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

[Suffolkcoastal]

Heard the 1st half only driving home. Yes Mary the announcer got it wrong with the Traveller and Samaritan, nothing surprises me any more. Colin Matthews was vague and 'not with it' and the Talbot arrangement of the Purcell seemed pointless. The Cantata seemed to get quite a good performance and Alan Oke did sound remarkably like Pears in places! The Sinfonia da Requiem's performance seemed pretty good, except what went wrong at the start of the Requiem Aeternam in the woodwind?

[Mary Chambers]

Alan Oke didn't sound enough like Pears for my taste! He did a really good job with Waters Above and When Will My May Come, both great favourites of mine, but I could have done with a greater dramatic flourish in his first and last pieces. I enjoyed the performance in general, though - it always makes me smile. Good birds and whistling, and the boys sounded fine, though I still couldn't hear them in Sumer is Icumen In.

Speaking of announcers/presenters getting things wrong, Sara M-P said this afternoon in the Proms Plus programme that Britten conducted this programme in 1936! Now that would have been clever. She did correct it (to 1963), though without mentioning she'd got it wrong the first time.

[Serial_Apologist]

I thought Alan Oke gave an excellent imitation of Peter Pears. Almost as good as Dudley Moore.

OK - taken on the chin!

[rodney_h_d]

I was at that 1963 Prom and remember it well....

So was I! It was promoted as a Britten 50th birthday celebration [well - birth year!]. I'm afraid Britten has never become really important to me but I was a big fan of Heather Harper. Her voice production generated intonation that invariably made me feel absolutely comfortable!

[Serial_Apologist]

And now, specially for Peter Pears devotees

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YqgiOj54Ko

[Rasluap]

Just in from the hall. Much as I admire JB and his work with the BBC Symphony, Mark Wigglesworth was an excellent replacement and generated fine performances in all four works. The tension generated in the Sinfonia was impressive, as were the orchestral and choral contributions throughout. Standing four rows back in the arena, I too could have done with more volume from the boys in the last movement of the symphony (45 of them if I counted correctly) but their singing in the earlier movements was exemplary. A last minute decision to go, which was well justified.

[cavatina]

Speaking of announcers/presenters getting things wrong, Sara M-P said this afternoon in the Proms Plus programme that Britten conducted this programme in 1936! Now that would have been clever. She did correct it (to 1963), though without mentioning she'd got it wrong the first time.

Other than one tiny mistake--more of a "vocal typo" than anything else-- I thought her talk was definitely one of the best ones I've attended this year. I found her presentation style informative and accessible without being patronising, and I came away from it really having learned something. But then, Britten is one of my musical blind spots so I'm sure that's not saying much, but I enjoyed it all the same.

I'm trying to think of any other "classical" piece that involves whistling .............. anyone?

Why certainly...Charles Ives "Memories":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVdxCbTEUqE

I have a horrible feeling this is going to stick in my head as I'm waiting for the concert tomorrow...thanks a lot!

[cavatina]

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.

It certainly worked for me...chalk it up to good stage placement, I suppose.

[Richard J.]

What did people feel about the Chacony by "Purcell, arr.Joby Talbot"? (Or was it the the "Chacony, after Purcell" by Joby Talbot, as the Proms website has been changed to, though not in the printed programme on sale tonight.)

I was encouraged to read Talbot's note in the programme about re-creating the sounds of an earlier era, but I didn't think he actually achieved that. The bells sounded stridently modern, and he seemed to be trying to squeeze in every possible orchestral cliché into the 7 minutes. Indeed the size of orchestra required for such a short piece was absurd. If he wanted to create the sounds of a pre-Purcell band, he should have written for a much smaller outfit such as the AAM or Jordi Savall's team. It was interesting to hear the familiar piece in a new guise, but seemed in the end to be pointless and self-indulgent.

Mark Wigglesworth seemed to be gesturing towards (presumably) Talbot in the stalls at the end, but the applause didn't last long enough to enable the arranger/composer to take a bow. Not a good sign at a world premiere.

Thank goodness for the excellent Britten that followed.

[salymap]

I've just listened to the Spring Symphony on iPlayer and with headphones. It sounded good with the boys'
contributions loud and clear and the balance much better than on my radio.

[Mary Chambers]

And now, specially for Peter Pears devotees

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YqgiOj54Ko

I love that Dudley Moore parody!

However, you could always try the real thing in this rather wonderful clip from 1956. I hope the Japanese subtitles help

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWlYbiUOxqI

Or perhaps more suitably for this thread, some Purcell. I particularly enjoy the second song here, 'Man is for the woman made'. I think they enjoyed that one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piNH18JhDU4

Off-topic I know, but I couldn't resist.

[amateur51]

I love that Dudley Moore parody!

However, you could always try the real thing in this rather wonderful clip from 1956. I hope the Japanese subtitles help

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWlYbiUOxqI

Or perhaps more suitably for this thread, some Purcell. I particularly enjoy the second song here, 'Man is for the woman made'. I think they enjoyed that one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piNH18JhDU4

Off-topic I know, but I couldn't resist.

Thanks for the Japanese clip Mary - I've not seen that before - stunning.

By way of return, I found this, which is pretty remarkable

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFaH-Kb2HD0&feature=related

[Serial_Apologist]

Thanks for the Japanese clip Mary - I've not seen that before - stunning.

By way of return, I found this, which is pretty remarkable

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFaH-...eature=related

Those words from the first Michelangelo setting surely strike home... as to the second...

[BBMmk2]

Having woken up now and gathered my thoughts from last night's prom(as I mentioned earlier, that I was attending), I would give this %90! When you see that the conductor and two of the soloists were replaced at a comparitively short noticed,i thought rather amazing achievement. IMO, theonly work that suffered was the Purcell/Joby Talbot commission. Maybe not much rehearsal time was allotted, because the playing was quite scrappy,players miscued, and tuning was in evidence here. But, as soon as the first Britten piece begun they were in a different league. Where they should be. From this point onwards, it went very well indeed. Could'nt fault, although, in the final movement, the hunting horn player fluffed one entry. I am nip picking here I know, but there were several discrepencies here and there but it was

Overall, a marvellous evening of live music!!

[Mary Chambers]

Thanks for the Japanese clip Mary - I've not seen that before - stunning.

By way of return, I found this, which is pretty remarkable

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFaH-...eature=related

Thank you so much. I have that on DVD somewhere, but haven't seen it for ages. It's beautiful, but terribly sad somehow. BB is so obviously in poor health, even allowing for the fact that he wasn't keen on talking about music, especially not for the cameras.

I'm very grateful to the people who invented the means of seeing this sort of historic footage. It's so valuable.