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

[Hornspieler]

You're way down on your comments re orchestral Proms HS (not Ventilhorn or several of your sundry noms-de- Forum )

Stop bickering & get commenting ... or I'll set Sir Geoffrey Boycott on you!! "My mother could conduct Shostakovich symphony no.10 wi' a stick o' rhubarb!"

Yes. I adopted "ventihorn" (horn with pistons) when "genial horn" changed his name to "waldhorn" (hand horn, or hunting horn)
So when "waldhorn" reverted to "Tony", I went back to my original "Hornspieler"

As for commenting on the Proms so far, I am a great believer in the words of Harry S Truman: "If you've got nothing to say, don't say it!"

So I now wait until I see a few comments and appraisals from other listeners before deciding whether to weigh in with my four pennyworth.

Have a nice weekend.

HS

[french frank]

I'm sure that fans of the Royal Liverpool, Hallé, and Royal Scottish National Orchestra would dispute that statement.

Apologies. I thought that following the comments of a certain other member the quotation marks would be understood as irony! Bristol is no longer the 'home' of the Bournemouth Symphony, and neither Bournemouth nor the BSO had anything to do with Zurich, the Tonhalle, or Bristol where I live. Hence the comment.

But to repeat in clearer English, I thoroughly enjoyed the performance of Till by the ZT and wish that Bristol had an international class orchestra of this quality based here. I found Till riveting.

On to the rest of the concert

[Nick Armstrong]

I've just listened to Till and found it mesmerising. ... Lovely, light, springy, when it needed to be - I did enjoy. The concerto when I've done a few Saturday chores.

I actually enjoyed it even more on the radio & TV than in the hall - even in nice seats, it suffered from the 'back in the Royal Albert Hall' effect: the muddled bathroom acoustic, which blurred the lines, at least for the first 5 minutes or so until one's ears adjusted to the sound.

As E.Rob said elsewhere: perhaps you had not to be there!! It's the main reason I tend not to go to that many Proms - though it was great to be there for the occasion.

[Roehre]

I've just listened to Till and found it mesmerising. Zurich is a smaller city than Bristol -.....

While Bern is the federal Swiss capital and the capital of the Canton Bern (with a nice provincial orchestra), Zürich is the largest Swiss city and the country's centre of trading and finance. It is also the capital of the Canton Zürich and possesses a nice concert hall, the Tonhalle, the finest in Switzerland. The Zürich cantonal as well as municipal councils with help of sponsors are proud of their orchestra, which is one of the three "big" orchestras in Switzerland, the others being the Luzern Festival (Abbado!) and the Orchestre de la suisse romande.

Hence it is more opportune to compare the Tonhalle with the LSO or LPO

[french frank]

Now I've heard it all, I'm still a 'raver' :-) especially about Julia Fischer's performance. Lovely Dvorák, but the Hindemith was one of the most amazing performances I've ever heard from a solo violinist. The Beethoven was very enjoyable. For choice, I prefer it little less speedy in places ... though it certainly works. The whole concert was wonderful, all the more so considering Till and the Pastoral are so well known as to almost evoke a yawn on seeing the programme (I exaggerate).

If I understood correctly, there will be two different Friday presenters on BBC Four each week? Do they still have two television newsreaders, two breakfast presenters &c sitting side by side these days? I'd have thought it would have gone out of fashion by now. It sounds so much more contrived.

[PS I wasn't comparing the Tonhalle to any other orchestra, in London, Manchester, Liverpool or Bournemouth. And I concede that Zurich is a more important city than Bristol. It doesn't stop me wishing we had an orchestra like the Tonhalle in Bristol!]

[Hornspieler]

Now I've heard it all, I'm still a 'raver' :-) especially about Julia Fischer's performance. Lovely Dvorák, but the Hindemith was one of the most amazing performances I've ever heard from a solo violinist. The Beethoven was very enjoyable. For choice, I prefer it little less speedy in places ... though it certainly works. The whole concert was wonderful, all the more so considering Till and the Pastoral are so well known as to almost evoke a yawn on seeing the programme (I exaggerate).

You're on my wavelength here, Sarah. As an ex horn player, always on the lookout for "ravers" as we used to describe them, we'd have made a great pair!

If I understood correctly, there will be two different Friday presenters on BBC Four each week? Do they still have two television newsreaders, two breakfast presenters &c sitting side by side these days? I'd have thought it would have gone out of fashion by now. It sounds so much more contrived.

