Prom 76: Last Night of the Proms 2015 (12.09.15)

[ARBurton]

On the basis of the programme content I`d find it hard to judge Ms Alsop as a conductor (although her Naxos Brahms cycle didn`t stay long on my shelves) but I did like her way with the Elgar. However, could someone pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease tell Katie Derham to shut up???

[gurnemanz]

However, could someone pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease tell Katie Derham to shut up???

I achieved this by switching to Radio Three sound when she was on.

[Petrushka]

Only did the part before the interval, but that was certainly enjoyable too.
Till Eulenspiegel was my "first" Richard Strauss some 40 years ago, sweet memories

Don Juan was my first exposure to Strauss in concert (RPO/Kempe, 1972), but Till Eulenspiegel was my first Strauss recording (VPO/Reiner) together with Aus Italien (VPO/Krauss) both in 1973.

Do agree that the Last Night is a damn good party and I thought that Ms Alsop handled it all very well. However, do wish we could dispense with the ritual calls to the various Proms in the Park venues. It was fun when first done about 20 years ago but it wears thin now.

[french frank]

given that they showed that lovely archive clip of Henry Wood himself saying how pleased he is that the Proms presents all manner of music, it would surely be churlish to complain.

I'm sure they used Wood to justify what they're doing. But looking at what Wood included, it doesn't appear that he included 'all manner of music' himself. None of the truly 'popular' of the day, like musical hall standards.

What is slightly troubling is that BBC Marketing (?) are now publicising the fact that 37,500 tickets were sold to 'first time Proms-goers'). Given that I can count 12 non-classical Proms at the RAH, and one at Cadogan Hall (and excluding Proms in the Park all round the country) and that, crucially, these are the ones that the BBC has been promoting for all its worth (with the BBC radio concerts, doing so more than ever before), it's not surprising that people are now reassured that the Proms are safe to come to as they're 'not just classical music'. Even the Last Night was publicised as a 'Sound of Music Sing-along

It's not yet clear which concerts the 37,500 tickets were for, but 12 sell-out concerts @ 5,000 seats would be 60,000, plus odds and ends (Sondheim at Cadogan, the Proms in the Park), there must have been not far short of 100,000 (?) inducements for first-time Proms-goers.

[Darkbloom]

What is slightly troubling is that BBC Marketing (?) are now publicising the fact that 37,500 tickets were sold to 'first time Proms-goers').

That sounds like an extravagant claim. However can they tell? I suppose you could count the number of people who were registering new accounts on the RAH website, but they can't tell how many in the arena this season were first-timers or, presumably, people who booked in person at the hall. Perhaps there is something glaringly obvious I have missed, but it sounds like publicity smoke and mirrors to me.

[french frank]

That sounds like an extravagant claim. However can they tell? I suppose you could count the number of people who were registering new accounts on the RAH website, but they can't tell how many in the arena this season were first-timers or, presumably, people who booked in person at the hall. Perhaps there is something glaringly obvious I have missed, but it sounds like publicity smoke and mirrors to me.

Are there discounts for first-timers? (Even that would be open to a bit of jiggery-pokery, I would think).

I'm going by a tweet by Fiona Maddocks: '37,500 people buying @bbcproms tickets for the first time a triumph' Not stated which concerts they were for.

[Bryn]

Are there discounts for first-timers? (Even that would be open to a bit of jiggery-pokery, I would think).

I'm going by a tweet by Fiona Maddocks: '37,500 people buying @bbcproms tickets for the first time a triumph' Not stated which concerts they were for.

The Fiona Maddocks tweet can only be garbage. With Prommers paying £5 in cash on entry, it is quite impossible to make such a claim as Maddocks does with any hope of accuracy, or indeed integrity.

[Prommer]

How did Jonas and Mrs Christie do? Have yet to watch...

[DracoM]

Simply turned off Last Night. What a fantastic waste of the Kaufmann talent. And as for 'Sound of Music....'....

