Prom 68 (2.9.12): Cameron Carpenter plays Bach (2)

[french frank]

why haven't we had Rieu at a proms season yet ?

He's too busy - has to be booked a long way ahead.

[amateur51]

Also available on YouTube (8,000 views compared with CC's 57,000).

The sort of thing which makes me very sceptical about the the idea of the popular leading into the more serious (or 'purist', if you like) is looking at André Rieu on Amazon. 'Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought' - 60 other items by André Rieu, plus a couple more pages of assorted artistes from Elvis and Brenda Lee/Rod Stewart to Watson/Jenkins/Bocelli/David Garrett/Anthony Hopkins/3 Tenors/Acker Bilk. Interestingly, the one stand-out is Jansons, Neujahrskonzert 2012 (on page 11 of 17). Oh, and a recital of Spanish music by Julian Bream on page 16.

If people enjoy Carpenter and Rieu, C and R serve their purpose and you can't ask any more of them. And much though people at Radio 3 and among the critics clearly do enjoy them (hugely), I wouldn't expect them to make no distinction between these different performances as to be interchangeable. It is only the packed houses and the money generated which makes CC's a more 'desirable' recital than TT's.



It seems to be a joint rating for the Carpenter recital and the Leipzig Gewandhaus's Mendelssohn.

No less an advocate than Carlo Curley made it his life's mission to introduce 'the general public' to the great works of Bach etc through his concerts which were by no means po-faced about the range of the organ and the audience's potential delight in a range of music and styles.

I think the comparison with Rieu is contrived and misplaced

[Keraulophone]

Also available on YouTube (8,000 views compared with CC's 57,000)

Thanks for that link, FF.

Dame Gillian Weir at St Bavo refreshes the parts that showmen cannot reach.