Prom 1: First Night of the Proms

[salymap]

I haven't heard the Sea Symphony for ages and am looking forward toit.

I used to hear it rehearsed with Sargent and the RCS and it's a good way to learn it.

I'm so glad RVW is in favour on these MBs. Not in the doldrums here

[amateur51]

Good idea, I think I will play Job now. Haven't played it in a while. I understand that it can be downloaded from the Boy Scouts website for 5p.

[Nick Armstrong]

Totally agree! The emotional temperature rises at the words "O Thou Transcendent" to an ecstatic climax in the best performances. There are longueurs aplenty but like Wagner they somehow are necessary in order to achieve the full cathartic splendour of the closing pages.

I would agree with that entirely, Sir V.

But the slow movement, and the cosmic calm of the start of the last movement, are just as great in another way.

I've told this once before here, but the slow movement gave me one of the best musical epiphanic moments - I once spent a month in Polynesia, and one night on one island, it was too hot to sleep - at about 4 in the morning, I crept out, and went the few yards to the sea's edge with the portable CD player in which was the Haitink / LPO 'Sea Symphony'. Sitting on that beach at night alone, looking up at the Southern Cross and millions of other stars, I played the slow movement...

"On the beach at night alone,
As the old mother sways her to and fro singing her husky song,
As I watch the bright stars shining, I think a thought of the clef of the universes and of the future.

A vast similitude interlocks all,
All distances of place however wide,
All distances of time,
All souls, all living bodies though they be ever so different..."

As I played it, I heard footsteps on the sand - a local fisherman approached, smiled, sat down cross-legged next to me, and listened for a few moments, his bare knee just touching mine... He then got up, we nodded at each other, and he padded off... That connection, there, with that music and those words, was a big moment for me.

Great piece, important piece in my life. Looking forward!


"O vast Rondure, swimming in space,
Cover'd all over with visible power and beauty,
Alternate light and day and the teeming spiritual darkness,
Unspeakable high processions of sun and moon and countless stars above,
Below, the manifold grass and waters, animals, mountains, trees,
With inscrutable purpose, some hidden prophetic intention,
Now first it seems my thought begins to span thee."

[Sir Velo]

Top post Cali!

[verismissimo]

Top post Cali!

Agreed! But which island(s), Cali?

[Nick Armstrong]

Agreed! But which island(s), Cali?

That happened looking west on Matira Point on Bora Bora

[teamsaint]

Looks an entertaining programme, and I shall have Cali's lovely recollections in mind.

[bluestateprommer]

Surely RVW's A Sea Symphony is the most spectacular of all his symphonies and thus most suited to the Proms' First Night. What other RVW symphony would fit the bill? It's a British symphony which is what so many on here say they want to hear.It's not been featured since 2005, the archive says.

Interesting to read from the Guardian profile of Sakari Oramo (who is, of course, the key factor in The First Night, since this will be his official start as chief conductor of the BBC SO) that this will be the first time conducting VW1:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/jul/10/conductor-sakari-oramo-first-night-proms

Anyone know if SO led much VW with the CBSO?

[Nick Armstrong]

Sakari Oramo

I'm particularly looking forward to seeing him put through his paces, I've never seen him live. Thanks for the article, bsp. As far as English music is concerned, he conducted one of my favourite (perhaps my favourite) recorded Enigma Variations - plus that terrific Foulds disc. So my hopes are high.

[Mary Chambers]

I'm looking forward to it. I've sung the Sea Symphony a few times, so know it pretty well. I'm not much of an RVW fan, but I do think this has its moments, and I like the words. I'm very grateful not to be singing it in the RAH in boiling weather! I shall be comfortably at home in front of the television.

Britten's Sea Interludes are getting a bit too much exposure, but they're magical in a good performance - better still if you know the contexts in the opera.

Good too to have some new music and some Lutoslawski, and I love Stephen Hough doing anything.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I have my Sea Symphony score off the shelf in preparation for tonight's welcome offering.

[amateur51]

Just to say Good Luck! to BBCSO and maestro Sakari Oramo conducting his first First Night with them tonight

I reckon his tenure is going to be an interesting one

[VodkaDilc]

A blessing in disguise that I could not get tickets for the First Night - at least if the temperature is the same in London as here. Far more pleasant to listen to my radio with the windows open. (I hope my neighbours do not read this.)

The odd thing is that my memories of last season are of boiling in the hall on at least three of my four visits - yet last year was meant to have been a bad summer. Aren't memories deceptive? (The Apostles stands out as an especially sticky one.)

[ucanseetheend]

Love all of RVW EXCEPT his 1st Symphony, does nothing for me, wont be tuning in.

[salymap]

The queue will be going in now, I should think. I hope the hall is bearable and cold drinks are available

I hope we get a report tomorrow from people who have attended.