Proms 2024

[5against4]

Hi everyone - long time no see - i just wanted to let those who might be interested know that my coverage of (some of) this year's Proms premières can be found HERE. Just three articles this year, the last of which was published this morning.

[LMcD]

I must have missed "The Ring".

It will probably be recycled.

[french frank]

Hi everyone - long time no see - i just wanted to let those who might be interested know that my coverage of (some of) this year's Proms premières can be found HERE. Just three articles this year, the last of which was published this morning.

Good to see you back, 5:4. I gather you were impressed by this year's crop of prems!

[5against4]

Good to see you back, 5:4. I gather you were impressed by this year's crop of prems!

Thanks

Regarding (most of) the premières, i'm reminded of Yes, Minister:

Jim Hacker: "What’s 'egregious' mean?"
Sir Humphrey: I think it means outstanding - in one way or another."

[bluestateprommer]

If it means anything well after this season to judge American Public Radio's choices of Proms for their SymphonyCast series, here is the list of 9, given that the First Night and the Last Night always feature (which really means a choice of just 7):

Prom 1: The First Night
Prom 4: MacMillan / Mahler (Halle / SME)
Prom 15: Anna Clyne / Messiaen (BBC Phil / The Swingles / Collon)
Prom 26: Beethoven / Sarah Gibson / Brahms (BBC Phil / Feldmann / Bihlmaier)
Prom 31: Brahms / Schubert (WEDO / Mutter / Barenboim)
Prom 36: Bonis / Mozart / Felix Mendelssohn (BBC SSO / McGill / Gemma New)
Prom 58: Debussy / Stravinsky / Berlioz (Orchestre de Paris / Doulcet / Makela)
Prom 67: RVW / Schoenberg / DSCH 5 (BBC SO / Pat Kop / Peltokoski)
Prom 73: The Last Night

Given the general middle-of-the-roadness of what I recall from past choices of Proms for SymphonyCast, the biggest surprise, at least IMVHO, is the choice of the Prom with the Schoenberg Violin Concerto. Of course, there is the 150th-anniversary aspect of featuring his music, but simply mentioning Schoenberg's name to US classical concert planners tends to make them run for the hills. Otherwise, given the impossible task of picking just 7 Proms (besides the default bookend two), the choices seem reasonably OK, again keeping in mind that most probably, not all that many Americans would search out BBC Sounds compared to taking the offerings from SymphonyCast.

[Petrushka]

If it means anything well after this season to judge American Public Radio's choices of Proms for their SymphonyCast series, here is the list of 9, given that the First Night and the Last Night always feature (which really means a choice of just 7):

Prom 1: The First Night
Prom 4: MacMillan / Mahler (Halle / SME)
Prom 15: Anna Clyne / Messiaen (BBC Phil / The Swingles / Collon)
Prom 26: Beethoven / Sarah Gibson / Brahms (BBC Phil / Feldmann / Bihlmaier)
Prom 31: Brahms / Schubert (WEDO / Mutter / Barenboim)
Prom 36: Bonis / Mozart / Felix Mendelssohn (BBC SSO / McGill / Gemma New)
Prom 58: Debussy / Stravinsky / Berlioz (Orchestre de Paris / Doulcet / Makela)
Prom 67: RVW / Schoenberg / DSCH 5 (BBC SO / Pat Kop / Peltokoski)
Prom 73: The Last Night

Given the general middle-of-the-roadness of what I recall from past choices of Proms for SymphonyCast, the biggest surprise, at least IMVHO, is the choice of the Prom with the Schoenberg Violin Concerto. Of course, there is the 150th-anniversary aspect of featuring his music, but simply mentioning Schoenberg's name to US classical concert planners tends to make them run for the hills. Otherwise, given the impossible task of picking just 7 Proms (besides the default bookend two), the choices seem reasonably OK, again keeping in mind that most probably, not all that many Americans would search out BBC Sounds compared to taking the offerings from SymphonyCast.

Interesting that neither the two Czech Philharmonic nor the two Berlin Philharmonic Proms are included. Also none of the 'popular' offerings.

Do they have complete freedom to choose what they want?

[LMcD]

Interesting that neither the two Czech Philharmonic nor the two Berlin Philharmonic Proms are included. Also none of the 'popular' offerings.

Do they have complete freedom to choose what they want?

