Proms 2024

[Darkbloom]

Although actually the rejigging of the queues started, I think, when the underground works on the RAH were started and the Gallery day queue which had been in Bremner Road(?) had to be moved to down the steps like the others. The current (day ticket) system may still not be not so good for those with a job if that job doesn't allow them to log on at precisely 10.30. I lost 3/4 hour working time last week while waiting to get in to book.

And I agree about the Bruckner and Schoenberg anniversaries. I'd barely registered the Bruckner one, and the Schoenberg not at all :(

The majority of Proms aren't the sort of concerts that require you to queue for large amounts of time anyway. For the majority you could probably have left work and arrived when they were letting people in and still got a decent place in the Arena. Even easier if you wanted the Gallery. Otherwise, you could have got a season ticket which would guarantee your entry. The rejigging of the queues would have been in the late '90s, as that was when I first started Promming and remember a particularly grim Sunday queuing up for the Matthew Passion, and then getting into the RAH, which felt like a Turkish bath, with lots of steaming Prommers surrounding me.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra's Tchaikowsky 5th
'Beethoven for Three'
NYO's Mahler 1st
Martyn Brabbins's London Symphony and Enigma Variations
Dalia Stasevska's Sibelius 5th

I’d pretty much go along with that.

but add Ed Gardner LPO Busoni etc
And
Elder Hallé Mahler 5,
Pappano War Requiem,
Coote’s Kinderototenleider
Rotterdam / Shani concert ,
the Suzuki St John passion

And ABOVE all the Czech Glagolitic

[Quarky]

The thing about the Proms is the great enthusiasm for Classical Music, with which I get infected from time to time. I find myself pushed into listening to music which would usually be put to one side. This year has been rewarding, and I have been able to catch up/ progress with Mozart, Britten, Reich and Elgar. Currently delving into Prom 68/ Britten Dream. Might even buy the Glyndebourne DVD.
The non-classical/ popular concerts didn’t get in the way.

[Hitch]

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/sep/13/thrilling-unforgettable-there-is-nothing-else-like-it-readers-on-their-proms-highlights

[kernelbogey]

I watched about 20 minutes of 'Unmissable Moments' of Proms 2024 on BBC4 last night, but gave up because of the awful edits to the music - not to mention Clive M and Katie D and their presentation styles. It was absolutely 'Your ten best bits'.

[french frank]

Rachel Flynn reporting from the Royal Albert Hall:

"I caught up with David Pickard before his final Last Night as Director of the BBC Proms. He’s stepping down this year after his ninth season.

"One of the main agendas throughout his tenure was to see a broader range of people both on the stage and in the audience, he tells me.

"As well as taking the Proms outside of London and promoting non-classical artists, he’s introduced relaxed concerts - where the audience is free to make involuntary noise."

"We've tried to tap into the feeling that the boundaries of music are slightly breaking down. We don't put things in silos in the way that we used to."

'The boundaries of music are slightly breaking down' seems an understatement for 'the floodgates are opening'. Climate change?

[oddoneout]

We don't put things in silos in the way that we used to

I think they do - it's the one marked "put up or shut up" that contains all the things we should like and approve of, because they say so.

[gradus]

Some odd edits with the music heard not matching the images.

[edashtav]

Radio 3 has not had a good 2024. However, the Proms have survived well despite a bruising encounter with inclusion. I have winnowed my 20 strong long list of very enjoyable ''classical ' concerts to a more manageable top 10:

• Bournemouth SO, Karabits Tchaikowsky 5th

• Czech PO, Hrusa in Kaprilova, Dvorak (PC) and Janacek (Glagolitic Mass)

• Bavarian RSO Rattle Bruckner 4th

• Bavarian RSO Rattle Mahler 6th

• LPO Gardner Busoni PC (BG) & Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances

• Pappano Britten War Requiem

• Rotterdam SO Shani (conductor and pianist) concert

• Suzuki Bach Collegium St John Passion

• BBC NOW, Martin in Bacewicz and Tchaikovsky (Nemanja Radulovic)

• Beethoven 9th by Heart Aurora Collon; special mentions for dramatised introduction and NY Choir.

(RANDOM ORDER)

[Ein Heldenleben]

Radio 3 has not had a good 2024. However, the Proms have survived well despite a bruising encounter with inclusion. I have winnowed my 20 strong long list of very enjoyable ''classical ' concerts to a more manageable top 10:

• Bournemouth SO, Karabits Tchaikowsky 5th

• Czech PO, Hrusa in Kaprilova, Dvorak (PC) and Janacek (Glagolitic Mass)

• Bavarian RSO Rattle Bruckner 5th

• Bavarian RSO Rattle Mahler 6th

• LPO Gardner Busoni PC (BG) & Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances • Pappano Britten War Requiem

• Rotterdam SO Shani (conductor and pianist) concert

• Suzuki Bach Collegium St John Passion

• BBC NOW, Martin in Bacewicz and Tchaikovsky (Nemanja Radulovic)

• Beethoven 9th by Heart Aurora Collon; special mentions for dramatised introduction and NY Choir.

(RANDOM ORDER)

I would agree but late sub the Aurora Beethoven 9 with Fridays OAE Eroica and as another late addition the Garsingtom Midsummer Nights Dream.

[smittims]

David Pickard's wanting to see 'a broader range of people' shows, I think, that he thinks this is more important than playing better music. But I realise it's irrelevant for me to demand more (well, at least some ) Brian , Rawsthorne, Rainier and Cooke at the Proms when I can listen to them from my collection of recordings, as can any YouTube or Spotify subsciber. The Proms really aren't about that any more. But they do seem to lack a focus, a style, that they used to have. There was no doubt what the Proms were about 100 years ago, but today with Bruckner 5 and Florence and the Machine on different nights it's difficult to say .

[edashtav]

I would agree but late sub the Aurora Beethoven 9 with Fridays OAE Eroica and as another late addition the Garsingtom Midsummer Nights Dream.

I know the staccato, insistent 9th irritated you.
I couldn't include the OAE Eroica despite many fine reports of it as I missed on broadcast and 'events' have conspired to prevent me catching up on SOUNDS

[Serial_Apologist]

I think they do - it's the one marked "put up or shut up" that contains all the things we should like and approve of, because they say so.

Good example of marketing, really: tell people this product they probably would never have thought up is what they really want, blaze it out with repeat publicity, and rely on social group-think pressure to ensure compliance.

[Serial_Apologist]

David Pickard's wanting to see 'a broader range of people' shows, I think, that he thinks this is more important than playing better music. But I realise it's irrelevant for me to demand more (well, at least some ) Brian , Rawsthorne, Rainier and Cooke at the Proms when I can listen to them from my collection of recordings, as can any YouTube or Spotify subsciber. The Proms really aren't about that any more. But they do seem to lack a focus, a style, that they used to have. There was no doubt what the Proms were about 100 years ago, but today with Bruckner 8 and Florence and the Machine on different nights it's difficult to say .

And impossible to fix any criteria by which to judge.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I know the staccato, insistent 9th irritated you.
I couldn't include the OAE Eroica despite many fine reports of it as I missed on broadcast and 'events' have conspired to prevent me catching up on SOUNDS

I may be wrong here but I think you’ll find it’s “available on BBC Sounds till October 14th.”
the joke is wearing thin…