2012 - The Song is Over...

[Roehre]

..... Occasionally I read these forums and I think that as an audience we (I mean "you" ) have become jaded by too many years of the Proms, and we (I mean "you" ) forget how great the whole thing is. I don't see how anybody could ever complain about the Proms. Even if they don't play your favourite things one year, or they do too much of a composer you hate, or they dare to play something that gets airplay on Classic FM, etc., etc. ..............the fact is that there's so much on and you really shouldn't expect them to please 100% of the people 100% of the time. ....

[Roehre]

.... You find that even Tchaikovsky's first piano concerto has delights galore when you haven't heard it for a year or two.

The main reason why I listen to music at my own pace and whenever I like to listen to it.
In my experience there is hardly anything as surprising as listening to a piece you haven't listened to for a very long time: experiencing a piece nearly afresh

[MrGongGong]

Thought you'd never ask! Bit cheeky of me, an insomniac's caprice....

Some years ago I was given (or possibly bought on impulse - prone to that a bit...) a small cuddly toy penguin. I put him on top of the carriage clock on the mantelpiece, looking back into the room from a central position between the speakers, as a proms mascot on the first night. Down he comes after the last, a symbol of summer's end.

Weirdly, it was a visitor who pointed out the resemblance to a conductor on a podium.... (I just thought he was cute).

So that's the tale of the "Proms Penguin".

I thought it was a reference to this legendary piece !

(3rd system bar 4 instructions under notes)

[jayne lee wilson]

And you won't find THAT in the Penguin Guide...

[ahinton]

And you won't find THAT in the Penguin Guide...

And I'm getting sick and tired of seeing that piece of silliness posted hither and thither - but in any case the WimbleJubilymParaPrompics celebration's not over yet in these isles; The Piano Concerto's just been performed in the Edinburgh Festival (and I don't mean the work of Mr Nyman...)...

[Petrushka]

The best Proms for me were the ones I went to, deliberately picked out as being the plums. The last three Barenboim Beethoven/Boulez concerts, the Apostles, Jurowski in Manfred, the two BPO concerts, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Mahler 6 and the pair of VPO/Haitink Proms.

Downsides? Musically, the unacceptable offering from the St Louis SO. Not good enough for a major international festival.

Non-musical downsides: the incessant coughing and other examples of poor audience behaviour eg the late-comer young lady clip-clopping down the stairs in high heels just as the Haydn 104 2nd movement commenced. And of course those ghastly children sitting next to me at the BPO Prom. The BBC and RAH need to get their heads together and sort this out.

Rather horrified to find that I spent over £2000 on this year's Proms (concert tickets, hotel, rail fares, food, drink and other sundries but NOT including CD's!)

I do suffer from Proms withdrawal symptoms but I have a mighty stack of CD's (loads from Gramex) to work through so they should keep me quiet until next season.

[gurnemanz]

We booked for two:
Pappano's Trojans - great evening with Jonas Kaufmann surprisingly not really missed.
VPO/Haitink and Perahia, sitting in the very back row, last seats available, but Bruckner filled the hall marvellously

We prommed for the Petrenko with RLPO for PMD's new Ninth and Shostakovich 10. A very good evening. I came across an interesting blog record of the RLPO's London visit + photos from trumpeter, Brendan Ball, (including, unsurprisingly, the brass section enjoying a few beers.)

http://brendanball.com/2012/08/25/bbc-proms-2012-peter-maxwell-davies-symphony-no-9-rlpo-petrenko/

[doversoul1]

Some excellent Proms Camber Music and a very enjoyable Saturday Matinee. The Art of Fugue by Mahan Esfahani and AAM, and Les 24 Violons du Roy conducted by Sir Roger Norrington were my Best Proms.

A couple of disappointments were: L'Arpeggiata and I Fagiolini’s Italian Vespers, both of which I had been very much looking forward to. I wish L'Arpeggiata had brought less folksy, crossover-sounding programme, and I Fagiolini did not sound quite together and the singing sounded rather strained in places, though this might have been a transmission problem.

