Prom 41: Sunday 14th August 2011 at 7.00 p.m. (Purcell, Britten)

[Ravensbourne]

Mark Wigglesworth at the BBC Proms

See also http://www.markwigglesworth.com/news...the-bbc-proms/

Mark Wigglesworth returns to the BBC Henry Wood Proms. Replacing an indisposed Jiří Bělohlávek, he joins the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Chorus, the BBC Singers, and Trinity Boys Choir for a performance of Benjamin Britten’s Cantata Misericordium, Sinfonia da Requiem, and Spring Symphony. The concert opens with the world premiere of Joby Talbot’s orchestration of Purcell’s Chaconny in G Minor.

[Serial_Apologist]

it's just so much fun. The boys' choir, the whistling, the cuckoos, the hard-won Sumer is Icumen In at the end

I find those parts of this work unbelievably twee. At school we were "persuaded" St Nicholas was a fine example of modern music, and I was made to sing in it. Just as well we had Howells, Ireland, Holst, RVW, Leighton and Kodaly to sing too! There's lots of bits in later Britten that for me demean the best of the early work, such as "Our Hunting Fathers", parts of the Bridge Variations, (though the tendency to tweeness and gratuitous dissonance starts to emerge in that work), the Piano and Violin concertos, "coalface", "On This Island", Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra and "Grimes". And it isn't just down to Pears, (or Dudley Moore ): "Dying, dying, dying" from the Serenade... well, get on with it then, fer gawd's sake, as Kenneth Williams would doubtless have said, is my suggestion.

Frank Bridge considered the young Britten more than worthy of note; and I would have agreed; what he would have made of the later Britten, I've often wondered

No Joby Talbot works on this concert then, just an arrangement. I once had high hopes for Mr Talbot - his theme tune to "The League of Gentlemen" was one of the finest TV themes ever imv... but he has since gone in a Philip Glass direction

S-A

[salymap]

I love the Spring Symphony, having heard very early performances of it and many times. Details of artists sadly forgotten.

There is a magic transition of one section to another near the end that reminds me of the way Britten introduces the Fugue at the end of the Young Persons Guide. Can't describe it better than that but it's there.

[Serial_Apologist]

I love the Spring Symphony, having heard very early performances of it and many times. Details of artists sadly forgotten.

There is a magic transition of one section to another near the end that reminds me of the way Britten introduces the Fugue at the end of the Young Persons Guide. Can't describe it better than that but it's there.

As the music marks time with a tremolo punctuated in the bass: "And now, the entire orchestra rejoins in a fugue on Purcell's great theme, starting in the treble with the woodwind"

?

[Ravensbourne]

Christopher Maltman is no longer available to take part in this concert. He is replaced by Leigh Melrose.

Mark Wigglesworth returns to the BBC Henry Wood Proms, replacing an indisposed Jiří Bělohlávek.

John Mark Ainsley is now unavailable owing to ill health. He is replaced by Alan Oke.

[prokkyshosty]

Christopher Maltman is no longer available to take part in this concert. He is replaced by Leigh Melrose.

Mark Wigglesworth returns to the BBC Henry Wood Proms, replacing an indisposed Jiří Bělohlávek.

John Mark Ainsley is now unavailable owing to ill health. He is replaced by Alan Oke.

Next we'll hear that Britten's Spring Symphony has cancelled on account of a cold and has been replaced by Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 1 "Winter Daydreams".

[Ravensbourne]

Jiří Bělohlávek

is he likely to miss Prom 51 too?

Thomas Dausgaard has taken over as the conductor of Prom 51: Wagner, Liszt, Kevin Volans & Brahms.

[BBMmk2]

I am going to this prom tomorrow. Can't wait as i used to go school with Mark Wigglesworth!

[EdgeleyRob]

I am going to this prom tomorrow.

Enjoy BBM, I am very jealous.

[Mary Chambers]

I can't wait for this one -- the Spring Symphony is my favorite Britten by far, because it's just so much fun. The boys' choir, the whistling, the cuckoos, the hard-won Sumer is Icumen In at the end...

I wouldn't call it my favourite Britten, but I agree absolutely with you about the fun! I like all those bits, too. It shows the boyish, exuberant side of Britten that was very much part of his character, but doesn't surface very frequently in his works - though think of Albert Herring, Young Person's Guide, Ceremony of Carols, Pyramus and Thisbe in The Dream.

I can't remember saying I didn't think it's top-notch Britten, but perhaps I did. It does have its faults, and is quite difficult to bring off well in live performance. There are very often balance problems with the boys' choir. I've never heard them properly in Sumer is Icumen In yet! If those of you who are going to the Prom (lucky things) can hear them, please let me know. They really do have to make a lot of noise, not always easy for inhibited English choirboys - in the first performance there was a very large choir of Dutch boys. No doubt on the radio the sound people will make sure we can hear.

[prokkyshosty]

Mary, indeed, how loud the boys will be with their 'icuming' Sumer is what I'm most curious about in tonight's performance. I've only ever heard this live once before, and the boys were completely lost in the mix. Its such a great effect on record, but it seems impossible to live up to in reality. Still, I'm hopeful.

ps. I'm about to head off to the community sing for this! Jug Jug pu-we! Tu witta woo!

[EdgeleyRob]

Really looking forward to this one, it has the potential to be the the highlight of the season so far !

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I think the Spring Symphony ranks highly as one of my favourite Britten compositions. I too shall be interested in the sound balance in Sumer is icumen in. In those famous Britten/Decca recordings, sometimes important melodic lines were boosted by the engineers, and not necessarily in the best interest of the music. In The Young Person's Guide..., for example, the return of the Purcell theme at the end in Britten's recording is so prominent that one loses the sense of wonder of hearing the great melody emerging from within the fugue.

But if "Sumer..." cannot be heard at all, that's a very different matter.

[Mary Chambers]

If I'm not mistaken, the announcer has persistently confused the Traveller and the Samaritan in the Cantata Misericordium. The Traveller is the baritone (Leigh Melrose) and the Samaritan is the tenor (Alan Oke). Very good performance of a work I haven't heard for years.

[Chris Newman]

I thought Alan Oke gave an excellent imitation of Peter Pears. Almost as good as Dudley Moore. Seriously though, a delightful Spring Symphony tonight.

Britten fans please note this thread:

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthrea...n-of-the-Screw.