Prom 8 - 23.07.14: Pet Shop Boys Prom

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

i think the original work of the pet Shop Boys is a part of the canon of 1980s serious music

on this basis not at all adventurous of Aunt to choose them for a prom; more retro nostalgia in the Pepsi Suite [should that be Coca]

but retro nostalgia is an attribute of many proms

i did not like it much [one half of a sentence from the narrator and this jazbo was gone] but think some of the original recordings are wonderful and best heard on the wireless ...

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

My criticism of the Pet Shop Boys Prom Turing tribute wasn't because they are pop artists, or even of the type of music that we heard in the hall, my main complaint was that the narrative on which it was based was so swamped by the volume of the music and the heavily miked sound system in this already reverberant hall.

Isn't this the real problem with pop music? It often attempts to cover its deficiencies by turning up the volume and by creating mass hysteria. Happy-clappy church music works on a similar basis. So, yes, it may well have been better for home listeners.

But at least the PSB we're attempting something new. So many pop musicians recycle the same material ad nausiam.

[french frank]

Here at Verbier they have this coming up (sadly i'll have gone by then )

http://www.verbierfestival.com/progr...oussou-n-dour/

And that is the one concert, above all those on offer, that you would regret missing?

[MrGongGong]

And that is the one concert, above all those on offer, that you would regret missing?

I didn't say that

Isn't this the real problem with pop music? It often attempts to cover its deficiencies by turning up the volume and by creating mass hysteria.

Like Wagner ?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I didn't say that





Like Wagner ?

No. Not like Wagner. Much of his music is quiet and intricate and he uses only human effort to create loud sounds when they are required.

And please try to laugh more quietly at your own jokes.

[teamsaint]

I always used to think that the true test of pop music was " What does it sound like on a moderate quality transistor radio". But then I was a bit fussy about pop music and what passed my own demanding criteria () way back when.

IIRC , this was a test that Berry Gordy applied at Motown, though I may be mistaken.

No doubt the PSBs would pass the test with their big hits, and likely fail it with the Proms programme.

or not.

although the test itself of course may be flawed. Can't see it working in down town Kingston, for instance.

[MrGongGong]

No. Not like Wagner. Much of his music is quiet and intricate and he uses only human effort to create loud sounds when they are required.

Just like Rammstein then (but they aren't "Pop" music either)
I would regard the invention of the loudspeaker as a great example of "human effort"

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I would regard the invention of the loudspeaker as a great example of "human effort"

For the invention, yes; but using it to compensate for musical inadequacy - no.

[MrGongGong]

For the invention, yes; but using it to compensate for musical inadequacy - no.

Like operatic vibrato ?

Even though I wasn't there I wouldn't imagine for one minute that the Pet Shop Boys would have done that.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I always used to think that the true test of pop music was " What does it sound like on a moderate quality transistor radio".

Oh! I always thought it was "Does it really get up the noses of your Mum & Dad?"

[Bryn]

Oh! I always thought it was "Does it really get up the noses of your Mum & Dad?"

No, that, for me, was Schoenberg's 'Pierrot Lunaire'.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

No, that, for me, was Schoenberg's 'Pierrot Lunaire'.

Top of the Pops, chez ferney! (Not 'arf.)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Oh! I always thought it was "Does it really get up the noses of your Mum & Dad?"

I just used to practise scales.

[Bryn]

Top of the Pops, chez ferney! (Not 'arf.)

O.k., I did play the Alice Howland recording quite a lot, but the response it got from mater was "Turn that catawalling female off! You can't really be enjoying it.".

[Quarky]

Is it? Then it's the tension between going 'classical' and introducing chamber music concerts or going 'orchestral' and introducing film scores and musicals. Or are the Proms really best if not to be considered anything except a 'music festival' - and leave classical festivals to the smaller guys and foreigners?

I started going to the Proms about 5 years ago, after a lifetime of listening to music through other media. Granted, that looking at the Programmes over the Summer Period, the Proms is a many headed beast.

But every time I walk into the Arena, the principal impression is Classical Music (in the main), symphony orchestras (usually the BBCSO), and orchestral works. That is the abiding impression of the Proms for me.

Of course the promoters will say it is a music festival with all types of music and appealing to absolutely everyone. In this the internet will help in applying huge amounts of gloss ( reminded of a website for Garden Sheds which advertised absolutely staggering sheds , fence and gate constructions. I spent all afternoon trying to find the "yard" in the Hertfordshire countryside, and eventually it turned out to be a shabby little affair with piles of fence panels, and little else).