Barenboim: Thank you Roger...

[Guest]

After Prom 18 (Choral Symphony) Daniel Barenboim addressed the audience and thanked the BBC:

"Our gratitude to the BBC who gave us this wonderful, unique opportunity to be here and play all the Beethoven symphonies - and in every concert one, and sometimes two, works by Pierre Boulez - and have all that televised. Ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you, we travel a lot, there is no country in the world that would do that for music and for culture."

It's on iplayer here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00wnhkl Roger W deserves some applause for a bold, successful & educational venture.

[amateur51]

After Prom 18 (Choral Symphony) Daniel Barenboim addressed the audience and thanked the BBC:

"Our gratitude to the BBC who gave us this wonderful, unique opportunity to be here and play all the Beethoven symphonies - and in every concert one, and sometimes two, works by Pierre Boulez - and have all that televised. Ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you, we travel a lot, there is no country in the world that would do that for music and for culture."

It's on iplayer here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00wnhkl Roger W deserves some applause for a bold, successful & educational venture.

Bravo Daniel!

And you're correct, Osborn - bravo Roger!

[BBMmk2]

Well said Osborn!! And finally has RW done something worthwhile?

[Boilk]

And finally has RW done something worthwhile?

Not sure about that ... you can't really play any safer than a Beethoven symphony cycle with a big-name conductor. It's precisely because of this that they were able to put Boulez in the middle of it all and televise some of it outside the 'confines' of BBC Four!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Credit where it's due then.

[Alison]

Fwiw I feel Roger has been a much more imaginative Proms director than Nicholas Kenyon. An uncharacteristically harsh verdict BBM !

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Fwiw I feel Roger has been a much more imaginative Proms director than Nicholas Kenyon.

[Northender]

He definitely seems to be more interested in programming British works. I sometimes got the impression that NK was dead set on avoiding them.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Somebody pinch me...

[french frank]

Fwiw I feel Roger has been a much more imaginative Proms director than Nicholas Kenyon.

It would be quite surprising if he hadn't been. NK was a surprise choice for Controller, following Drummond, and he then followed Drummond as Director of the Proms. But his professional background was/is nothing like RW's, who from school through university and every appointment since has specialised in music.

[cloughie]

It would be quite surprising if he hadn't been. NK was a surprise choice for Controller, following Drummond, and he then followed Drummond as Director of the Proms. But his professional background was/is nothing like RW's, who from school through university and every appointment since has specialised in music.

So are you suggesting that it's NK to blame for the rot setting into R3. RW has done little to reverse it! The Proms remain a great thing to have, but they are very much in the Curate's Egg category ot the little girl who when she was godd was very very good but when she was bad was horrid!

[Flosshilde]

So are you suggesting that it's NK to blame for the rot setting into R3. RW has done little to reverse it! The Proms remain a great thing to have, but they are very much in the Curate's Egg category ot the little girl who when she was godd was very very good but when she was bad was horrid!

The Proms are very good when they play what I like, but very bad when they don't.

[french frank]

So are you suggesting that it's NK to blame for the rot setting into R3. RW has done little to reverse it!

I wasn't offering a comment on Radio 3 as I think that would be off-topic on this thread

The Proms remain a great thing to have, but they are very much in the Curate's Egg category ot the little girl who when she was godd was very very good but when she was bad was horrid!

Has there ever been a Proms season which was universally hailed as 'perfect'? Unlike Mr Jones's egg, a number of less than palatable Proms mouthfuls don't spoil the rest of the dish.

I'm no connoisseur of NK's Proms so I can't make a comparison but RW has had some imaginative ideas that have worked well.

[Flosshilde]

I'm no connoisseur of NK's Proms so I can't make a comparison but RW has had some imaginative ideas that have worked well.

Perhaps he's put all his energies & attention into the Proms, & that's why such crass ideas as the guest on 'Essential Classics' have slipped through?

[cloughie]

I wasn't offering a comment on Radio 3 as I think that would be off-topic on this thread
Has there ever been a Proms season which was universally hailed as 'perfect'? Unlike Mr Jones's egg, a number of less than palatable Proms mouthfuls don't spoil the rest of the dish.

I'm no connoisseur of NK's Proms so I can't make a comparison but RW has had some imaginative ideas that have worked well.

Was Michael Ball NK's or RW's?