Prom 1 (13.7.12): First Night of the Proms

[Barbirollians]

Apart from thinking he was a touch harsh on Terfel Karafan was spot on.

I agree that if this was meant to be the best of British why choose such weak pieces of Elgar and Tippett and a very third rate new commission.

The whole relay Olympics jubilee idea was naff and should have been left on the back of the fag packet where some idiot drew it up

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Your'e not related to the late Robert Robinson, by any chance?

Ah! A question for mother and elder child only!

[amateur51]

Ah! A question for mother and elder child only!

[MrGongGong]

Gruppen would be a good choice for 1st Night of the Proms - and it needs three conductors. Sorted!

One of the best proms I've been to

Berio's Accordo would be a good one as well as that needs 4

[Northender]

Surely the ideal conductor for an Olympics-themed Prom would have been the late Sidney Torch.

[amateur51]

Surely the ideal conductor for an Olympics-themed Prom would have been the late Sidney Torch.

[amateur51]

Your'e not related to the late Robert Robinson, by any chance?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlgqmyB6mW8

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlgqmyB6mW8

Ever so slightly cruel, but Stephen Fry tweeted the ideal response to the news that RR had died:

"Would that it weren't; would that it weren't!"

[Karafan]

Surely the ideal conductor for an Olympics-themed Prom would have been the late Sidney Torch.

Ouch!

[Anna]

I enjoyed Sea Drift although it's not normally my thing and didn't think Bryn Terfel was 'off' but the Tippett just sounded horribly quaint and well past it's sell by date.

[EdgeleyRob]

I enjoyed Sea Drift although it's not normally my thing and didn't think Bryn Terfel was 'off' but the Tippett just sounded horribly quaint and well past it's sell by date.

That's a relief,I thought I must have been watching a different concert to everyone else on here.Sea Drift was the highlight for me,surely a masterpiece.
The four conductors passing the baton idea was naff.
Not sure what the Turnage piece brought to the party.
Cockaigne seemed a bit ordinary to me.
I can live without ever hearing the Tippet again.
I enjoyed the Coronation Ode,the text clearly of it's time and not relevant nowadays,but the music is pure Elgar,lovely.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Brabbins a nonentity;

Oh NO, Karafan! No!!!

Besides the Gothic performance Ammie mentions (which finally convinced me of the genuine stature of that work) Brabbins was the first conductor to get a Symphony orchestra to perform Ferneyhough's La Terre est un Homme - something that had defeated even Abbado a quarter of a century earlier! He's also done other Ferneyhough works with smaller ensembles and I dream of his leading a recording of Carceri d'Invenzione one day (SOON, please!). Not at all bad in Walton's symphonies, either, and a stallwart on the Hyperion "obscure Piano Concerto" discs, too. I've never heard a duff performance by him, and I rate him far more highly than ... well, if I name names I might get into trouble (no respect for my Elders, apparently)!

[Anna]

That's a relief,I thought I must have been watching a different concert to everyone else on here.Sea Drift was the highlight for me,surely a masterpiece.

Me too!

[Northender]

I saw Martyn Brabbins conduct the Philharmonia in the Elgar 1st a few years ago, and was very impressed.

[Petrushka]

Why do some people have a problem with Elgar's Cockaigne? I love it - a perfect concert opener. What's not to like about it?

I wish that the organ was more often held between those final chords as I think it is on Andrew Davis' recording. The effect sounds thrilling!