Controller Davey needs to think very carefully through this 2015 season.
Except that even next year's Proms are likely to bear the imprint of Roger Wright, such is the way of booking orchestras / artists well ahead these days.

[VodkaDilc]

I tried hard to watch - and, indeed, I did mange it for longer than in recent years. The Shostakovich was enjoyable, as were Jonas's arias. I think it's the first part of the second half where the rot has set in. "Say hello Belfast" was a sign for me to switch channels. I peeped back during a Sound of Music singalong, but soon found a repeat of The Office on UK Gold or something, which was more interesting.

As someone has said, the presentation was awful. Even if Richard Baker is 90 he could do a better job. Nice to see some old clips while the piano was being moved after the concerto. How the BBC loves to resurrect that clip of Boulez conducting Ligeti with the smashed tray of crockery. (I always recognise it, since I took part in the concert - one of the Roundhouse Proms in about 1971.)

[Conchis]

I tried hard to watch - and, indeed, I did mange it for longer than in recent years. The Shostakovich was enjoyable, as were Jonas's arias. I think it's the first part of the second half where the rot has set in. "Say hello Belfast" was a sign for me to switch channels. I peeped back during a Sound of Music singalong, but soon found a repeat of The Office on UK Gold or something, which was more interesting.

As someone has said, the presentation was awful. Even if Richard Baker is 90 he could do a better job. Nice to see some old clips while the piano was being moved after the concerto. How the BBC loves to resurrect that clip of Boulez conducting Ligeti with the smashed tray of crockery. (I always recognise it, since I took part in the concert - one of the Roundhouse Proms in about 1971.)

That clip of Boulez is analogous to the one of Rick Wakeman playing keyboards wearing a cape that is always trotted out in documentaries about how 'necessary' punk rock was and how it blew all the 'bloated old dinosaurs' out of the water.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Simply turned off Last Night. What a fantastic waste of the Kaufmann talent. And as for 'Sound of Music....'....

Controller Davey needs to think very carefully through this 2015 season.
Except that even next year's Proms are likely to bear the imprint of Roger Wright, such is the way of booking orchestras / artists well ahead these days.

Yes he does, doesn't he? I'm just trying to imagine just what would happen if he scrapped all the popular/ light elements, in the whole season or even just in the Last Night.

Obviously there'll be lots of happy boarders here, and no doubt a good few more of the same view throughout this country and the whole world But what about the reactions of the media, and of the many politicians who don't much like funding elitist art or any sort of art? Anyone care to imagine the headlines and the feeding frenzy?

So are we all committed to reaching into our pockets to fully fund the resultant funding shortfall ourselves? Not just in the Proms as such but quite likely all the BBC orchestras etc etc??

Get real, guys!

[french frank]

Are we all committed to reaching into our pockets to fully fund the resultant funding shortfall ourselves? Not just in the Proms as such but quite likely all the BBC orchestras etc etc??

Get real, guys!

Not a question that can be answered unless we know how much more the 'purist Proms' would cost. I don't, for example, think anyone(?) queries the Proms in the Park at £39 per ticket.

Hewett's 4 star review of the Last Night made two points which I agree with (hope format below evades the problem if you've used up your free quota (NB attribution to the Sunday Telegraph, Ivan Hewett for the whole article).

1. No quality control over the populist concerts
2. Retrenchment may swing too far towards conservatism:

[jonfan]

'Purist proms' sounds a total turn off. Long live all the variety we've had this year from late night solo Bach to late night Frank Sinatra. With 30 new commissions, Beethoven piano concertos programmed with Stravinsky, large chunks of Nielsen and visits from many groups from abroad - far too many interesting musical experiences to name that I've enjoyed this summer. Then there's the Prom Extras with the poetry competition as well- keep Edward Blakeman I'd say.

[french frank]

'Purist proms' sounds a total turn off.

Nobody's advocated that, though. Have they? Read the points Ivan Hewett made.

At least 'aging clubbers' on a nostalgia fest is a good riposte to 'self-elected snobs'.