Prom 41: Sherlock Holmes – A Musical Mind (16.08.15)

[pureimagination]

But this is the board for comments about individual Proms, in this case Prom 41.

I'm just replying to those posts that have been directed at me in this thread (posts 29, 32, 34, 36, 37, 38, 41, 42, etc.) You're an administrator of this forum I'm not.

[pureimagination]

posted by french frank in post 42. "You seem to confuse criticism with 'derision'. It is perfectly valid to criticise any of these Proms (as with the classical ones) if you feel, even within their own terms, they weren't very good."
But this prom hasn't even f____ happened yet!!!

[jean]

The Proms salutes a crime-fighting violin virtuoso who wrote a pioneering study of Dutch sacred music...

Just noticed this.

Aren't composers of Lassus' time and place usually described as Flemish?

And if you were determined to situate him in a modern nation-state, shouldn't it be Belgium?

But I'll be interested to hear hown he fits in with the rest...

[ahinton]

perhaps the blindfold could be placed over the mouth(s) for a little while

I'm trying not to expend mental energy on figuring out what use a blindfold might be if placed over a mouth.

Never mind.

[Roehre]

Just noticed this.

Aren't composers of Lassus' time and place usually described as Flemish?

And if you were determined to situate him in a modern nation-state, shouldn't it be Belgium?

But I'll be interested to hear hown he fits in with the rest...

The correct term is Netherlandish here, as some of them were born in present day Belgium (Flanders, Liège, Mons-Hainaut/Bergen-Henegouwen) others in present day Netherlands (Brabant, Holland), and some in present day northern France (Arras, Artois, Hainaut ). Nearly all of them were born in what were then the 17 Provinces of the burgundian[<1477]/hapsburg [1477-1581] Netherlands (the exception being Liège/Luik/Lüttich, birthplace of Ciconia, which remained a separate and independent archbishopric until the French revolution).
But they are composers in the Franco-flemish tradition (basically between Machaut +1377 and Sweelinck +1621).

[french frank]

posted by french frank in post 42. "You seem to confuse criticism with 'derision'. It is perfectly valid to criticise any of these Proms (as with the classical ones) if you feel, even within their own terms, they weren't very good."
But this prom hasn't even f____ happened yet!!!

No, but it hasn't been criticised yet - other than in pointing out that this is one of the 'light' Proms whose theme indicates that it's aimed at a wider public. That's why the BBC calls it "part of 'Classical for starters' and 'For families' ". They don't mean it derisively. It's been conceived as a 'light' Prom, for goodness sake. And in case there's any doubt about my own views, I approve of the idea of 'Family Proms'.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Any takers this afternoon?

[Bert Coules]

I heard it and rather enjoyed it, and to judge from the Sherlockian fanbase feedback on Twitter and elsewhere so did a lot of other people. And if the script and general approach didn't perhaps have the inventiveness of the Doctor Who proms, it was certainly inventive of whoever wrote Matthew Sweet's commentary to move the Ride of the Valkyries from the opening of act three of its opera to the beginning of act two.

That apart. it was good to hear some of Patrick Gowers' music for the Granada TV series in a concert setting: it's not only effective and evocative, it's ingenious in its classical echoes and allusions. I would rather have had the whole first movement of Miklós Rózsa's violin concerto than the slightly nebulous extract from the film score he based on it, and maybe two Lassus motets was, in this context, one too many (though to bring in the singers for just one would have been something of an extravagance). The piece which appeared to get the warmest reaction in the hall was the Paganini, spectacularly played by Jack Liebeck, though Christine Rice, standing in for the late Irene Adler, ran him a close second.

Overall, it was good fun and nicely done and probably introduced quite a bit of music to its audience. Apart from the regrettable omission in this BBC radio event of any mention of, let alone musical extract from, BBC radio's own unique Sherlock Holmes achievement, it seemed to me that the concert achieved very nicely exactly what it set out to do.

[Serial_Apologist]

Much too much talking, and the pieces and excerpts were mostly over before one got a chance of getting into them.

I think one had to be a Sherlock devotee to enjoy this one.

[doversoul1]

I had an impression that one had to be Holmes TV series devotee to enjoy this prom. I have to confess; I was very much puzzled as to why Sherlock Holmes was selected for a prom’s theme. Now I know.

Still, this looks to be the best prom for introducing classical music to a new audience so far this year, though this may not be saying very much considering what we’ve had up to now..

[Stunsworth]

I heard it and rather enjoyed it, and to judge from the Sherlockian fanbase feedback on Twitter and elsewhere so did a lot of other people.

Good grief, you can't have people _enjoying_ the music, they obviously can't have been to this site and realised that ever prom has a fatal flaw of one sort or another.

[Nick Armstrong]

I heard it and rather enjoyed it.... it was good to hear some of Patrick Gowers' music for the Granada TV series in a concert setting: it's not only effective and evocative, it's ingenious in its classical echoes and allusions.

Hear hear, it provided enjoyable listening whilst on the move this afternoon; and I share your affection for the Gowers music (which survived the trip to the concert setting far better than the Zimmer or whoever wrote the current TV series score). I've always been intrigued by the Wagner and Lassus references in the stories, so I suppose I was a receptive audience for this concept; interesting that from your deep inside knowledge of the stories, you too seem well-disposed to it, Bert

I didn't hear it referenced in the introduction, so am I the only one to notice that spookily the orchestral introduction to the 'Onegin' contralto aria has a very distinct thematic link with the main Gowers 'Sherlock Holmes' theme?!

.

PS Bert, off topic, just been enjoying a certain somebody's dramatisation of Buchan's 'Three Hostages' ... Might have to drop you a PM about it