Proms Intervals worth listening to

[doversoul1]

Wed 22 Aug
This was definitely one.

Catherine Bott challenges balletomane Jonathan Keates and former prima ballerina Deborah Bull to argue with the contention, shared by a number of orchestral musicians, that the clatter, sound and fury of dance isn't always an asset when it comes to the performance of ballet music. Is a Prom which puts the music centre-stage actually the best way to appreciate the composer's work? Or on the contrary, denuded of its dance narrative, athleticism and movement does the music struggle for impact?
Fierce argument, irreverent anecdote and engaging enthusiasm are all in the mix as Catherine risks the wrath of the ballet world

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01m0pxn

If all the chats and interviews with guests were like this, I’d be listening to Radio 3 much more.

[Northender]

Having lived in Suffolk for a time, and being a long-time admirer of Simon Barnes, I guess I was predisposed to enjoy his feature on Suffolk Sounds between Acts II and III of 'Peter Grimes', but I notice from another thread that my enjoyment of these particular 20 minutes was shared by others.

[french frank]

I'm sure it's the case that a lot of people want to take the interval as a bit of a break from the music, and radio is infinitely better in terms of options. You can turn the sound down to a background mumble and sip your G&T as you might in the bar of the concert hall, if that's what you prefer. That seems more real than having a mini concert squeezed between the two halves.

But for those whose brains are indefatigable, an interesting talk could be like eavesdropping on the people in the adjoining seats, especially if their discussion is a spin-off from the concert. [On these grounds Discovering Music is not well-placed now: give it back its regular 45-minute slot.]

General comment because I've got enough to do with work (and checking the forum at the same time) without having the radio on

[aeolium]

The interval talk I have most enjoyed hearing this year has had nothing to do with the music being played. It was a talk about Browning's long poem Sordello, under the title "The Greatest Poem Never Read". Though it was broadcast early in August, for some reason it's still available:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01l8vc6/Twenty_Minutes_The_Greatest_Poem_Never_Read/

[vinteuil]

The interval talk I have most enjoyed hearing this year has had nothing to do with the music being played. It was a talk about Browning's long poem Sordello, under the title "The Greatest Poem Never Read". ]

... ah, but were you thereby tempted to read it?

I have to say that after the programme I took down my copy of Sordello from the shelves - stumbled through various prefaces, introductory matter etc., flicked thro' quite a few pages of the Pome itself - and quietly put it back to sleep for another ten years on the shelf....

[aeolium]

... ah, but were you thereby tempted to read it?

No, but I was interested in the arguments trying to persuade us that it was worth reading, and that someone had taken the trouble to read it and try to comprehend it.

Does anyone read any long poems these days (as opposed to excerpts or selections from them)?

[vinteuil]

Does anyone read any long poems these days (as opposed to excerpts or selections from them)?

... well, yes, actually

For pleasure, I regularly re-read Paradise Lost and Wordsworth's Preludes - in their various [1799, 1804, 1805, 1850] incarnations.
And Pope. And Thomson...

Have done the Inferno, but am building up strength before tackling the rest of Dante...

[Mary Chambers]

Having lived in Suffolk for a time, and being a long-time admirer of Simon Barnes, I guess I was predisposed to enjoy his feature on Suffolk Sounds between Acts II and III of 'Peter Grimes', but I notice from another thread that my enjoyment of these particular 20 minutes was shared by others.

I was certainly one of them. It was a marvellously evocative talk.

[Nick Armstrong]

Having lived in Suffolk for a time, and being a long-time admirer of Simon Barnes, I guess I was predisposed to enjoy his feature on Suffolk Sounds between Acts II and III of 'Peter Grimes', but I notice from another thread that my enjoyment of these particular 20 minutes was shared by others.

Thanks to this post I downloaded the talk (and its companion about the poetical precursors to 'Grimes') and am much enjoying them on the iPod

Many thanks Northo.

[aeolium]

I regularly re-read Paradise Lost.....Have done the Inferno

That's interesting. How long does it take you to read PL at a stretch? And how long did the Inferno take (in the original or in translation)?

[johnb]

One of the Proms Intervals had a reading of Elizabeth Taylor's short story "Good-bye, Good-bye". I was vaguely aware of her name, having seen it recently in the review pages, but I was so impressed by the interval reading that I ordered her "Complete Short Stories" (arrived this morning).

[vinteuil]

That's interesting. How long does it take you to read PL at a stretch? And how long did the Inferno take (in the original or in translation)?

... sometimes I go thro' the entire Paradise Lost quite swiftly, drawn along by the extraordinary paragraphs. Perhaps it takes a week? a fortnight? More recently I have been immersing myself section by section and trying to do a more detailed reading: I follow Empson quite a lot, and the Longman's Annotated Milton is marvellous.

For Dante - I try to do it in Italian, but my Italian isn't very good. I used to use a parallel text Italian/English, but found that, lazily, my eyes wd tend to swerve over to the English too often, and I found I was reading the English rather than the original. I have now taken to using a parallel text French/Italian : my French is good but not 'native', and the tendency to swerve is weaker. So I struggle through mainly in Italian. The Inferno took a month.