Prom 5 - 21.07.14: Tonhalle Orchestra, J. Fischer / Zinman

[teamsaint]

I intend to at some point - anyone know if Rumpole is wearing a silly hat?

a wig you mean? Will have to catch it later.......driving duties........

[pastoralguy]

Anyone watching this on BBC Four?

Oh yes. And I don't care what anyone else thinks... I LOVE Miss deNiece!

[Mary Chambers]

Someone commented that the presentation was a bit like Strictly Come Dancing - no idea what he meant (I can't watch it until it's over!).

Danielle de Niese is an absolute pain. Petroc is doing his best.

I am contrasting this with the tone of a 1961 edition of Opera magazine that a friend has just given me. Unashamedly 'elitist', and assuming its readers can manage the occasional long word . I know this is not a fair or reasonable comparison.

[french frank]

A voice from beyond has contacted us to give his view of the concert. For those who welcomed the comments of the member formerly known as Ariosto:

"PROM 5

I heard this in part on iPlayer and also on TV and it was somewhat different on the two platforms. I only heard the first half.

However, I’m surprised at all the hype about the orchestra, conductor and soloist.

Obviously I’m going to present a different opinion to the norm as I’ve seen elsewhere. So maybe you should stop reading now!

Till

I thought this an unsubtle and rather raucous rendition and it lacked finesse and was also a bit un-together at times. Poor balance too from the BBC (on TV at least). Not that impressive and I would say it would rate as an average performance from one of our lesser provincial orchestras. (Well by me at any rate).

Dvorak fiddle concerto.

My wife commented on JF’s awful sound just before leaving the room! OK, Julia Fischer played the easy bits OK (apart from the sound), but struggled with the more difficult passages. It was for me a very un-memorable performance. When you hear really great violinists play this piece you realise what is missing.

Oh, I forgot the conductor. Well, I’m well known for my generosity about conductors so I will be generous and say Mr Zinman was a good to average stick waver. But I’m pleased I never played for him"

[pastoralguy]

A voice from beyond has contacted us to give his view of the concert. For those who welcomed the comments of the member formerly known as Ariosto:

"PROM 5

I heard this in part on iPlayer and also on TV and it was somewhat different on the two platforms. I only heard the first half.

However, I’m surprised at all the hype about the orchestra, conductor and soloist.

Obviously I’m going to present a different opinion to the norm as I’ve seen elsewhere. So maybe you should stop reading now!

Till

I thought this an unsubtle and rather raucous rendition and it lacked finesse and was also a bit un-together at times. Poor balance too from the BBC (on TV at least). Not that impressive and I would say it would rate as an average performance from one of our lesser provincial orchestras. (Well by me at any rate).

Dvorak fiddle concerto.

My wife commented on JF’s awful sound just before leaving the room! OK, Julia Fischer played the easy bits OK (apart from the sound), but struggled with the more difficult passages. It was for me a very un-memorable performance. When you hear really great violinists play this piece you realise what is missing.

Oh, I forgot the conductor. Well, I’m well known for my generosity about conductors so I will be generous and say Mr Zinman was a good to average stick waver. But I’m pleased I never played for him"

You know Johnson & Johnson cotton buds are freely available from most chemist shops...

[french frank]

Oh yes. And I don't care what anyone else thinks... I LOVE Miss deNiece!

Danielle de Niese is an absolute pain. Petroc is doing his best.

I wonder why she was chosen to co-present this concert? Though, I suppose professionals commenting on performers in the same field might be a bit tricky

I always imagined she was French. She was Cleopatra in the Glyndebourne G Cesare, with Sarah Connolly. Very ... seductive.

[Mary Chambers]

According to the onscreen blurb at the end of the concert, next Friday on BBC4 we get 'Mozart's Piano Concerto'.

[french frank]

According to the onscreen blurb at the end of the concert, next Friday on BBC4 we get 'Mozart's Piano Concerto'.

Thanks, Mary - I love that one. I think.

[Pianorak]

Just as an aside - when is the BBC (and other broadcasters) going to dispense with those unsightly face-hugging microphones which, presumably, are considered visually less intrusive. Yet to me they look like some horrible exzema if not outright psoriasis.
No objection to Danielle de Niese as a co-presenter, who IMO was outstanding in L'incoronazione di Poppea.

[Tevot]

Thanks, Mary - I love that one. I think.

Brilliant !!! I suppose we must accentuate the positive and treat Auntie's announcement as a kind of Maths Lesson wherein we look at the issue of probability. Which of 27 possibilities might it be !?

I suppose a more downmarket version would be (Koechel's) Wheel of Fortune ...

[french frank]

Which of 27 possibilities might it be !?

No 23, apparently

[PhilipT]

Are there ventilators in the roof that can be opened? It would seem to be the simplest & most effective means of ventilation (rather like a greenhouse).

Apparently the entire dome over the auditorium of the Palermo Opera House opens in the summer.

There's an entire door that can be opened at Gallery level, but it is always closed during the performance, and sometimes before. During the performance, because of the traffic noise; and sometimes before, because (depending on the exact date and time of day) it lets direct sunlight in on the people in the posh seats.

Some friends who inhabit the Gallery during the Proms season told me over a welcome cold beer in the bar a few nights ago that there are clearly some building works going in the Gallery at the moment, and they have hopes that better ventilation is being installed.

[Petrushka]

I've attended two Proms so far, last Sunday and the First Night and despite the heat outside, it seemed cool enough in the hall from my stalls seat. The downside is that the air cooling is clearly audible, like a gentle hissing sound and rather like listening to radio in the good old, bad old days.

I can remember some really hot and sticky nights in the hall (August 14 1997 anybody?) and the air cooling certainly works. I could just do without the noise it makes!

[Nick Armstrong]

Danielle de Niese is an absolute pain. Petroc is doing his best.

I found both of them, and the whole smiley double act, unbearable and was glad to be able to fast-forward at maximum velocity through their bits of the recording just now (and that I have a 'partial delete' facility which will enable them to be excised completely).

I intend to at some point - anyone know if Rumpole is wearing a silly hat?

...

... actually, no; but thanks to a salmon-coloured linen shirt, self + sidekick are periodically visible... if you know where seats 5/26 & 27 in Stalls H are located

[teamsaint]

The fact that the mind bogglingly annoying De Niese was presenting has eased my sadness at not catching a glimpse of Caliban , and the dullness of the 2 hour motorway stint I was on.