Proms

[MrGongGong]

Classical music played by quality artists, just like the London concerts, apart from the gimmicky ones.

What do you mean by "Classical Music" ?

[french frank]

Apologies to Harriet Havard, Cockney Sparrow and Mr GongGong - I have seemingly deleted the posts that were in a new thread on the Welcome board but which made reference to the Prom with the Pet Shop Boys. This was not censorship but incompetence on my part.

Cockney Sparrow also referred to this Prom here.

[french frank]

There's also the whole thing where people complain about how the programming is too populist on R3 and features too much chatter and excerpts of longer works etc, then when the Proms season is announced with no (compulsory, anyway) chatter and lots of solid performances of the core repertoire by distinguished artists it instead becomes how unimaginative the programming is.

They may not be the identical people complaining about both all the time: I never complain about the Proms, for example

[MrGongGong]

Apologies to Harriet Havard, Cockney Sparrow and Mr GongGong - I have seemingly deleted the posts that were in a new thread on the Welcome board but which made reference to the Prom with the Pet Shop Boys. This was not censorship but incompetence on my part.

Congratulations on your new job, and looking forward to hearing your first Proms season next year

[Flosshilde]

Someone correct me if I've missed something, but it seems a gaping and peculiar omission that there's no world music at all, neither global/fusion nor traditional/classical. Surely there should be something in the BBC Proms every year because world music is part of Radio 3's core output and the Proms include a wide range of music and are a good opportunity to introduce different music to people, and several posters above have given the all-night Indian classical recitals of yore a special mention.

Is this a first? HG actually criticising something the BBC does?

[Flosshilde]

So, the proposal is one single BBC Proms-branded concert in each of eight locations dotted around the UK? What repertoire and artists would you recommend?

No, I think the proposal was for a weekly concert, which would make it 7 or 8 concerts from each location.

The RSNO in Glasgow used to do a brief 'Proms' season in the summer, but it was mostly of popular/populist stuff & I'm not sure if they actually took the seats out of the stalls areas. Obviously Edinburgh has its own successful festival & wouldn't need to piggy-back on the Proms.

[Ferretfancy]

Sceptics about visiting orchestras might be pleasantly surprised by the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic, who are appearing with their conductor Sascha Goetzel on 29th July.
I have their recording of Hindemith's SMOTOCMVW and Respighi's Belkis Queen of Sheba plus Schmitt's La Tragedie de Salome, and it's very good. It certainly showed a level of confidence in the orchestra to issue their first CD with that programme.
I understand that Goetzel is virtually the founder of the band.

[pastoralguy]

No, I think the proposal was for a weekly concert, which would make it 7 or 8 concerts from each location.

The RSNO in Glasgow used to do a brief 'Proms' season in the summer, but it was mostly of popular/populist stuff & I'm not sure if they actually took the seats out of the stalls areas. Obviously Edinburgh has its own successful festival & wouldn't need to piggy-back on the Proms.

Oh, how I remember those (R)SNO Proms! They were my introduction to classical music as an Edinburgh schoolboy. The seats were taken out and we did sit on the floor in the stalls (although there were some seats provided for older folk!) The SNO used to do a 'Last night of the Proms' in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness which led to the phrase 'the last of the Last nights' being bandied around the orchestra before their summer hols.

Happy days.

[amateur51]

No, I think the proposal was for a weekly concert, which would make it 7 or 8 concerts from each location.

The RSNO in Glasgow used to do a brief 'Proms' season in the summer, but it was mostly of popular/populist stuff & I'm not sure if they actually took the seats out of the stalls areas. Obviously Edinburgh has its own successful festival & wouldn't need to piggy-back on the Proms.

Oh?! Using EA's "logic" presumably this festival would have to move around too, to make truly a national festival too

What nation he has not as yet mentioned

[Flosshilde]

The Edinburgh International Festival

The British Broadcasting Corporation Proms

The names have a clue.

[amateur51]

The Edinburgh International Festival

The British Broadcasting Corporation Proms

The names have a clue.

Edinburgh was not a nation, last time I looked.

What sort of clue is that?

[Flosshilde]

Edinburgh was not a nation, last time I looked.

Quite.

Whereas the BBC is the national broadcaster (& even covers N.I.) so should, perhaps, spread its riches round.

I wouldn't have thought you were one of the 'keep everything in London & sod the rest of you' crowd, Ams

[pastoralguy]

Quite.

Whereas the BBC is the national broadcaster (& even covers N.I.) so should, perhaps, spread its riches round.

I wouldn't have thought you were one of the 'keep everything in London & sod the rest of you' crowd, Ams

At least the morning concerts broadcasts from the Queen's Hall have been re-instated after a couple of years of being ignored. But the evening concerts are never broadcast live although some are recorded 'for future transmission'.

Ah well.

[amateur51]

Quite.

Whereas the BBC is the national broadcaster (& even covers N.I.) so should, perhaps, spread its riches round.

I wouldn't have thought you were one of the 'keep everything in London & sod the rest of you' crowd, Ams

That's not it at all Flossie. i just see the 'let's spread it about' school of thought as being poorly thought out in terms of 'bums on seats' including tourists, and in terms of venues. For example in Wales it is inevitable that the concerts would go to Cardiff where all the infrastructure money has been spent for decades, rather than going anywhere near the North. Concert-goers in the North and Mid-Wales would be expected to go to Manchester/Liverpool or to Birmingham, I imagine. All you'd be doing is swapping one set of 'disgruntlements' for several more and significant expenditure and no apparent benefits.

I rarely attend Proms concerts, despite having lived in London for over 40 years. The Hall is uncomfortable, frequently a sauna in hot weather if we get any, and without easy access to useful public transport. Getting home to North West London by bus can be a nightmare. The catering is expensive.

For me the answer is to broadcast all concerts on radio as now and also to increase significantly the number of TV broadcasts and yes the cinema audiences, which have been shown to be a new market for opera audiences. My radio/TV are not in London, they're in my living room. They'd be there for concerts broadcast from Bodelwyddan and Kirkcudbright too

Later: I've forgotten to mention the incredible disparity in acoustics according to where you sit - a nightmare But it does hold over 5,000 people

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

No, I think the proposal was for a weekly concert, which would make it 7 or 8 concerts from each location.

I wasn't even thinking of going as far as that. Just one concert from each venue, broadcast on Radio 3. Perhaps a matinee or late night concert would be there for the London season ticket holders.