Prom 4: MacMillan/Mahler, Hallé/Hallé Choir & Youth Choir & Children’s Choir, Elder

[edashtav]

(Dryden seems to have gone for 3:2:3 though… does Macmillan set them otherwise? Quite agree that subtitles would likely be all but essential for that text.)

My second thoughts aligned more with you and Dryden in terms of metrical patterns. Then, like Humpty Dumpty I had a fall and... you know the rest.
Full marks to Oliver and nul points to Ed

[eighthobstruction]

Fabulous performance of Shostakovich PC 2 with Tatiana Nikolayeva closed that broadcast

Yes, I did see that, muscular at times

[Pulcinella]

Really? I just pressed 'Subtitles' on my remote and up they popped.

As for KD - I think she was desperately hoping that Sir Mark would burst into tears.

Oh! I confess to not having thought of that.

[oddoneout]

Thing is I’m more of a Matin person

To be followed by snug communion and choral evensnog?

[oddoneout]

A reminder that this proms concert is being repeated on Tuesday at 2-15 in Classical Live.
This, from the online summary blurb

This week Tom McKinney revisits the best of the current season of Proms concerts

is an interesting way of phrasing things...
Never mind, I'm just glad that I get the chance (possibly, if my assessment of best aligns with TM or whoever) to "listen again", despite not having the gubbins for Sounds etc. I missed nearly half of the MacMillan piece so am looking forward to hearing it complete.

[LMcD]

Oh! I confess to not having thought of that.

Anybody with access to iPlayer can, of course, watch it complete with subtitles (for which you have a choice of no fewer than 5 settings).

[cloughie]

Chanson de Nuit

Seems a very appropriate ‘ Goodnight from him!’

[seabright]

Ein Heldenleben's mention of Richard Baker as TV presenter is spot on. So far we've had to endure Clive Myrie, Sandi Toksvig, Katie Derham and the ever-preposterous Tom Service. I hope TV Proms viewers aren't going to be saddled with this lot for the entire season!

[smittims]

Probably. It's the age of the presenter. Real life is replaced by someone talking about it. This is one reason why I stopped watching sport on TV: there was too much time taken up by presenters sitting round a table laughing. Itsthe same withthe TV proms. You can see by the look on their faces that they think the music is just an intro to the main business of showing off their frocks and giggling.

[vinteuil]

Richard Baker as TV presenter is spot on

It's the age of the presenter.

... my father, prescient in this and in many things, saw the 'making Richard Baker a "personality" ' way back in the 1970s as being the beginning of the end. There was no reason for a newsreader to be interesting in and of himself, quite the contrary - these should be glass panes through which we see things, not something which obtrudes. And of course he was right, and things have just got out of hand. I am not interested in the slightest in what these people have to say. Liz Alker may find a piece of muzak noodling "wasn't that just amazing, so beautiful... " - I don't give a f~~~ what she thinks

.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Probably. It's the age of the presenter. Real life is replaced by someone talking about it. This is one reason why I stopped watching sport on TV: there was too much time taken up by presenters sitting round a table laughing. Itsthe same withthe TV proms. You can see by the look on their faces that they think the music is just an intro to the main business of showing off their frocks and giggling.

Presenters in quite a lot of factual programming going out of fashion - largely to save money. You’re right they are trying to goad us into an enthusiasm we don’t necessarily share . Richard Bakers old school presentation might be a tad sombre but it’s literate , well observed and he’s actually commenting on what he sees. So he’s either looking at a monitor and improvising or , more likely, he’s prewritten a script and the OB team have lined the shots up, What he’s not doing is wittering -he does a scene set , a bit of a side tangent on the roof mushrooms , a few pithy remarks about the promenaders , intro the leader , Andrew D and off we go…a consummate pro .

The prommers don’t join in with the A any more - nor are there any witty exchanges between arena and gallery.
i remember the Arena in days of yore being a bit of a riot. .

[Ein Heldenleben]

Extract from the Guardian review of the Elder Mahler gets it just right..

“Elder’s unerring sense of structure and control of dynamics were the hallmark of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, after the interval. Where other conductors wear their hearts on their sleeves in this music, Elder focused instead on the symphony’s architecture and its many interconnections. An enormous amount of work must have gone into this refreshingly cerebral and disciplined approach to the piece. The stormy second movement was virtuosically played, but it was also masterfully controlled throughout, while the restraint of the adagietto made the release of the finale seem emotionally and musically truthful in a way one rarely hears.“

of course cerebral Mahler isn’t for everyone but there are different approaches to the “heart on sleeve “

[oddoneout]

Presenters in quite a lot of factual programming going out of fashion - largely to save money. You’re right they are trying to goad us into an enthusiasm we don’t necessarily share . Richard Bakers old school presentation might be a tad sombre but it’s literate , well observed and he’s actually commenting on what he sees. So he’s either looking at a monitor and improvising or , more likely, he’s prewritten a script and the OB team have lined the shots up, What he’s not doing is wittering -he does a scene set , a bit of a side tangent on the roof mushrooms , a few pithy remarks about the promenaders , intro the leader , Andrew D and off we go…a consummate pro .

The prommers don’t join in with the A any more - nor are there any witty exchanges between arena and gallery.
i remember the Arena in days of yore being a bit of a riot. .

Hearing the audience exchanges was one of the pleasures of proms concerts of yore - with the announcer helpfully repeating/explaining what was being said for those of us sitting at home listening to the radio. It added to the feeling of something different (and hopefully special) from the evening concerts broadcast the rest of the year. I think it was with some of the TV broadcasts years ago that such "interruptions" started to be resented(or so it seemed) and the talking heads would raise their voices to be heard over the audience and then either ignore the exchange or refer to it dismissively, and then it started happening on radio as well. It was unprofessional(childish) to try and compete by shouting over the top, not least as it wasn't a certainty that anything essential was being said by the presenter that couldn't have waited briefly.

[bluestateprommer]

5-star review from Richard Morrison in The Times (at least I could access the review for the moment):

https://www.thetimes.com/culture/classical-opera/article/mark-elders-halle-at-the-proms-2024-review-p6hg0fg6d

Per Darkbloom's comment (#25), it does make sense that SME would speak at the end of the Prom. From the Manchester reviews, he addressed the audience at the end of those concerts (presumably both of them) as well. But upping the ante at the RAH: with a national stage via Radio 3 and BBC FOUR, it was his last chance to make a plea for live music to a national audience, and to remind people not to take The Proms and live classical music for granted.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Hearing the audience exchanges was one of the pleasures of proms concerts of yore - with the announcer helpfully repeating/explaining what was being said for those of us sitting at home listening to the radio. It added to the feeling of something different (and hopefully special) from the evening concerts broadcast the rest of the year. I think it was with some of the TV broadcasts years ago that such "interruptions" started to be resented(or so it seemed) and the talking heads would raise their voices to be heard over the audience and then either ignore the exchange or refer to it dismissively, and then it started happening on radio as well. It was unprofessional(childish) to try and compete by shouting over the top, not least as it wasn't a certainty that anything essential was being said by the presenter that couldn't have waited briefly.

I think it’s the fact that we’ve become more conformist and generally frightened of upsetting other people. These days you get ticked off for shouting and impinging on others “space” . The only place you hear it are sports events.,
ok the Arena Gallery exchanges weren’t mega witty but they livened things up.

Mind you the amount of alcohol consumed in the Arena has shot up…