... like our news reader who sends us to our reporter in Kiev, who says "that's right, Sophie" then immediately transfers us to the man in Donetsk, who says a few words before transferring us to "our man at the crash site", who then tells us nothing because nobody will talk to him. Just another BBC attempt to balance the obscene cost of those Radio 1 DJs who are plundering the licence fees.

[PS I wasn't comparing the Tonhalle to any other orchestra, in London, Manchester, Liverpool or Bournemouth. And I concede that Zurich is a more important city than Bristol. It doesn't stop me wishing we had an orchestra like the Tonhalle in Bristol!]

In fact, you nearly did. In the early 1960s, when the Western Orchestral Society (subnamed "The Western Authorities Orchestral Association) had a spat with Bournemouth Borough Council, a proposal to move the orchestra to Bristol was mooted. We were all informed that our houses would be bought up at market value - all removal expenses would be paid and our children would be relocated in appropriate educational establishments.

No! Really!

Of course, it all came to nothing. Bournemouth BC backed down and Bristol got lumbered with the BBC Training Orchestra - later reduced in size and accorded the ludicrous name "The Academy of the BBC"

Sorry to bore you all with this, but it is Sunday Morning and the Test Match doesn't start until 11 am.

HS

[Nick Armstrong]

Sorry to bore you all with this, but it is Sunday Morning and the Test Match doesn't start until 11 am.

[Richard Tarleton]

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

Complicated - full details here if you can be bothered. Dutch/Sri Lankan by birth, Australian and American by upbringing. We were away and out on Friday night so I only caught the end of the broadcast - did she really say this was the first time she'd heard the Pastoral, causing PT to gasp and check that he'd heard right - "do you mean to tell me you're a Pastoral virgin" or something like that? I suppose everyone's got to start somewhere, and being a jet-setting opera star and chatelaine of Glyndebourne must mean she has very little spare time for, er, listening to music. She is very annoying.

[Stanfordian]

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.

That must be the Danielle de Niese who is married to Gus Christie chairman of Glyndebourne Festival Opera. She doesn't by any chance sing at Glyndebourne at lot now these days, does she?

[french frank]

did she really say this was the first time she'd heard the Pastoral, causing PT to gasp and check that he'd heard right

I had to check back afterwards. She said it was the first time she'd heard it LIVE, I think.

Ignoring Stanfordian's comments - I can't quite see why an opera singer was chosen to talk about purely orchestral pieces. She seemed as if she was acting all the time. Katie Derham sounded positively stuffy when she did the Proms Extra trail.

[Richard Tarleton]

That must be the Danielle de Niese who is married to Gus Christie chairman of Glyndebourne Festival Opera. She doesn't by any chance sing at Glyndebourne at lot now these days, does she?

that's worthy of Lunchtime O'Booze, Stanfordian!

[kernelbogey]

[...] I suppose everyone's got to start somewhere, and being a jet-setting opera star and chatelaine of Glyndebourne must mean she has very little spare time for, er, listening to music. She is very annoying.

In her defence - I didn't hear this interview - I thought her terrific in every way in The Enchanted Isle, the Met's faux-Baroque confection.

I find the Beeb spends too much time interviewing musicians, many of whom have little interesting to say - obviously there are exceptions - about the music. That is one reason that In Tune is insufferable, IMV.

[french frank]

In her defence - I didn't hear this interview - I thought her terrific in every way

She wasn't even being interviewed - she was presenting, alongside Petroc. But next week - a new presenter.

I suspect the 'celebrity' presenters are wheeled in to make the interval more interesting

Strange that on the very few occasions I've watched television in recent years, the culture shock comes with the presenters and the way in which they 'present'.

[Pianorak]

That must be the Danielle de Niese who is married to Gus Christie chairman of Glyndebourne Festival Opera. She doesn't by any chance sing at Glyndebourne at lot now these days, does she?

She is - and she does - and what an asset she is!

[antongould]

Now I've heard it all, I'm still a 'raver' :-) especially about Julia Fischer's performance. Lovely Dvorák, but the Hindemith was one of the most amazing performances I've ever heard from a solo violinist. The Beethoven was very enjoyable. For choice, I prefer it little less speedy in places ... though it certainly works. The whole concert was wonderful, all the more so considering Till and the Pastoral are so well known as to almost evoke a yawn on seeing the programme (I exaggerate). .......

Couldn't agree more FF, just managed to watch it at last ......wonderful indeed - the Fischer encore is unforgettable...