Proms 2024

[oddoneout]

Well, the BBC were so quiet about announcing the Proms season this year that I didn't even register it had happened!

It does strike me, however, on the odd occasions that I've actually been listening properly to In Tune recently, that there do seem to be a lot of (young?) musicians appearing on it who say they're happy to play other forms than classical, and that they don't feel constrained to play only classical, so perhaps this is just a trend?

There have always been "classical" musicians(of all ages) who are happy to play other forms of music, but didn't tend to trumpet the fact due to the negative fall-out it engendered. Two things have perhaps changed that in more recent times. Firstly, it isn't seen as so odd or undesirable, and secondly when work is scarce then it doesn't make sense to limit it even further on outdated and irrelevant notions of what is "suitable". Playing outside "the usual" can be rewarding in its own right for the individual as well.

[smittims]

Being cynical, I suspect they select those who will say that. It has always been my experience that musicians who try to be jack-of-all trades end up being master of none. I think it's better to specialise. To be able to sing Mozart well, for instance, is worth a lifetime's study, and a pianist who tells us how he loves to play jazz tends not to convince me in Beethoven sonatas.

[oddoneout]

Being cynical, I suspect they select those who will say that. It has always been my experience that musicians who try to be jack-of-all trades end up being master of none. I think it's better to specialise. To be able to sing Mozart well, for instance, is worth a lifetime's study, and a pianist who tells us how he loves to play jazz tends not to convince me in Beethoven sonatas.

Does specialising really mean excluding all other forms of music? Even for personal enjoyment and as a contrast/change from the specialism?

[cloughie]

There have always been "classical" musicians(of all ages) who are happy to play other forms of music, but didn't tend to trumpet the fact due to the negative fall-out it engendered. Two things have perhaps changed that in more recent times. Firstly, it isn't seen as so odd or undesirable, and secondly when work is scarce then it doesn't make sense to limit it even further on outdated and irrelevant notions of what is "suitable". Playing outside "the usual" can be rewarding in its own right for the individual as well.

Orchestral players have always relied on income from recording sessions for a range of genres - musical theatre, string sounds on pop recordings, brass in jazz, ad recordings - the list goes on. The skills of a professional musician means that recordings can be in the can efficiently and quickly!

[smittims]

Maybe personal taste and preference are influential here. I think the most satisfying performances I've heard are from musicians who limited their professsional activity, at any rate, to the msuc they did best. Clifford Curzon , for instance, had a much lauded career for decades, but hardly ever played a Beethoven Sonata or Chopn , let alone anything 'lighter'. He was celebrated for his Mozart and Schubert, but even there he played only a limited number of their works. Alfred Brendel too was a much loved Schubertian , but he didn't perform even as early as D664 (the 'little' A major sonata) . Now of course these pianists may have both played boogie-woogie to their friends , but they didn't spend any of their professional time diversifying; in their earlier career they did play a wider variety of classical and modern works, but the direction was always towards specialism.

Conversely, I find some disappointment in the playing of musicians who try to bridge two worlds. Keith Jarrett, for instance, was a master jazz pianist but, in my view, no more than adequate in Bach; Friedrich Gulda , superb in Mozart and Schubert, loved to play his own style of jazz, but I'm afraid I could never rate him as a jazzer.

[LMcD]

Maybe personal taste and preference are influential here. I think the most satisfying performances I've heard are from musicians who limited their professsional activity, at any rate, to the msuc they did best. Clifford Curzon , for instance, had a much lauded career for decades, but hardly ever played a Beethoven Sonata or Chopn , let alone anything 'lighter'. He was celebrated for his Mozart and Schubert, but even there he played only a limited number of their works. Alfred Brendel too was a much loved Schubertian , but he didn't perform even as early as D664 (the 'little' A major sonata) . Now of course these pianists may have both played boogie-woogie to their friends , but they didn't spend any of their professional time diversifying; in their earlier career they did play a wider variety of classical and modern works, but the direction was always towards specialism.

Conversely, I find some disappointment in the playing of musicians who try to bridge two worlds. Keith Jarrett, for instance, was a master jazz pianist but, in my view, no more than adequate in Bach; Friedrich Gulda , superb in Mozart and Schubert, loved to play his own style of jazz, but I'm afraid I could never rate him as a jazzer.

'Mr Preview' never disappointed me in either of the musical worlds in which he plied his trade. He was also IMHO a sympathetic accompanist to Sylvia McNair and other singers.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Being cynical, I suspect they select those who will say that. It has always been my experience that musicians who try to be jack-of-all trades end up being master of none. I think it's better to specialise. To be able to sing Mozart well, for instance, is worth a lifetime's study, and a pianist who tells us how he loves to play jazz tends not to convince me in Beethoven sonatas.

Boris Berezovsky is a good jazz pianist and Bill Evans recorded Beethoven’s Third Piano concerto. André Previn could play in both styles to a very high level.
The number of singers who can do both Great American Songbook and Mozart are legion - Renée Fleming and Marilyn Horne spring to mind.
PS I agree re Jarrett and Gulda.

[smittims]

Indeed, I'm not denying that they did; I'm not saying Beny Goodman 'couldn't play' Weber. He recorded both concertos, but it wasn't very wonderful. I just feel they'd have been better in either field if they'd specialised. Was Evans' Beethoven Three as good as Kempff or Edwin Fischer? Was Previn's K488 as good as Curzon? As I said, it's personal preference.

[LMcD]

Boris Berezovsky is a good jazz pianist and Bill Evans recorded Beethoven’s Third Piano concerto. André Previn could play in both styles to a very high level.
The number of singers who can do both Great American Songbook and Mozart are legion - Renée Fleming and Marilyn Horne spring to mind.
PS I agree re Jarrett and Gulda.

In a letter to Verna Fine, Copland said he considered a particular recording of his concerto featuring Goodman and conducted by himself was his best recording ever. .(I'm not sure which of the two 'he' is here, but it's a significant commendation in either case).

[cloughie]

Boris Berezovsky is a good jazz pianist and Bill Evans recorded Beethoven’s Third Piano concerto. André Previn could play in both styles to a very high level.
The number of singers who can do both Great American Songbook and Mozart are legion - Renée Fleming and Marilyn Horne spring to mind.
PS I agree re Jarrett and Gulda.

I would add Barbara Bonney, Frederika von Stade and Dawn Upshaw.

[french frank]

I was at a studio broadcast of In Tune when Humphrey Carpenter - a great jazz fan - commented grumpily after playing Daniel Barenboim playing a jazz piece (paraphrase): "I do wish these classical musicians wouldn't try their hand at jazz." Behind the glass screen the producer said, "I don't know why he doesn't just say he doesn't want to play these things." But Barenboim perhaps not the best exponent of jazz?

Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett play Mozart, Piano concerto No 10 K365 (while we wait for Proms 2024 to begin ):

[Barbirollians]

What about Winifred Atwell in the Grieg Piano Concerto ?

[Ein Heldenleben]

What about Winifred Atwell in the Grieg Piano Concerto ?

Dudley Moore recorded that with Sir Georg Solti.

[Roger Webb]

I would add Barbara Bonney, Frederika von Stade and Dawn Upshaw.

And Tatiana Troyanos!

To show the perils of stepping out of ones genre, the Orlofsky party gala from Karajan's Fledermaus.

[Roger Webb]

..........André Previn could play in both styles to a very high level.
The number of singers who can do both Great American Songbook and Mozart are legion - Renée Fleming and Marilyn Horne spring to mind.
.

Previn on piano, the great David Finck on bass accompanying Sylvia McNair on 'Sure Thing - A Jerome Kern Songbook'. On Philips.