Whilst large scale orchestra works are really not my thing, I enjoyed a lot of what I heard, but the Proms as a whole, I cannot help feeling that something is creeping in…

[PhilipT]

And of course those ghastly children sitting next to me at the BPO Prom. The BBC and RAH need to get their heads together and sort this out.

How old were they? RAH policy is that children under five may be refused admission; BBC policy is that children between five and 16 are positively encouraged to attend the Proms. The trouble is that there can be such a wide range of behaviour. I've seen children I've wanted to strangle, and children where I've been moved to congratulate the adult with them on their behaviour. What would you have the BBC and RAH do?

[Petrushka]

How old were they? RAH policy is that children under five may be refused admission; BBC policy is that children between five and 16 are positively encouraged to attend the Proms. The trouble is that there can be such a wide range of behaviour. I've seen children I've wanted to strangle, and children where I've been moved to congratulate the adult with them on their behaviour. What would you have the BBC and RAH do?

My comment re the BBC and RAH was concerning the general level of poor audience behaviour as the whole of my post makes clear. The part you have decided to rip from that post doesn't make sense.

The children concerned, with a woman who presumably was their mother, were two boys aged around 6 and 8. They caused considerable disturbance to other audience members in the immediate vicinity, misbehaved from the start and completely wrecked the Brahms PC2 for me. Like you, I have marvelled at young children who concentrate on the music and can recall occasions when I have been seated next to wonderfully well behaved children. I am fully in favour of children attending the Proms. At the age of 6 I don't think my musical taste had got much beyond Nellie the Elephant.

I spent a lot of money attending this season's Proms and I expect to be able to enjoy them in peace. In my view, both the BBC and RAH can certainly make more effort to educate newbies in concert etiquette most of which is plain common sense anyway.

[PhilipT]

In my view, both the BBC and RAH can certainly make more effort to educate newbies in concert etiquette most of which is plain common sense anyway.

On that, we are in complete agreement. But the task may be harder than you suppose. I once had the RAH's Head of Front of House ask me "Why do you [meaning Promenaders, not the entire audience] have to have an etiquette?" - a question that left me speechless.

Perhaps you went to the Q&A session in the RCM last Thursday? Both Roger Wright and Chris Cotton agreed with the audience about such matters as stifling coughs and people using camera 'phones (something that Chris Cotton said is far worse at rock concerts). As Roger Wright put it, not everyone buys the programme, those that do don't always read the bits about good behaviour, and those that do that sometimes ignore what they read.

[cloughie]

On that, we are in complete agreement. But the task may be harder than you suppose. I once had the RAH's Head of Front of House ask me "Why do you [meaning Promenaders, not the entire audience] have to have an etiquette?" - a question that left me speechless.

Perhaps you went to the Q&A session in the RCM last Thursday? Both Roger Wright and Chris Cotton agreed with the audience about such matters as stifling coughs and people using camera 'phones (something that Chris Cotton said is far worse at rock concerts). As Roger Wright put it, not everyone buys the programme, those that do don't always read the bits about good behaviour, and those that do that sometimes ignore what they read.

Perhaps big notices in the hall and perhaps in the loos might catch the attention more.

[PhilipT]

Perhaps big notices in the hall and perhaps in the loos might catch the attention more.

Not bad! I like the loos idea - now there's a captive audience.

[EnemyoftheStoat]

Not bad! I like the loos idea - now there's a captive audience.

I've no objection to people coughing in the loos but using cameraphones really is not on.

[Stephen Smith]

I have posted about unreasonable intrusions, we go to listen to music, after all. Absent minded coughing, and all the rest - how about this approach:

Jon Vickers - between phrases (singing Wagner) - "Shut up with your damn coughing!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrHMla5AJgQ