The actual Proms programme 12 July - 7 September

[duncan]

Why? For Wagner operas above all the dramatic action, the staging needs to be seen.

The Covent Garden Walkure prom was my Damascene moment. Despite previously having seen Tristan staged and listened to various recordings over the years, Wagner had never really grabbed me. By half way through the first act I was utterly hooked. Domingo and Waltraud Meier were such passionate vocal actors that when they strode off at the end of the act I imagined they were heading straight for the nearest empty dressing room! Proms concert performances of Wagner emphatically work for me.

I do wish the Beeb had managed to find a little more Verdi.

[Charlie]

" ... I do wish the Beeb had managed to find a little more Verdi."

Me, too! At least Giuseppe Verdi is not out for the count, so to speak, duncan! To the best of my knowledge, the Proms has always had a bias in favour of Wagner over Verdi. Nevertheless, I am looking forward to all four Verdi Proms (12, 46, 72 and 75) this summer!

BBC Proms 2013 - What's On - Giuseppe Verdi

[RobertLeDiable]

I think it's also true that Wagner tends to work better in concert performance than Verdi. Since Wieland Wagner's time, stagings have often tended towards the minimal in set design, and a well-produced semi-staged performance (which is what you tend to get at the Proms, not a straight 'concert performance') can often get just about as close to the dramatic essence of the piece as a fully staged production. I think that's probably harder to achieve with Verdi, though I would still have liked to have seen at least one Verdi opera in the Proms. Most likely that would have come from Pappano and Covent Garden. Their Simon Boccanegra might have been a good one to have but who knows - maybe they couldn't get the dates and artists to fit. And they're doing Don Carlo in July, immediately before the Proms begin.

[Howdenite]

Re Covent Garden,

they're doing Don Carlo in July, immediately before the Proms begin.

They're doing Don Carlo in May and Boccanegra in July (Pappano conducting, Hampson as Boccanegra). They did Boccanegra at the Proms in 2010 ago with Domingo - a hard act to follow, regardless of whether you like Domingo as a baritone or no1.

[RobertLeDiable]

Re Covent Garden,

They're doing Don Carlo in May and Boccanegra in July (Pappano conducting, Hampson as Boccanegra). They did Boccanegra at the Proms in 2010 ago with Domingo - a hard act to follow, regardless of whether you like Domingo as a baritone or no1.

Apologies - got my Boccanegra and Carlo the wrong way round. I'd forgotten that they did Boccanegra at the Proms a couple of years ago. Don Carlo might have been quite a good Proms opera, though whether it would make sense to repeat it just two or three months later is another matter.

[Rolmill]

Don Carlo might have been quite a good Proms opera...

Yes, I remember seeing it at the Proms in 1996, with Hovorostovsky as a superb Rodrigo and conducted (I think) by Haitink - it was pretty much "stand and deliver" as I recall, but nonetheless enjoyable.

[opera lover]

Wherever you are, it will be hot, very hot...

Any chance of seating advice for the RAH for novices?

No matter where you sit, and no matter what the weather outside (well, hopefully it will not snow but you never know nowadays), RAH is always sweltering for Proms due to the decision not to air-condition when it was renovated, and the sheer number of people at most performances. If you have to climb high up, by the time you get to your seat you may be drenched in sweat. That, at least, is my experience. So, I would suggest very light layer-type clothing and plenty of water in portable bottles. It is not easy to get a drink if you dislike queuing, or cheap for that matter. There is usually a queue for the programme, too, so it is crucial to arrive with time to spare and give yourself time to find your entry point and seats. And - particularly for women - the queues for the loos are horrendous, as there just are not enough of them. I also take something to eat in the interval(s) and have seen people with little boxes of home-made sandwiches etc. So, I would think seating is less important than being prepared for the slight discomfort, and that includes the relatively long walk to and from the underground unless arriving by bus or taxi. Once you hear the music, mostly, it all seems trite, though, and on the way back you may feel on top of the world. Hope you enjoy your visit.

