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

[Ein Heldenleben]

No two people will ever "hear" the same piece of music, for all sorts of reasons, even when they are listening to it at the same time. I have a feeling that this was an opening night that was perhaps more than usually subject to the "you had to be there" effect.The audience seemed to be having a good time, but the excitement wasn't of the kind that can travel down the airwaves to those of us listening in our homes, as it can in the best concerts. I wasn't much taken with it: the Handel I found disappointing, Bruckner I dislike at the best of times and the Psalm 150 encapsulated why, and the Schumann I thought a waste of Isata K-M's abilities. Didn't get to the mute button quick enough to avoid a taste of what the interval threatened, but seemed to be all of a piece with lowest common denominator approach, and then managed(not deliberately - I prefer to hear a reasonable amount of such things if only to say "I didn't like what I heard" rather than just dismissing out of hand) to miss most of the new piece. The Beethoven was not the best - but it's such good music I was able to cope with that and feel better for having heard it anyway. Having two bass players i the family I was amused to hear the BBC bass section demonstrating that they can shift when needed - but in that context it went beyond adding a bit of excitement to falling into the realms of pointless gimmick. The constant fussing with tempi I found tiresome, it felt as if the conductor wasn't tuned in to the underlying(and strong) heartbeat of the piece, and so the changes were just stuck on rather than being an organic response to the music itself.
And of course, ever present was the horrendous interference from the rubbish that presenters are now seemingly required to foist on us captive and hapless listeners. There is only so much a mute button can achieve...
Hoping that things improve now the First Night hurdle has been cleared.

Praise where it’s due . The double basses in the scherzo were impressive. Were they playing up and down (or is it side to side) bows for each prestissimo quaver - sounded it.
But the total musical effect made the headlong tempo boring after a while . I have no problem with fast tempi In Beethoven - Schnabel played fast , made lots of mistakes, but every bar was shot through with musical feeling in terms of dynamics , articulation and phrasing .

[kernelbogey]

Watching and listening on iPlayer this morning I enjoyed the Nobuto for a while, but my interest waned after the first five minutes.

Isata's encore for me eclipsed her Schumann.

I haven't yet tried the Beethoven, which Clive Myrie must have mentioned at least six times before its performance: the 'famous' etc. I found his presentation the most irritating aspect of the tv broadcast - his treating it like a sports broadcast and coming in far too quickly at the end of each piece with some redundant superlative.

[richardfinegold]

I don't know Elim Chan but reports from the rehearsals are very positive. I'll be there.

I saw her conduct the NY Phil in March. Wonderful concert and reportedly she had excellent rapport with the Orchestra

[Ein Heldenleben]

Watching and listening on iPlayer this morning I enjoyed the Nobuto for a while, but my interest waned after the first five minutes.

Isata's encore for me eclipsed her Schumann.

I haven't yet tried the Beethoven, which Clive Myrie must have mentioned at least six times before its performance: the 'famous' etc. I found his presentation the most irritating aspect of the tv broadcast - his treating it like a sports broadcast and coming in far too quickly at the end of each piece with some redundant superlative.

yes because Iasata finally had some music to work with. Had a look at the score of the concerto . Clara must have had one of the most prodigious techniques of any teenager in history . It’s full of octaves and tricky figurations . How many 13 year old girls can even span an octave? I would so much rather had a recital of CS’s excellent piano or piano and violin pieces than juvenalia.

[cria]

Reviews in Times, Teleg, Grottian all enthusiastic and congratulatory

They read like your memorable concert Richard - not the pseudo forensic dissections here

[Ein Heldenleben]

Reviews in Times, Teleg, Grottian all enthusiastic and congratulatory

They read like your memorable concert Richard - not the pseudo forensic dissections here

So what did you think of it ?

[Darkbloom]

The concert went down very well in the hall but I thought it was a rather mixed evening. I probably got more out of the Bruckner and Handel pieces than anything else. I'm glad I'm not the only one to have found the Clara Schumann underwhelming, it felt quite routine and I was finding it hard to focus on it as it sounded like a lot of other piano concertos I've heard without it bringing anything striking or memorable; but the Proms can programme pieces like this and give them the occasional airing so I didn't have an issue with it.

The Nobuto piece had me rolliing my eyes at the start but won me over by the end. It was very much one of those pieces that you can get away with at somewhere like the Proms, where its slightness isn't such a problem, but I can understand if it irritated people on the radio or watching it on TV. And at least it was short. I didn't particularly enjoy the Beethoven, but that's mainly because it's a piece that has run out of steam for me and it takes something exceptional in a performance to really hold my attention. I'll have to go back and listen to it again but listening in the hall I wasn't under the impression that she drove it too hard. It certainly didn't seem anywhere near as breakneck as someone like Currentzis for example.

Two other trivial observations. The conductor was dressed for a chilly village hall in the middle of November, but she didn't look like she broke a sweat the entire evening. It was absolutely sweltering in the hall. I don't know the name of the man on the front desk of the 'cellos but he has an uncanny resemblance to Rupert Murdoch, albeit much less wrinkled.

[Cockney Sparrow]

My experience of Bruckner's Choral works has been mixed. The motets are successful and contain small jewels of the repertoire; the Mass in E in the version with wind instruments is subtler than the other large scale choral works. His other Mass(es?) and the Te Deum to me seem rather uninspired and a wall of unsubtle sound.

(Just to say, I do enjoy the symphonies).

The piano concerto, so so, no great objection, no great enthusiasm, other than well played.

