Prom 36 (9.6.12): Glamorous Night: A Celebration of Ivor Novello

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Thursday 9 August at 10.15 p.m.
Royal Albert Hall

Sophie Bevan soprano
Toby Spence tenor
Simon Callow narrator

Hallé Orchestra
Sir Mark Elder conductor

The Hallé Orchestra and conductor Mark Elder 'keep the home fires burning' in this Late Night Prom celebrating the work of Ivor Novello: actor, playwright, composer and raconteur. With singers Sophie Bevan and Toby Spence, and actor Simon Callow.

Novello was the most consistently successful composer of British musicals before Andrew Lloyd Webber, but is now somewhat neglected. The Hallé is joined by soprano Sophie Bevan and tenor Toby Spence to sing through the Novello songbook, and they're helped along the way by Simon Callow as master of ceremonies.

Ivor Novello:
Till The Boys Come Home (Keep the Home Fires Burning)
Glamorous Night: Overture
Glamorous Night: Fold Your Wings
Crest of the Wave: Why Isn't It You?
The Dancing Years: I Can Give You the Starlight
The Dancing Years: My Life Belongs To You
Muranian Rhapsody
The Dancing Years: My Dearest Dear
King's Rhapsody: Someday My Heart Will Awake
King's Rhapsody: The Violin Began to Play
Glamorous Night: Shine Through My Dreams
Pray for Me
Careless Rapture: Love Made the Song
'We'll gather Lilacs'

[rauschwerk]

Ivor Novello Prom

Is there anyone who (apart from Roger Wright) thinks that 90 minutes of Novello's music will make a satisfying concert? I have played a good deal of it in my time and it seems to me to lack variety, to say the least. It's noticeable that in the trailer for this Prom Simon Callow talks over the music the whole time. Isn't this simply a nostalgia trip for the over-100s?

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

er not me .... this music was nostalgic before it was written

[salymap]

Even as a teenager I found Ivor Novello and his music embarrassing and tedious. A friend and I saw Perchance to Dream with Ivor himself in the cast. I remember 'Highwayman Love' sung by Olive someone and the composer dressed in mauve velvet knickerbockers. The remainder has, thankfully, been forgotten.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Is there anyone who (apart from Roger Wright) thinks that 90 minutes of Novello's music will make a satisfying concert?

Mark Elder?
Simon Callow?
Geard McBurney?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2012/aug/03/ivor-novello-musicals-simon-callow

er not me .... this music was nostalgic before it was written

[Ferretfancy]

I was taken as a young teenager to a matinee of Gay's the Word! ( No irony intended ) when a teenager, and the spectacle of the ageing Cicely Courtnedge being thrown around the stage by a bunch of sailors made me cringe under my seat. That said, Simon Callow wrote an interesting article about Novello a couple of days ago. I might try sampling the evening.

[french frank]

[Ed: Note that the new I. Novello thread has been merged with the earlier one]

[salymap]

I was taken as a young teenager to a matinee of Gay's the Word! ( No irony intended ) when a teenager, and the spectacle of the ageing Cicely Courtnedge being thrown around thby a bunch of sailors made me cringe under my seat. That said, Simon Callow wrote an interesting article about Novello a couple of days ago. I might try sampling the evening.

I suppose it was a form of escapism during and after WW2 but my fear is that 'We'll gather lilacs' will resurface.

I admit I liked singing it [at home] until I got to better things.

[french frank]

And to add a comment: it will be a chance to discover whether there are hidden depths or merely a surface charm (of a slightly sickly nature). Let us listen critically!

Note - it's a late night Prom.

[amateur51]

And to add a comment: it will be a chance to discover whether there are hidden depths or merely a surface charm (of a slightly sickly nature). Let us listen critically!

Note - it's a late night Prom.

These days, surface charm seems to be a highly-prized commodity

[PJPJ]

And to add a comment: it will be a chance to discover whether there are hidden depths or merely a surface charm (of a slightly sickly nature). Let us listen critically!

Note - it's a late night Prom.

It is extraordinary that Ivor Novello's music though equally popular in Britain sounds so much more dated than Rogers & Hammerstein's and others. Bevan, Spence, Callow & Elder and the orchestra couldn't have done a better job, and it was easy to see and hear why he was so popular at the time. Poor Ivor, victim of the vindictive, and locked up for a month.

And to think, when I was younger this sort of music had me reaching for the off button nearly as quickly as for "Sing Something Simple".

[Northender]

I listened to about 10 minutes of it - I don't often feel sorry for Simon Callow.

[Nick Armstrong]

I listened to about 10 minutes of it - I don't often feel sorry for Simon Callow.

My Granny used to sing IN's music, and I used to have to accompany at the pianoforte... I tuned into the radio broadcast (briefly) hoping for a dose of second-hand nostalgia. I thought it was shockingly badly sung.

[Perlesgirl]

Not a fitting tribute to Novello

What a bitter disappointment the Ivor Novello Prom was! There was no mention of Olive Gilbert, the great contralto. She was Ivor's mentor and he never wrote anything without a part for Olive. To perform his music without one single contralto song was a travesty. I have the impression that it was done on a shoestring. It was no 'glamorous night' and the two singers were not adequate. There were so many mistakes. Too numerous to mention - here's one - to sing "We'll gather lilacs in the Spring AGEN and walk together down an English LANE" showed the lack of thought for Ivor's rhyming. The tenor stood like a nutcracker puppet with his fists clenched most of the time. There was very little in the way of acting and the whole thing was wooden and without any of the charm and romance that was Novello. For those of us who lived through the War, who loved the music and lyrics of Ivor Novello, this was a huge disappointment. As for the narration - how could anyone speak the beautiful lyric of "My Dearest Dear" and ignore what the pianist was playing and be totally out of synch with the music? A very unmusical narrator. It should have been what Ivor would have wanted - a tribute with feeling and sensitivity - and why did they not play the film of "Vitality"? Cicely would have put some pep into this performance - something it sadly lacked.

[Northender]

There's already a thread on this (sorry, I'm rubbish at posting links), but it's called 'Prom 36 (9.6.12) Glamorous Night.......'
Oh, yes...and Welcome to the Forum!