[Petrushka]

No matter where you sit, and no matter what the weather outside (well, hopefully it will not snow but you never know nowadays), RAH is always sweltering for Proms due to the decision not to air-condition when it was renovated, and the sheer number of people at most performances. If you have to climb high up, by the time you get to your seat you may be drenched in sweat. That, at least, is my experience. So, I would suggest very light layer-type clothing and plenty of water in portable bottles. It is not easy to get a drink if you dislike queuing, or cheap for that matter. There is usually a queue for the programme, too, so it is crucial to arrive with time to spare and give yourself time to find your entry point and seats. And - particularly for women - the queues for the loos are horrendous, as there just are not enough of them. I also take something to eat in the interval(s) and have seen people with little boxes of home-made sandwiches etc. So, I would think seating is less important than being prepared for the slight discomfort, and that includes the relatively long walk to and from the underground unless arriving by bus or taxi. Once you hear the music, mostly, it all seems trite, though, and on the way back you may feel on top of the world. Hope you enjoy your visit.

I understand - and feel free to correct me on this - that the RAH has air-cooling not air conditioning. Recent years have been more comfortable than in days of old when it really was like being in a Turkish bath. The hottest night I can recall was August 14 1997 (Gergiev/Kirov Orch) when the already extreme heat was pushed up further by the television lights. Makes me sweat just thinking about it!

[Ferretfancy]

I understand that the reason they did not air condition when refurbishing was that an installation to service such a large space would be unacceptably noisy.
Since the improvements at the RAH the conditions in the Arena, which is the lowest place in the hall, have seemed quite a bit better in recent years.

A couple of us found that at our favourite spot there was a plug about the size of a small saucer set in the floor. If gently lifted, this wafted deliciously cool air around our feet in the interval. Unfortunately they replaced the floor covering a couple of years back, so that option is no longer available !

[Petrushka]

Well, I've sorted out which Proms I want to attend and for the first time ever I had some difficulty in finding enough to make it worthwhile.

There must be something amiss if the only reason why I want to attend Prom 21 on July 29 is to see John le Carre at the Proms Plus literary event at the RCM. I've met him before but this isn't to be missed!

[Flosshilde]

Remember to read through the 250pp "guide to not upsetting anybody not even a teeny bit" prommers manual though.

Of course, that's only the executive summary. The full guide is in several volumes & is very useful for the shorter prommer.



(the appendix on when to applaud is in a further 2 volumes)

[Barbirollians]

Of course, that's only the executive summary. The full guide is in several volumes & is very useful for the shorter prommer.





(the appendix on when to applaud is in a further 2 volumes)

You cannot fool me - that is the Parsifal libretto !

[alywin]

No matter where you sit, and no matter what the weather outside (well, hopefully it will not snow but you never know nowadays), RAH is always sweltering for Proms due to the decision not to air-condition when it was renovated, and the sheer number of people at most performances. If you have to climb high up, by the time you get to your seat you may be drenched in sweat. That, at least, is my experience.

My experience over the last couple of years has been that it can get quite chilly up in the gods, even if the concert has sold well. I have a feeling part of it is down to the floor covering.

And - particularly for women - the queues for the loos are horrendous, as there just are not enough of them.

The ladies' queues would probably be a lot better if more people in the circle and stalls would have the sense to go up or down a flight and use the ones in the Grand Tier and whatever the next tier up is called - Second Circle? Given that those tiers are only boxes, there is far less demand there than in the seat-only areas.

Recent years have been more comfortable than in days of old when it really was like being in a Turkish bath. The hottest night I can recall was August 14 1997 (Gergiev/Kirov Orch) when the already extreme heat was pushed up further by the television lights. Makes me sweat just thinking about it!

I recall one around that time (or possibly a little earlier) when Mariss Jansons and (probably) the Oslo Phil came, and were greeted with "Welcome to the Kensington Sauna!" by the Prommers!

[bluestateprommer]

If I may, as the token American, be allowed to chime in with some random thoughts:

1. For the nay-sayers who decry The Proms as no longer a great festival, or words to that effect, three words in reply: I respectfully dissent. As I once wrote on the old BBC Message Board, you folks in the UK are lucky that you have The Proms at all. Just as Barenboim said in his impromptu speech after LvB 9 last summer, prior to the Olympics opening ceremony, no other country in the world could, or does, put on such a festival, thanks to the BBC (for all its faults). We don't have anything like The Proms in the USA, and we never will. (Carnegie Hall recently has tried "Spring for Music", with all tickets at $25, for a season or two so far. It's ending after 2014 for lack of money.) Even over there, on the continent, no other country anywhere puts on an 8-week assembly of music which is accessible, for those willing to Prom, at such a bargain price.

