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

[Nick Armstrong]

I hadn't realised the BBC 'studio' is now in the gallery (didn't they used to have a box?), partially blocking the walkway.

I suspect the radio presentation is still done from the box to the left of the stage, with what you saw being the TV ‘mini studio’ (which has indeed migrated round the auditorium over the years)

[kernelbogey]

I'm wondering why the BBC Sounds tracklisti includes four additional items.

[teamsaint]

Lovely evening (T20 Sussex v Middx @ Hove)

Plenty of national press reviews are posted by journalists who might as well have been at the cricket. I have certainly been at concerts where the reviewer doesn't appear to have been in the hall.

And people on this forum often post insightful reviews based on extensive knowledge and keen understanding.
For free.

[ARBurton]

Afraid I found the tv presentation irritating -not only the over-enthusiaistic commentary - do they not realise they don`t have to start jabbering 3 seconds aftef the end of the music - but the excessuve use of the overhead camera???? We spent what felt like ages looking at the bald head of a violinist, or the cellist. It`s a gimmick which I think is very over-used. I`d also query the new use of part of "Jupiter" from Holst The Planets as the "theme" music - it just doesn`t work. The concert itself was ok although we had the Clara Schumann piano concerto a few years ago (with Queen Victoria`s piano) and the work doesn`t really justify this exposure. The Beethoven 5 was ok but did`nt the finale go on and on and on and on and on .....! I hope never to hear the "Hallelujah Sim" monstrosit again....

[Parlian]

The concert itself was ok although we had the Clara Schumann piano concerto a few years ago (with Queen Victoria`s piano) and the work doesn`t really justify this exposure. The Beethoven 5 was ok but did`nt the finale go on and on and on and on and on .....! I hope never to hear the "Hallelujah Sim" monstrosit again....

I was at that Queen Victoria’s Piano Prom - I believe the concerto played then was Mendelssohn’s first?

Have to agree on "Hallelujah Sim" - not my thing at all but I’m becoming increasingly aware that some/quite a lot of the Proms is not for me, and that’s OK too. I have the sense that this piece was tapping into computer gaming culture and was probably aimed at a much younger crowd. Fair enough!

[oddoneout]

I'm wondering why the BBC Sounds tracklisti includes four additional items.

Interval music and the post prom gap filler?

[Retune]

I'm wondering why the BBC Sounds tracklisti includes four additional items.

Music with tenuous links to the guests they had in the interval, or other proms. The Bartok because Isata was there post-performance and a couple of the other Kanneh-Masons are doing it this season. A short clip of Peter and the Wolf because totally random guest Alex Horne liked it. A bit of The Rite of Spring by the Aurora Orchestra last year as a sort of trailer for their Beethoven 9 this year. The Ravel afterwards was another 2023 performance from a returning artist, Ben Grosvenor.

[Barbirollians]

Another dissenter from the negative here . Much the most enjoyable first night for years . Handel that showed how well BBCSO and modern instruments can play it , well sung if rather dreary Bruckner , the Clara Schumann may be juveniles but what juvenilia and outstandingly played.

The encore was fine but it a bit stiff for me .

I enjoyed the Beethoven if the concluding part of the was a bit breathless for me I thought it was very good as a whole .

[Constable]

A Klemperer man myself so the Fifth was not my kind of thing. Listened on web this morning, the way to completely skip presenter waffle which seems worse every season. I have a question, can one just turn up with eight quid for the balcony, I only visit London on cooler evenings?

[Darkbloom]

A Klemperer man myself so the Fifth was not my kind of thing. Listened on web this morning, the way to completely skip presenter waffle which seems worse every season. I have a question, can one just turn up with eight quid for the balcony, I only visit London on cooler evenings?

You have to book in advance these days, so no. You buy your promming ticket on the RAH website then get a queuing ticket at the hall if you want to make sure you get a decent spot. That goes for both arena and gallery. I prefer the old method, personally, but we're stuck with this way of doing things now.

[Darkbloom]

I suspect the radio presentation is still done from the box to the left of the stage, with what you saw being the TV ‘mini studio’ (which has indeed migrated round the auditorium over the years)

Yes, they are still there. I haven't been promming for a few years, but the last time I was there they did the TV from a box directly opposite the radio one, on the right, although it was above the stalls.

[Constable]

You have to book in advance these days, so no. You buy your promming ticket on the RAH website then get a queuing ticket at the hall if you want to make sure you get a decent spot. That goes for both arena and gallery. I prefer the old method, personally, but we're stuck with this way of doing things now.

I won’t be bothering to go then. They just love making things complicated that were perfectly all right before.

[Ein Heldenleben]

A Klemperer man myself so the Fifth was not my kind of thing. Listened on web this morning, the way to completely skip presenter waffle which seems worse every season. I have a question, can one just turn up with eight quid for the balcony, I only visit London on cooler evenings?

Yes well a conductor who could breathe meaning into every bar he conducted not matter what his tempi.

[parkepr]

[QUOTE= I`d also query the new use of part of "Jupiter" from Holst The Planets as the "theme" music - it just doesn`t work..[/QUOTE]


I actually preferred the arrangement of Jupiter as the new theme music... No disrespect to the person who wrote the previous one...

[kernelbogey]

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 .

The comparison with the BBC's Glastonbury presentation is illuminating: as though the R3 management has a feeling of inferiority which needs to be compensated by over-enthusiasm. Clive Myrie's antics with sports gear at the introduction of the tv presentation is just toe-curlingly embarassing.