Prom 32 (6.8.12): Bernstein – Mass

[antongould]

Very pleased you enjoyed it Rumpole - I shall access the iplayer tomorrow.

[Nick Armstrong]

Very pleased you enjoyed it Rumpole - I shall access the iplayer tomorrow.

Thanks anton!

Television cameras were much in evidence so I guess you'll get a chance to sample it on the oblong box at some stage...

Addendum: TV Broadcast Thursday 6 Sept, 7.30pm, BBC Four

[amac4165]

S

Wasn't keen on the Celebrant's singing throughout,

Suffolkcoastal....?

Me neither - but I think the microphone can be quite cruel sometimes - he may sound better on the recording

[Suffolkcoastal]

Tend to agree with your observations Caliban about the Celebrant, not quite the right voice for me. Was the Sanctus bell accident a tribute to Jeremy Hunt? The performance was partly ruined by an I think East European couple and their two kids behind me, as the kid and mother kept jabbering away during some of the quieter passages. Still it was good fun and I think all the participants entered into the the spirit of the work.The hall was quite full (about 85%) apart from one block of seats.

[Nick Armstrong]

Tend to agree with your observations Caliban about the Celebrant, not quite the right voice for me. Was the Sanctus bell accident a tribute to Jeremy Hunt? The performance was partly ruined by an I think East European couple and their two kids behind me, as the kid and mother kept jabbering away during some of the quieter passages. Still it was good fun and I think all the participants entered into the the spirit of the work.The hall was quite full (about 85%) apart from one block of seats.

L'enfer, c'est les autres...

It struck me the arena was less full than for the two concerts I went to last week. Noticeably easier to make a trip around the outer corridor for a last minute trip to the gents at 6:55!!

[VodkaDilc]

I didn't think anything would persuade me to break my self-imposed absence from these boards, but tonight's stunning performance has made me think again.

I've known and enjoyed the work since getting to know it soon after its first performance. This was the first Prom I've been to for several years; I could not resist the chance to hear the work in a live performance. It was thrilling! It took some moments to get used to the amplification of some sections, but then it was wonderful. Fine playing from the orchestra and other instrumentalists (organ was most impressive from my seat!). Good choral singing, a huge range of emotion from the Celebrant and, above all, some wonderful individual performances from the Street Choir. The tutti climax towards the end (where Järvi tried to get a very British audience to clap along, with little success) was as loud and spine-tingling as anything I have ever heard in the Albert Hall.

If anyone missed it, I strongly advise the repeat or the television version in September.

One small thing was striking: not having been to a Prom for a few years I was aware that the Prommers looked older. Where are the young people who used to form the backbone of the nightly audience?

[Nick Armstrong]

IThe tutti climax towards the end (where Järvi tried to get a very British audience to clap along, with little success) was as loud and spine-tingling as anything I have ever heard in the Albert Hall.

That was terrific, wasn't it!! (I thought the audience clapping was better than might have been expected!)

Welcome back Vodka, by the way!

[edashtav]

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Quite a few of my Prommer friends intend to be there, but wild horses would not drag me. I think it's a toe curling embarrassing work,bad in almost two many ways to count. Probably the worst and most tasteless offering since WWII Never again!

I've only heard it once, more than enough to establish it as my least favourite work of all time (up to now, that is).

My word Lennie's Mass is dividing opinion, isn't it? I'm with you, Mary, finding the piece a tasteless mash-up of confused influences and philosophies. Three times, I tried to listen to tonight's performance,which was committed, but on each occasion a bombastic moment propelled my hand to the off control. There was good & bad in LB but this piece joins his conducting of Elgar's Nimrod in my Room 101.

[prokkyshosty]

My second half season pass doesn't start 'til the Grand Mess on Saturday, but I HAD to go see tonight's grand mess. Surely, it isn't for everyone, but if you're like me, you love it for its craziness, and you love it even more when the performers are into it and clearly enjoying themselves, and that was definitely the case tonight. Fantastic performance. The street singers indeed were excellent, and from where I was sitting in the 2nd tier the audience gets great credit from me for clapping along during the Dona Nobis Pacem -- most of the prommers joined in! And so did the orchestra -- the BBC NOW and the Youth Orchestra trying to out-do the Venezuelans in swaying in their seats.

Oh, and if there was ever a piece that was made for the RAH organ...

I was pleased that they took out the most off-putting bit -- where the treble touches all the street people to bring them to life, and the touch is spread out to the audience, who are encouraged to shake hands and hug each other. I think having 80,000 Britons singing Hey Jude together last week was enough camaraderie to last a while.

[Nick Armstrong]

tonight's grand mess. Surely, it isn't for everyone, but if you're like me, you love it for its craziness, and you love it even more when the performers are into it and clearly enjoying themselves, and that was definitely the case tonight. Fantastic performance.

Oh, and if there was ever a piece that was made for the RAH organ...

Plenty of shosty and probably quite a bit of prokky all mixed in there too

[Nick Armstrong]

The celebrant's voice reminded me very much of Peter Pears and I wonder how he would perform some of the music of Benjamin Britten.

Completely, HS: hence my mentions of Grimes etc. I was thinking during the concert that he sounded like a bass-bari version of Pears. And in music that is often Britten-influenced.

I wonder if BB would have approved...

[Simon Biazeck]

The celebrant's voice reminded me very much of Peter Pears and I wonder how he would perform some of the music of Benjamin Britten.

Interesting, considering he's a Bass-baritone. He certainly has sung some of Britten's bass roles. It was a pity Jubilant Sykes (soloist in the recent Tippett Prom) wasn't cast here - his performance on the Alsop cd is exemplary.

From the mosh pit, I enjoyed it, particularly the orchestral writing in the interludes. It's a crazy, self-indulgent piece, and probably doesn't make its points well enough because of that, if it ever did. The mishaps with flying bell and the mis-timed breaking glass sound effect were very entertaining. Rowan Williams' 'Ite Missa est' was a coup! I did find the ad hoc jiggling rather cringe-worthy and would've liked even more involved choreography, but I fully understand the constraints for reh. time and space, having sung many times in concert and operatic performances on that stage! Lenny's tunes are still in my head, and my current ear-worm seems to be a snippet of 5/8 Chichester Psalms morphing into some Rutter! Reh. this afternoon for Simon Bainbridge's new Proms commission will erase that, I'm sure!

[amateur51]

Having decided to give this Prom a miss (more to do with catching up with others) it now appears that it was a bad mistake on my part.

Many thanks for all the reports

[amateur51]

Reh. this afternoon for Simon Bainbridge's new Proms commission will erase that, I'm sure!

Good luck with that, Simon Biazeck

[Simon Biazeck]

Good luck with that, Simon Biazeck

Thank you! Now, if I can just find my tuning fork!