I heard this particular 2011 Proms rumour a month or so ago from a usually reliable source. The conductor and orchestra sound valid: the former conducts unusual repertoire and BBC forces would be able to give the necessary rehearsal time.
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possible further hint about "Prom 3", 2011
The September 2010 newsletter of Eltham College has an interesting tidbit that might be of relevance to this thread, speculating about a Havergal Brian "Gothic Symphony" Prom:
"FUTURE PROFESSIONAL ENGAGEMENTS FOR THE TREBLES
May I take this opportunity to remind you of further professional engagements for the Trebles this academic year. You are already aware of the first two of these dates; the third set of dates is a recent booking and a very exciting opportunity for your sons to perform in the 2011 BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall at the start of the Summer Holiday 2011.....
Sat 9 July 2011 or Sun 10 July 2011: Prom rehearsal somewhere in mid-England (transport will be arranged), ALL TREBLES
Fri 15 July 2011: Prom rehearsal in London (venue t.b.a.), ALL TREBLES
Sat 16 July 2011: Prom rehearsal in London (venue t.b.a.), ALL TREBLES
Sun 17 July 2011: Prom concert in London ALL TREBLES
Further details will follow in due course.'
HB's "Gothic" does require a children's choir, so.....Comment
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Being Devil's Advocate here, is it possible that the excitement about a performance of the "Gothic" has more to do with its grand scale that its musical importance. I say this not as a put-down, but because I admit that my interest in the symphony is more than a little enhanced by its size, rather than its quality. There will be people out there who can judge better than I on whether many of HG's other symphonies which receive little attention, are in fact much better.
I only ask. :)Comment
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I'm not sure about this idea of 'relative quiet' - the 1920s saw quite a few symphonies, such as:Originally posted by Suffolkcoastal View Post
1921: Bax 1, Roussel 2
1922: Nielsen 5, Vaughan Williams 3, Hanson 1
1923: Sibelius 6, Zemlinsky Lyric
1924: Sibelius 7, Prokofiev 2, Holst Choral
1925: Nielsen 6, Copland 1, Copland Dance Symphony, Bax 2, Shostakovich 1
1926: Antheil 1
1927: Shostakovich 2, Sessions 1
1928: Schmidt 3, Prokofiev 3, Webern, Thomson Symphony on a Hymn Tune
1929: Bax 3, Randall Thompson 1, Shostakovich 3
Sibelius 7, Nielsen 5, Prok 3, Zemlinsky, VW Pastoral... this is hardly the stuff of a fallow period is it?Comment
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Surely that's good enough reason to get excited.Originally posted by Eine Alpensinfonie View PostComment
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Would that the noughties had produced such music!Originally posted by makropulos View Post
Del boy: “Get in, get out, don’t look back. That’s my motto!”Comment
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I WAS TRYING TO THE 1920'S WAS RELATIVELY QUIET COMPARED TO OTHER DECADES SURROUNDING IT, I was not trying to say that there wasn't any significant symphonies produced in that period!!! If you compare it with its late romantic flourish 1890-1910 and the huge amount of symphonies composed in the mid-1930's - 1960's it is!!! As an avid collector with a special interest in the symphony have recordings over 400 symphonies composed between 1930 and 1970 and another 300 between 1875 and 1915 with only around 40 or so from the 1920'sComment
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You might have a point in terms of sheer quantity - but quality comes into it too, and on that basis I'd have to say that the 20s were a pretty "good" decade for symphonies. I hope that doesn't seem obtuse - it's not meant to - and you really don't need to shout.Comment
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Having successfully sought confirmation from a reliable and trustworthy authority, I can with no small amount of pleasure confirm that this performance is indeed scheduled to take place on the stated date in the stated venue with the stated forces in the stated concert series.
As to symphonies in the 1920s, the point that I would personally make is that this period seems to represent somthing of a lull in British symphonic writing after Elgar and Vaughan Williams's first two examples each and that only Bax seemed to keep the British symphonic torch burning until the 1930s when Brian really got going and we had not only Walton but the early symphonies of Rubbra and Lloyd as well as Elgar's might-have-been (and eventually was!) Third. OK, the Brian Gothic was completed in 1927 but few people gave Brian the attention or respect that he deserved at that time or for years thereafter because his early symphonies just didn't reach the concert platform as they should; indeed, perhaps if his works had been performed much sooner after their completions, his later music might have been better than it was!...Comment
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Sorry for shouting but I've been getting rather fed up with my posts being seemingly misread in recent months. Coming back to the point, I think even on quality the 20's was 'outdone' by the preceeding and succeeding decades and was generally considered to be a period of experiment with the symphony as a form less favoured by composers.
I think the most ridiculous statement I've ever come across in relation to the symphony was a Penguin record guide a few years ago when in relation to Messiaen's Turangalila Symphony saying that in the 1940's, Shostakovich not withstanding, the symphony was at a low ebb! Whoever wrote that must be on a completely different planet as the 1940's was one of the richest decades of all!Comment
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Certainly no argument with you there about the 1940s - and that's one of the "gems" from the Penguin Guide that I've not seen before :)Originally posted by Suffolkcoastal View PostComment
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Oh yes! Absolutely thrilled to hear this news. Roll on July 17th!Originally posted by ahinton View Post
Nice to see the money saved from closing the Radio 3 message board going to worthwhile causes. ;)Last edited by maestro267; 21-12-10, 13:12.Comment
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So it's beginning to look as if the sceptics were on dodgy ground ... A whopping opening weekend indeed!Originally posted by ahinton View PostIt isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.Comment
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No offence, but if you want to be clearly understood then you should check your typing before you shout.Originally posted by Suffolkcoastal View Post
Del boy: “Get in, get out, don’t look back. That’s my motto!”Comment
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Instead of picking holes in my typing can please acknowledge that the original point I was trying to make was at least a valid one.
Going back to my point about the 1920's being an experimental one from the symphonic point of view, Brian's 'Gothic' is very much of its 'period' in one sense and also looks back to the large scale late romantic symphonies of its immediate past. Many of the Gothic's contemporary symphonies were unusual in design though not on the same enormous scale of course. One only needs to think of the compressed one movement form of Sibelius 7, the strange lopsided two movement form of Prokofiev 2, the more balanced two movement Nielsen 5, or the rather novel 2nd & 3rd symphonies of Prokofiev. Brian's own continual solution to the problems of symphonic construction throughout his long composing life is a fascinating one and he doesn't always seem to get much credit for this.Comment
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