Prom 25: Monteverdi – Orfeo (4.08.15)

[David Underdown]

It was originally advertised with an interval, so the BBC presumably had no issue with it at that time.

[Darkbloom]

It was originally advertised with an interval, so the BBC presumably had no issue with it at that time.

I found it quite hard going in the hall without an interval. I think that amount of recitative needs to be broken up a little bit to retain the concentration of the audience. I don't usually have a problem standing in the arena, but this was one occasion when I flagged a bit two-thirds of the way through. It was a shame because it was such a fine performance overall. I enjoyed the way they made use of the arena (pace the Guardian's grumbling today), and the two female soloists were both very impressive performers. Lovely movers too, in their different ways, which added a sensuality which would have been lost on the radio.

It remains a work I admire rather than love, though. I keep returning to it in the hope that I will finally 'get it' this time, but it never quite happens for me.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Dispensing with intervals is bizarre. Quite apart from calls of nature and other health issues in a hot auditorium in summer, the level concentration required by the musicians must be quite intense, so does such a prologued period without a break bring out the best in them?

[Darkbloom]

Dispensing with intervals is bizarre. Quite apart from calls of nature and other health issues in a hot auditorium in summer, the level concentration required by the musicians must be quite intense, so does such a prologued period without a break bring out the best in them?

I don't think doing Orfeo without an interval would have unduly taxed the musicians or singers, but it certainly doesn't help the audience. There is something about lightly scored music in the arena that is quite draining over long periods, in contrast to something much denser like the Verdi Requeim which was no problem at all. I suppose Gardiner felt that an interval under the circumstances would have been vulgar (I can't imagine the RAH, with an eye on the bar takings, would have agreed) and spoiled the atmosphere.

[David Underdown]

Well there was a tuning break part way through, the chorus were off stage for a while, the brass also went off for a bit. The rest of the orchestra were divided into two groups, so presumably got a bit of respite from time to time. Though I did see one of the players outside before hand drinking a cup of coffee and remarking to a colleague that he wouldn't normally opt for a double espresso at that time of day, but it seemed necessary...

[Darkbloom]

This in the Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/cla...-orfeo-review/

Christiansen has got very excited about the singers wearing mikes and is comparing it to doping in athletics. I noticed they were wearing them but didn't notice any amplification from my spot fairly near the front of the arena. Would it have been done to help the radio broadcast, since the singers were moving around a lot?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

This in the Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/cla...-orfeo-review/

Christiansen has got very excited about the singers wearing mikes and is comparing it to doping in athletics. I noticed they were wearing them but didn't notice any amplification from my spot fairly near the front of the arena. Would it have been done to help the radio broadcast, since the singers were moving around a lot?

I would think it was for the broadcast - the voices were rather close miked.

[Flosshilde]

I was able to only listen to a brief part of this, on the car radio, but as there was some movement around the stage, & exits & entrances, if the individual singers were miked there surely wouldn't be any sense of that in the broadcast?

[doversoul1]

David Underdown #13

Many thanks for the detailed report of the staging. It makes sense of some of the extra sound (noise?) I heard during the performance. When the Tavener Consort’s L’Orfeo came out, Andrew Parrott said on CD Review that L’Orfeo was not an opera in modern sense with stage sets and costumes. From this I always imagined the original performance to be something like a concert performance. Here’s another review and a photo:

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/aug/05/monteverdi-choir-gardiner-prom-25-review-orfeo

Listening on the radio, I was surprised to find that the performance was to continue without an interval. I’d have thought between Act 3 and 4 would be a natural break, as this is the turning point of the story. I think the next stage of the story would have been more effective if the audience had had time to contemplate the story so far.

[Old Grumpy]

One more to keep on about it. Do listen to the Proms Extras if only to hear how excellent some of the often sneered at presenters really are.

Thanks for this - just caught up with it. Enjoyed SM-P's disucssion with the two guests very much.

Nice review of the concert in the Indy


OG

[Richard J.]

I too was surprised to find that the interval notified in the BBC Proms guide had been abolished, according to the small print in the programme. I would have welcomed a break, partly because my seat in the Side Stalls had lost most of its padding. After 1 hr 45 min, John Eliot Gardiner was so thirsty that he opened and drank from a bottle of water while continuing to conduct!

I was slightly alarmed when I realised that this was not a straight concert performance. The last live Orfeo I saw was at the Barbican in 2013 when Richard Egarr and the AAM gave a musically good performance that was utterly ruined for me by a ridiculous staging by Orpha Phelan involving Mafia gangsters. I've since avoided any "concert" performance of an opera with a stage director's name credited. But last night I felt that the (uncredited) staging worked well and didn't distract from the music.

Overall it was a highly impressive performance, but at times I felt that the pace dragged. I know that this work is full of anguished emotions, but they seemed overstretched here. I haven't found that in other performances of Orfeo. I've just checked the timings of the actual music, and Gardiner's performance was over 22 minutes longer than Haïm's which I have on CD.

re the singers' mikes: these were obviously just for Radio 3. It was notable that when a singer turned away from me the voice quality changed, as one would expect. If amplification had been used in the hall, that would not have happened.

[Old Grumpy]

re the singers' mikes: these were obviously just for Radio 3. It was notable that when a singer turned away from me the voice quality changed, as one would expect. If amplification had been used in the hall, that would not have happened.

You would have thought Christiansen would have realised this!! I presume he was there too, and would have experienced the same as you did. In the Guardian the reviewer notes the absence of surtitles...
... is there anywhere to project them in the RAH?


OG

[David Underdown]

This in the Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/cla...-orfeo-review/

Christiansen has got very excited about the singers wearing mikes and is comparing it to doping in athletics. I noticed they were wearing them but didn't notice any amplification from my spot fairly near the front of the arena. Would it have been done to help the radio broadcast, since the singers were moving around a lot?

Has the article been edited - I don't see any mention of microphones or amplification. There were some speakers in evidence, but I imagine that was part of the set up for the 6Music Prom, rather than Monteverdi, I certainly couldn't hear anything other than sound direct from the singers, even when the Messenger was wandering through the arena

[BBMmk2]

Surely with expanded works, such as Orfeo, etc, the Proms Team should included an interval? Sir JEG, obviously needed one!

[Old Grumpy]

Has the article been edited - I don't see any mention of microphones or amplification. There were some speakers in evidence, but I imagine that was part of the set up for the 6Music Prom, rather than Monteverdi, I certainly couldn't hear anything other than sound direct from the singers, even when the Messenger was wandering through the arena

YES! - very much so - the previous wording alluded to the singers wearing head-microphones and it was suggested this could be considered the musical equivalent of doping in sport!

Someone has obviously had a quiet word - there was no comments field on the Telegraph web page.


Reminds me of an article in the Graun a while back when Charlotte Green (I think) left the Beeb... ... it referred to her as an alumni of [whichever Haberdashers Aske's school she went to]. The online version of the article was discretely altered to alumna after several corrections (including mine) appeared in the comments field.

The marvels of modern technology eh? They won't have been able to correct the print versions though.

OG