Prom 24 - 31.07.13: British Light Music

[salymap]

Well she was just five years old then. I remember pictures of the event in a book or magazine, long lost.

The nearestI got to Elgar was visiting the Birthplace in 1954, before it was changed, and meeting the oldlady who had known the family. And we saw Carice driving away,very upright like Queen Mary, sitting in the back of a chauffeur driven car.

Whoops, back on topic

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The English Dances were written as a kind of mirror to Dvorak's Slavonic Dances - do we treat the latter as 'Light Music'?

Well, yes - or, at least, I do. But I don't consider them (Dvorak, Arnold nor Brahms' Hungarians) necessarily "inferior" to their "heavy" (?"dark"?) works. Shakespeare's comedies are "lighter" than his tragedies, but that doesn't imply that they're "incidental fluff" - only that they have a different ("equal but opposite") intention. "Light Music" is phenomenally difficult to write successfully - I don't think that including the English/Scottish/Cornish Dance sets in the category is at all "dumbing-down". Whether or not the Proms organizers thought along these lines is another matter - it's probably charitable to give them the benefit of the doubt, be thankful (as you suggest) that the works are being included in the season - and hope that the Seventh and/or Ninth Symphonies follow next year.

[BBMmk2]

Thank you Mercia and MrBoufont. That's another Arnold score I like! They are increasing! :)

[french frank]

I am looking forward to this concert very much, but would you really call some of this stuff 'Light Music' ?

There's a whole range of repertoire that would normally be referred to as "[British] Light Music" and on the whole these were people who specialised in the genre and didn't often move into the traditional 'classical' forms at all. Judging by the old BKLP playlists, their work was also usually played by specialist orchestras rather than the usual symphony orchestras. From the archive, the last BKLP was "Brian Kay plays light classics, including pieces by Robert Farnon, Charles Williams, Frederick Curzon, Angela Morley and Montague Phillips's Four Dances from The Rebel Maid."

This concert is more 'the lighter side of some of the twentieth century composers'. I was brought up a bit sharpish to read the view of some BKLP fans on being told that post BKLP 'there would still be light pieces included in other programmes' : "Personally I think that very few of us will want to endure the majority of Radio 3’s usual output in the hope of occasionally hearing a piece of light music."

I hope they would enjoy this concert!

[mrbouffant]

Ah, this one is on tonight. Looking forward to being in the hall and feeling the organ during Crown Imperial... :)

[edashtav]

His Dark Materials

Well being an Arnoldphile, I suppose I am slightly sensitive to the dumbing-down of that particular composer. The English Dances were written as a kind of mirror to Dvorak's Slavonic Dances - do we treat the latter as 'Light Music'? The 3-handed piano concerto is also a long way from being a piece of incidental fluff - perhaps the irony of the final movement is lost on the Proms organisers - if Shostakovitch had written it they would all be hailing it as the work of a genius, borne of political and artistic repression etc etc.

Then again, I am grateful for any Arnold at the Proms, so I shan't moan too much... ;)

Well said, mr bouffant. I found the Arnold quite disconcerting. It was under-composed, full of gestures and rhetoric that never progressed far but the whole was shot through with anger & angst. It was bi-polar - extreme highs and lows collided as if the composer was suffering from manic depression. The slow movement's theme took off from the point Ravel reached in the middle movement of his Piano Concerto in G and pushed out in the direction of that other Malcolm: Williamson. The finale visited the Music Hall as Malcolm's humour coarsened. I felt cheated because, far from outstaying their welcome, none of the movements actually exploited and developed its material fully. I must hear this piece again - light music it "ain't"!

Malcolm Arnold's English Dances were wonderfully played. This set was on the first Ace of Clubs L.P. that I bought. Barry Wordsworth and the BBC CO did them proud, this evening. Orchestral standards have advanced so much in the last 50 years. Cross-rhythms are now punched out naturally and with confidence. Melodies are shaped with control and finesse. Barry and his orchestra gave these Dances a thorough spring clean and they came up fresh-faced and bushy-tailed. I enjoyed them immensely.

I didn't hear all of the concert but I enjoyed the last two movements of Elgar's Nursery Suite, admired the bounce and zip in Eric Coates' Three Elizabeths Suite and am looking forward to encountering the swaggering, rebuilt RAH organ in Crown Imperial, once "Listen Again" is available.

[hmvman]

I was at the concert this evening and enjoyed it immensely. I agree with edashtav about the Arnold piano concerto. I enjoyed it but it didn't seem to get anywhere very much. I also agree that it certainly wasn't 'light music' - and I'm not sure that many of the other works were either; it was a strange title for the concert. I wouldn't have thought it was R2 material either except, perhaps for the Coates and Jacob pieces.

I thought the playing in the "Three Elizabeths" was magnificent and the oboe solo in 'Elizabeth of Glamis' was particularly beautifully played - I have to admit that tears were rolling down my cheeks during that movement

[Tapiola]

It was bi-polar - extreme highs and lows collided as if the composer was suffering from manic depression.

Regrettably, edashtav, you are right on the money there, regarding both work and composer

I also enjoyed this Prom immensely. Light music? Schlight music. All items beautifully, effectively written.

That Ken Bruce could teach most of the Radio 3 lot how to present. Ease personified, unlike the uptight majority on 3.

[Nick Armstrong]

Regrettably, edashtav, you are right on the money there, regarding both work and composer

I've only heard the Arnold so far. Maybe it was my mood having just blown in from France, but I found it came across as an embarrassingly bad piece

[Tapiola]

I've only heard the Arnold so far. Maybe it was my mood having just blown in from France, but I found it came across as an embarrassingly bad piece

I've heard the Arnold a few times and it always makes me smile (call me manic-depressive).

Good break, Caliban?

[Nick Armstrong]

I've heard the Arnold a few times and it always makes me smile (call me manic-depressive).

Good break, Caliban?

Delightful thanks.

I've actually played in the concerto - I remember it as enjoyable albeit in Arnold's "St Trinian's" mode... which is why I think my extreme reaction was to do with my mood - especially as the Ravel piano concertos have been the music of the holiday: European Champions League (as opposed to Johnstone's Paint Trophy... )

[cloughie]

Regrettably, edashtav, you are right on the money there, regarding both work and composer

I also enjoyed this Prom immensely. Light music? Schlight music. All items beautifully, effectively written.

That Ken Bruce could teach most of the Radio 3 lot how to present. Ease personified, unlike the uptight majority on 3.

He could teach most of the Radio 2 lot how to present also - but then he grafted his way to the top. I'm looking forward to hearing this concert on iPlayer, or I notice at the moment the afternoon repeats are next day - presumably caught up beacause of the big Wagner stuff not fitting.

[Nick Armstrong]

I notice at the moment the afternoon repeats are next day - presumably caught up beacause of the big Wagner stuff not fitting.

Wondered about that on returning yesterday, didn't think of that explanation - you're right of course!

[Tapiola]

Delightful thanks.

I've actually played in the concerto - I remember it as enjoyable albeit in Arnold's "St Trinian's" mode... which is why I think my extreme reaction was to do with my mood - especially as the Ravel piano concertos have been the music of the holiday: European Champions League (as opposed to Johnstone's Paint Trophy... )

[BBMmk2]

Absolute corker of a prom this was, last night. if only we were the(MrsBBM as well, ofcourse), it would have been the icing on the cake!