I enjoyed the Hallelujah Sim - no harm in the Proms commissioning a piece which gives pleasure and amusement; there are enough pieces consigned to "the BBC gave two performances and none since....." category. I feel similarly to edashtav:

.........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 work with my choir........

I wonder if I have the mental agility to sing this piece, and worry that I might in the future be in the position of finding out!

I didn't listen to the Beethoven 5th critically and don''t, in any case, have a concept of what it should be, in my book. It seemed fine to me. I have the Tonhalle/Zinman set which says it used the latest urtext, so maybe I should listen to that next.

I used the iPlayer on the sitting room TV, linked to the main speaker set, and was pleased to see, when I was not hearing, Tom Service holding forth in the interval when I stopped reading The Times and went out to get a cup of tea.

p.s. - I haven't seen mention of the QR code shortly before the start of the 2nd half (and probably the same earlier, I should think). I used the Google Lens app to photo it (you have to be ready, its not there for long) and it brought up a fairly detailed programme (document) on the tablet I use. I've looked for the same on the BBC Sounds page but don't see one - so I conclude its going to be provided for TV only?

p.p.s - Thinking about it, its not acceptable, is it - the programme shouldn't only be available to those with the facility of using the QR code system. It should be a link from the iPlayer page. And if they can provide it for the iPlayer TV broadcasts, they should provide it on the BBC Sounds web page. Worthy of a complaint, I should say, if I am correct in my conclusion.

[parkepr]

For those who missed it this is the link to the programme notes for Prom 1

https://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/extra/2jg2kmjm0z/Prom-1-19-July-2024

[Nachtigall]

Watching and listening on iPlayer this morning I enjoyed the Nobuto for a while, but my interest waned after the first five minutes.

Isata's encore for me eclipsed her Schumann.

I haven't yet tried the Beethoven, which Clive Myrie must have mentioned at least six times before its performance: the 'famous' etc. I found his presentation the most irritating aspect of the tv broadcast - his treating it like a sports broadcast and coming in far too quickly at the end of each piece with some redundant superlative.

How right you are about the ubiquitous Clive Myrie! His incessant recourse to hyperbole (everything was "incredible", unless it was "wonderful" or "fantastic") was indeed a major irritation. We don't need to be so blatantly elbowed into reacting to the music and the performers.

I also agree about the Gershwin encore, though I suppose that one should remember Clara Schumann was a mere 15 years of age when she composed this concerto.

[Ein Heldenleben]

How right you are about the ubiquitous Clive Myrie! His incessant recourse to hyperbole (everything was "incredible", unless it was "wonderful" or "fantastic") was indeed a major irritation. We don't need to be so blatantly elbowed into reacting to the music and the performers.

I also agree about the Gershwin encore, though I suppose that one should remember Clara Schumann was a mere 15 years of age when she composed this concerto.

13 when she wrote it. 14 when she performed it. In some ways the second fact is more staggering then the first . It’s incredibly demanding . She must have been one of the greatest of 19th cent virtuosi as well as a hugely significant figure in the development of the piano and indeed 19th cent music.
It’s just a shame that she couldn’t have been represented by a better work.

[cria]

So what did you think of it ?

Lovely evening (T20 Sussex v Middx @ Hove)

[Retune]

I hope anyone who has made it this far in the thread before listening isn't put off by the naysayers (or the BBC TV framing). In the Hall, it was a great start to the season. I only regret that I didn't book a seat closer to the stage, and was perched up in the Gallery for this one. The Guardian review captures it pretty well, especially the last paragraph. Elim Chan was almost dancing to the music by the end. I'm glad to see the Clara Schumann Concerto making its way into the standard repertoire. Isata Kanneh-Mason gave an excellent account of it, and I enjoyed her encore. Sophie Bevan was on fine form. Hallelujah Sim added to the party atmosphere.

I hadn't realised the BBC 'studio' is now in the gallery (didn't they used to have a box?), partially blocking the walkway. Here is your brief chance to see Clive Myrie and Sandi Toksvig up close, while you are marshalled past the set. I like them both in their day jobs, but skimming through the BBC coverage afterwards, it seemed a rather redundant combination of presenters. Toksvig in particular, who I suppose is there as an everywoman audience member, had little to do, except for giving the tragic quote from Clara Schumann about her own perceived abilities as a composer, gaslit by the rigid gender roles of the time. If they must have a non-specialist presenter, why not balance this with another musician to join Nicola Benedetti? (uncredited in the listing). I see they managed to shoehorn in a Tom Service segment to add to the painful sporting analogy theme that Myrie began with.

[oddoneout]

Praise where it’s due . The double basses in the scherzo were impressive. Were they playing up and down (or is it side to side) bows for each prestissimo quaver - sounded it.
But the total musical effect made the headlong tempo boring after a while . I have no problem with fast tempi In Beethoven - Schnabel played fast , made lots of mistakes, but every bar was shot through with musical feeling in terms of dynamics , articulation and phrasing .

Whether the basses were playing overhand or underhand(is that what you were meaning?) it is separate bow strokes for each note, as with the cellos who play at the same time. As far as I know the BBCSO is overhand, with the familiar(in this country) "straight" bows.

[Sir Velo]

I enjoyed the Schumann piano concerto, which, despite its obvious debts notably to Chopin (!) made a welcome change from hubby's rather dreary essay in the genre. As for the Beethoven, it was also good to see a HIPP influenced performance at the proms with, friends no more of those sounds that can make Beethoven sound beery and portentous. The revolutionary zeal of the winds was a delight as was the streamlined string section.