

Well now you have the second night to look forward to!

I turned on the radio just before 9pm expecting to hear some of the Prom and it took some time to figure that I wasn’t listening to CFM.
Then I looked at the schedule for tonight, and then for tomorrow …..

I’m treating the Mark Elder Mahler 5 as the first night . A magnificent conductor in music (like Beethoven’s 5th) worthy of his talents and my attention.
Hopefully there will also be less hysteria in the presentation.

[Ein Heldenleben]

[QUOTE=LMcD;n1312729]

...., 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? .../QUOTE]

I wonder how many performances there have been of Anna Meredith's Five Telegrams since the First Night of the 2018 Proms.

Good point - another massively oversold talent .

[edashtav]

Agree re Bruckner - yes it was a top C .
Schumann well played but not worth Isata’s time and trouble and talent . She played the Grainger Gershwin magnificently.
Already said my piece on Hallelujah
Agree re the Beethoven 5 obvs

strange there are so few other comments . I wonder if the early start time is a big scheduling error ?

Yes, I feel the early start time for the FIRST PROM was deeply unfortunate. I was foxed by the Concerto until this morning when Clara was ubiquitous on the "ads'.

Few comments also due to a change of emphasis on For3 from praise on its offer to a crowd calling 'NO' to its recent dumbing down.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Yes, I feel the early start time for the FIRST PROM was deeply unfortunate. I was foxed by the Concerto until this morning when Clara was ubiquitous on the "ads'.

Few comments also due to a change of emphasis on For3 from praise on its offer to a crowd calling 'NO' to its recent dumbing down.

Maybe but the “dumbing down” isn’t that recent is it ?
I just think there’s an expectation that the first night will be an event.

[edashtav]

Maybe but the “dumbing down” isn’t that recent is it ?
I just think there’s an expectation that the first night will be an event.

Yes, I take your point:dumbing down dates before 2024 but its impact has been more overt and all pervasive this calendar year

[edashtav]

[QUOTE=LMcD;n1312729]

...., 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? .../QUOTE]

I wonder how many performances there have been of Anna Meredith's Five Telegrams since the First Night of the 2018 Proms.

I believe 5 Telegrams was a co-commission.
I know it was subsequently performed at the Edinburgh International Festival

[Ein Heldenleben]

Yes, I take your point:dumbing down dates before 2024 but its impact has been more overt and all pervasive this calendar year

Well it was certainly evident in the presentation tonight . Honestly the BBC’s Glastonbury coverage is a model of sober restraint in comparison. That countdown at the beginning was ludicrous. It’s not kids tv .

[teamsaint]

If only the BBC would stop telling us what to think about music, and tried telling us how to think about it, I think I could cope with its output rather better.
oh well, perhaps the Mahler will be good.

[Serial_Apologist]

[QUOTE=Ein Heldenleben;n1312733]

Good point - another massively oversold talent .

I remember a time when Proms premieres were always anticipated with eager excitement, and would turn out at best thrilling, at worst challenging and therefore demanding further listenings. From that one learned that through every era the greatest music had always been innovatory.