Prom 57 (26.8.12): Wagner, Berg, R. Strauss & Ravel

[heliocentric]

Hear, hear!
Take out the Vaughan Williams (about which I think everybody agrees) and what else has been truly memorable?

The Beethoven/Boulez concerts with Barenboim, the "Italian Vespers", the Cage centenary event and Hervé Niquet's Handel concert, for a start, out of the ones I've heard, which is a fairly small proportion of the whole. None of the new works I've heard has been particularly memorable, though this tends to be the case at the Proms with its usual-suspects attitude to commissioning, but apart from that my assessment would be it's the most interesting programme for quite some time.

[VodkaDilc]

Hear, hear!

Take out the Vaughan Williams (about which I think everybody agrees) and what else has been truly memorable?

Volti S

All three which I have been to so far have been memorable (I chose well!): Bernstein Mass, Apostles, CBSO's Leningrad.

[amac4165]

Hear, hear!

Take out the Vaughan Williams (about which I think everybody agrees) and what else has been truly memorable? And there's only the Vienna orchestra to come.

I'm looking forward to mid September and proper orchestral concerts played by our own orchestras. (Hallé, RSNO, CBSO, RLPO, and BSO included)

Let's spend a bit of money looking after our own under-rewarded musicians.

Volti S

I think the season looked good on paper - ! the last two weeks do look to be better VPO BPO LGH so I am happy to wait until the end to pass comment !

So far it looks like a lot of money was spent on things that did not quite come off ! Highlight so far for me - My fair Lady - which just about says it all !

[Ferretfancy]

Well, I'll have been to about twenty so far, and have had some great evenings in good company. What a wearisome lot of old curmudgeons contributors to these threads can seem to be!

Just for the record, the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester were on excellent form, and the effect in the Arena was stunning, especially in the Rosenkavalier Suite. From my position, Zimmermann got swamped occasionally in the Berg, but perhaps the composer did not expect the soloist to always manage to compete with the bass trombone!

I'm getting increasingly depressed by the seeming inability to enjoy the music without nit picking, a little more generosity of spirit might not go amiss. To be in the Royal Albert Hall in the company of enthusiastic music lovers is a very rewarding experience. We share our likes and dislikes, it's true, both regarding the music itself and its performance, but we don't actively look to find fault.

[Petrushka]

... but isn't Berg's Concerto sufficiently meaty?

Indeed it is on its own terms but it simply didn't fit into this programme. Petroc was trying to make out that the rationale behind the programme was rhe Viennese waltz but where does that leave the Parsifal extracts? I've never particularly cared for the hotch-potch that is the Rosenkavalier Suite anyway and La Valse would have made a nice encore after something more substantial in the second half.

As for the Prom season as a whole, there are still a few concerts to go.

[Flosshilde]

A curious programme with nothing meaty enough to get the teeth into, not really the kind I'd expect from a visiting orchestra such as the GMYO.

Their concert at the Edinburgh Festival two nights before had the much meatier Mahler 7. Perhaps they needed a rest after that?

[amac4165]

Indeed it is on its own terms but it simply didn't fit into this programme. Petroc was trying to make out that the rationale behind the programme was rhe Viennese waltz but where does that leave the Parsifal extracts? I've never particularly cared for the hotch-potch that is the Rosenkavalier Suite anyway and La Valse would have made a nice encore after something more substantial in the second half.

As for the Prom season as a whole, there are still a few concerts to go.

couldn't agree more - !

[amac4165]

Their concert at the Edinburgh Festival two nights before had the much meatier Mahler 7. Perhaps they needed a rest after that?

well that explains a lot - I had tried to get hold their program which they give out and which details their schedule. They usually do 2 or 3 programs and I guess as we had already had Mahler 7 that ruled that out !

[David Underdown]

Even without considering chamber proms/Saturday matinees at Cadogan there are more concerts than there used to be. The Last Night is Prom 76, in 1997 it was 73 (and 2 of those were Blue Peter Proms, there are no repeats this year). In the scheme of things Sunday concerts are pretty new (Westminster council licensing were not keen on Sunday concerts), but I haven't been able to track down when they started (the archive is being very slow today)

1986 seems to be the first year in which there were concerts every Sunday during the season. There are occasional concerts on Sundays prior to that. In 1986 the Last Night was Prom 60, by 1989 we were up to Prom 68 and we didn't hit the Prom 70 mark until the 100th season in 1995.

Back in 1950 there were just 49 Proms in the season and the same in 1959.

[Prommer]

How long until John Wilson conducts the Last Night ?

Hopefully not long. He could manage that perfectly well, given the usual fare, and he looks splendid in white tie and tails - and even better with a carnation. A latter day Malcolm Sargent if ever I saw one.

[VodkaDilc]

. A latter day Malcolm Sargent if ever I saw one.

Is this a compliment?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Is this a compliment?

- naughty!

[Prommer]

Is this a compliment?

Not necessarily! Depends on the course for the horse. Last Night antics, light fare and choral work: yes. Mahler 9, no!