2. Having said that, I will acknowledge that 7 Wagner operas in one season is rather "imbalanced", even if "creatively imbalanced", which I think is a paraphrase (not a literal quotation) of William Glock. However, the Barenboim/Staatskapelle Berlin Ring was a known quantity back in 2011, as scheduled for 2013, which accounts for 4 of the slots. I tend to agree with RLD in that the inclusion of 3 more Wagner operas is most likely a reflections of the conductors and ensembles who were available, and in particular the conductors who had their particular interests.

3. Building on that point, and speaking more generally to extend that idea to the Proms Controller, I don't really think that it's a case of RW being like The Simpsons' Monty Burns, with hands in the triangle formation, saying "eeeexcellent", with respect to imposing programs on orchestras (and audiences). The traffic can go both ways, as David Nice pointed out at The Arts Desk in his essay on the season announcement (emphasis mine):

http://www.theartsdesk.com/classical-music/bbc-proms-2013-ring-operas-fiver-each

'Some of us may find the inclusion of so much Granville Bantock – "poor old Gran" as near-contemporary Elgar called him – a little weird, but Proms Director Roger Wright says they’re making no special claims. Go, try it, decide for yourselves.

Indeed, it often comes about through conductor interest. Fabulous Finn Sakari Oramo, taking over the reins of the BBC Symphony Orchestra this coming season on the strength of a single superlative concert, requested to perform Bantock's Celtic Symphony.....and Vladimir Jurowski staked a claim for The Witch of Atlas."

So for those wondering about Bantock, there may be your answer. If we accept that David Nice is in his way a bit of an insider, and that RW got these two independent requests from very notable conductors on close heels, RW may well have thought "what the heck?" about giving Bantock emphasis this year, as much as he did Frank Bridge 2 seasons back.

Expounding further on this principle, in his essay in The Proms: A New History (Thames & Hudson, p. 261), Nicholas Kenyon wrote:

"Whereas in the past planners might simply write down the pieces they wanted and hand out the programmes to hopefully servile orchestras, now everything is a matter of conversation and debate, suiting the themes and the works that are in our mind to conductors, soloists, and orchestras. We plan much further in advance than the September after the season ends: two or three seasons in advance as far as major projects, conductors and touring orchestras are concerned, rather later for finalized programmes, soloists and late-night concerts.....

But seasons may go by before exactly the right occasion arises for including a particular work, and there are many questions to be asked. Is the piece already prominent in the previous London season? Do we have the right artists available? Is there a programme that provides the right context? Can we afford the necessary rehearsal?....

The question of repertory cannot be considered on its own: the critical matter of suiting the right performers to the right music is always at the top of our minds. There is no virtue in forcing artists to perform music with which they are not in sympathy: we can suggest and persuade, but the greatest experiences result from a fusion of artist, work and performance."

Looking over the season as a whole, while I'll admit that I find this season not quite as diversely interesting as last season, there are still plenty of things along the highways and by-ways for me to be listening to over this summer via iPlayer. Going beyond the obvious Wagner-fest and other orchestral blockbusters, Cadogan Hall offers its own quieter, more low-key treasures, which tend to get less discussion here as a whole. As well, just like last season, I'll give all the modern works and new commissions a particular listen. On the debit side, I'll again state that it's long past time to give DSCH 10 a rest from The Proms, as great a symphony as it is, although I suspect that Gergiev may be the deciding factor on its inclusion with the NYO of the USA program. I also don't really need to hear "You'll Never Walk Alone" again at The Last Night, although at least having Americans leading the proceedings there might be called "authentic performance practice" :) , especially if Joyce DiDonato leads the audience (Renee Fleming didn't do that back in 2010, kind of to my surprise).

So as with any big festival, there are parts that are terrific, and parts that I can pass over. That's par for the course, and I can deal with that.

(Now, if I ever get the fantasy Proms season thread started for Forum members to design, that may be a different matter. But I have to work out the ground-rules first. The rules will be very Byzantine, so you may have to wait a bit. )

[opera lover]

If there is air cooling, and now that you say it it does ring a bell, I have never felt it in the auditorium at the top levels. Hot, hot, hot. Poor things, they thought it would make some difference...? But thanks for the reply.