Presentation

[Vile Consort]

OK, we're less than a week in but there has been a very noticeable (and welcome!) absence of gushing thus far.

Is that policy? Or is it just that the gushers-in-chief are on annual leave at the moment?

One can but hope.

[Andrew Slater]

I detected a degree of calming-down in a Proms trailer I heard this evening: it could well be policy......if so it's very welcome

[edashtav]

Yes, the presentation is more varied and less hysterical this year. Long may the trend continue.

[doversoul1]

I very much enjoyed Stravinsky’s Octet, and during the resetting of the stage, I expected to hear the presenter talk about the backgrounds of and relevant information about this and the nest work. Instead, we had members of audience telling the presenter about themselves. What possible purpose does this serve? This is like an extended phone-in on Breakfast. I turned the radio off and now too scared to turn on again in case I hear more of the same.

[Pulcinella]

The presenters seem singularly incapable, whether because of lack of script or lack of knowledge, to give even basic details, surely useful to the new audience that they want to attract, such as the number of movements in a piece: not all concertos have three movements; not all symphonies have four!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Yes, the presentation is more varied and less hysterical this year. Long may the trend continue.

The hysteria has turned on us - the imagined criticism of the Ibiza Prom. The more we ignore it, the more they bleat.

[Vile Consort]

I very much enjoyed Stravinsky’s Octet, and during the resetting of the stage, I expected to hear the presenter talk about the backgrounds of and relevant information about this and the nest work. Instead, we had members of audience telling the presenter about themselves. What possible purpose does this serve? This is like an extended phone-in on Breakfast. I turned the radio off and now too scared to turn on again in case I hear more of the same.

I can see the point of trying to persuade people who think they might try going to a concert but are wary in case everybody else present turns out to have a first from Oxbridge that these concerts are OK for ordinary people to go to. I don't like it, but I can see a possible purpose it might serve ... provided, of course, that the people interviewed aren't all highly intelligent, articulate individuals with firsts from Oxbridge.

Hmm ... I've just realised what the problem is.

[EdgeleyRob]

Well every Prom has been amazing apparently.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Well every Prom has been amazing apparently.

To a great extent they are amazing, but being repeatedly told this, parrot-fashion, casts doubt on this perception for many listeners.

[Beef Oven!]

I think the presentation has been gorgeous, thought-provoking, refreshing and intellectually stimulating.

[doversoul1]

I can see the point of trying to persuade people who think they might try going to a concert but are wary in case everybody else present turns out to have a first from Oxbridge that these concerts are OK for ordinary people to go to. I don't like it, but I can see a possible purpose it might serve ... provided, of course, that the people interviewed aren't all highly intelligent, articulate individuals with firsts from Oxbridge.

Hmm ... I've just realised what the problem is.

If my post seems as if I am contradicting your OP, I apologise, as I was not. I haven’t been listening to the Proms all that much but from what I have heard, and comes to that, other concerts on R3 on the whole, I think the presentation has improved. That was why this one came as a nasty reminder. When I think back, the problem you saw (if my guess is right) was what grated on me more than the fact that there was an interview. There was something obnoxiously self-congratulatory about it. As if they did not have enough confidence in the music they were presenting.

[Satie]

The presenters seem singularly incapable, whether because of lack of script or lack of knowledge, to give even basic details, surely useful to the new audience that they want to attract, such as the number of movements in a piece: not all concertos have three movements; not all symphonies have four!

Good to see a discussion on the presenters. I may of course need psychological help but I find both Derham (gushing - we're so cultivated, are we not?) and Service (stand back musicians, performers all, while my formidable brain and hyper-rapid delivery conveys the essence of this chap Beethoven, who will surely benefit from my glittering exposition) too much to bear. Tonight, after a sublime performance of Prokoviev 3rd concerto, Service realising none of us were up to listening properly, explained how the performer seemed to be plunging deep into the innards of the piano, excavating the profundities you guys were too slow to perceive. Were there really strong men before Agamemnon?

[DracoM]

Well, tonight's Derham Fest introducing the Rachmaninov Symp 2 was a disgrace of blatant and non-stop self-promotion.
All about HER and HER reactions to the music, and when we can all hear HER again, not once but twice.


Blimey. That was awful.

[Hornspieler]

Good to see a discussion on the presenters. I may of course need psychological help but I find both Derham (gushing - we're so cultivated, are we not?) and Service (stand back musicians, performers all, while my formidable brain and hyper-rapid delivery conveys the essence of this chap Beethoven, who will surely benefit from my glittering exposition) too much to bear. Tonight, after a sublime performance of Prokoviev 3rd concerto, Service realising none of us were up to listening properly, explained how the performer seemed to be plunging deep into the innards of the piano, excavating the profundities you guys were too slow to perceive. Were there really strong men before Agamemnon?

... as I have just written on the "School of Gush" thread:

"Normal Service Will Be Resumed As Soon As Possible"

Unfortunately, I fear not.

The man suffers from verbal diarrhoea** which, coupled with a lack of experience and expertise, is more than unbearable.

HS

** defined in Collins Dictionary as " ...frequent and copious discharge of abnormally liquid faecès."

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Well, tonight's Derham Fest introducing the Rachmaninov Symp 2 was a disgrace of blatant and non-stop self-promotion.
All about HER and HER reactions to the music, and when we can all hear HER again, not once but twice.


Blimey. That was awful.

It's the way they keep repeating their own names. Nausiating.