The Sibelius 5th was a sad omission (IMVHO)

[bluestateprommer]

Interesting that neither the two Czech Philharmonic nor the two Berlin Philharmonic Proms are included. Also none of the 'popular' offerings.

Do they have complete freedom to choose what they want?

Great question, to which I obviously have no idea, since I don't know anyone at the BBC or at SymphonyCast (affiliated with Minnesota Public Radio) who would know the answer. At a general guess, however, SymphonyCast probably doesn't have completely free rein of choice. It would be understandable, for example, if the BBC were to insist on substantial representation of its own orchestras in the choices. To add some additional data (or clutter), here is a collected set of SymphonyCast's selections of Proms from 2021 to 2023:

SymphonyCast 2021:
7/30/2021: The First Night
8/2/2021: Purcell / Ogonek / Saint-Saens / Brahms (BBC NOW, Guy Johnston, Bancroft)
8/5/2021: Gipps / Ades / Brahms (CBSO, MG-T)
8/8/2021: A.R. Thomas / Ives / Dvorak (BBC NOW, Bancroft)
8/14/2021: Prokofiev / JSB / Mozart / DSCH 9 (Philharmonia, Olafsson, P. Jarvi)
8/27/2021: Foulds / Walton / Charlotte Bray / Arnold (BBC SO, Ridout, Oramo)
9/7/2021: Unsuk Chin / LvB / Saint-Saens (The Halle, Grosvenor, Lapwood, SME)
9/11/2021: The Last Night

SymphonyCast 2022:
Prom 1: The First Night
Prom 6: Jóhannsson / Rachmaninov / Guðnadóttir / Tchaikovsky (BBC SO, Kozhukhin, Stasevska)
Prom 9: Ravel / Sally Beamish / Rimsky-Korsakov (BBC NOW, Finch, Matiakh)
Prom 27: Elfman / Gershwin / Ravel (NYOGB, Dinnerstein, Gourlay)
Prom 31: Wagner / Strauss / Mahler / Schumann (Ulster Orchestra, Alder, Rustioni)
Prom 36: Bartok / Prokofiev / Eisendle / Dvorak (Vienna RSO, Grosvenor, Alsop)
Prom 49: Birtwistle / Mahler (LSO, Alder, Connolly, SSR)
Prom 61: George Walker / Beethoven 9 (Chineke! Orchestra, Edusei)

SymphonyCast 2023:
Prom 1: The First Night
Prom 6: G.-E. Mason / Rachmaninov / Mahler (BBC Phil, Hough, M. Wigglesworth)
Prom 8: de Falla / Lalo / Debussy / Ravel (BBC SO, Duenas, Pons)
Prom 16: Rachmaninov / DSCH 5 (The Halle, SME)
Prom 22: Prokofiev / Tchaikovsky (BBC NOW, Isata K.-M., Bancroft)
Prom 39: Ligeti / Bartok / Beethoven (Budapest Festival Orchestra, Elbert, I. Fischer)
Prom 55: Carlos Simon / Stravinsky / Gershwin / Ravel (Boston SO, Thibaudet, Nelsons)
Prom 71: The Last Night

I was trying to look, admittedly very quickly, to see if there was any sort of pattern, or perhaps a pattern by omission. Some micro-patterns may be detectable, like Proms with works by female composers and/or female conductors, although these latter phenomena could be as much a case of natural osmosis by default rather than box-ticking on SymphonyCast's part.

SymphonyCast has done the occasional separate broadcast of a Czech Philharmonic or a Berlin Philharmonic concert apart from Proms offerings, but those tend to be infrequent. A glance at past SymphonyCast offerings tends to show orchestras that aren't necessarily the biggest marquee names. I see recurrence of the Minnesota Orchestra and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, as well as a fairly recent Minnesota-based festival, among SymphonyCast's choices, for understandable local reasons. A few European orchestras pop up regularly, like the DSO-Berlin and one of the WDR orchestras. From the US, the Oregon Symphony and the Buffalo Philharmonic seem to recur consistently over the past few years, again not the first names of ensembles that would come to mind from the USA. In of itself, that may reflect a wish to avoid choices of big names like the American "Big Five" and the obvious big European Continental orchestras, which might not need the publicity so much as less famous orchestras.

[Quarky]

On the basis of some surfing, SymphonyCast seems to be essentially a one-man band run by Steve Seel, https://www.yourclassical.org/profile/steve-seel , and the proms progams listed are those broadcast on his weekly 2 hour programme.