Proms in the Past

[underthecountertenor]

A thread elsewhere on the forum about James Loughran has sent me scurrying into the mists of time with the BBC Radio Times genome, to remind myself how active he was in broadcasting back in the 1970s (answer, of course, very).
A dangerous thing, that genome - endlessly fascinating.
Looking, for example, at the Proms season for 1970, I was struck by the oddity of some of the programming - ensembles and repertoire colliding in the same concert for no apparent reason - and also by the amount of music for chamber forces in the RAH (which at that time must have been acoustically even less suited to it than today, I'd have thought).

Two examples for now, on successive nights in the first full week:
(1) Tuesday 21 July. First half: Schubert D898 performed by the Beaux Arts Trio. Second half: Act III of Tristan conducted by Colin Davis ('Michael Langdon broadcasts by permission of the General Administrator, Royal Opera House Covent Garden' as King Mark; Ronald Dowd and Amy Shuard as T & I).
(2) Wednesday 22 July. First half: 20 minutes of Byrd motets, performed by Cantores in Ecclesia under Michael Howard. Second Half: The Dream of Gerontius!! conducted by Sir Adrian Boult with Alfreda Hodgson, John Mitchinson and Forbes Robinson (also broadcasting by permission of the GA etc).

I love Byrd. I love Gerontius. But the decision to have both on the same night seems (now at least) to be perverse.

OK one more. A Brahms prom on 31 July which went: Liebeslieder Walzer and Violin Concerto in first half, and the clarinet quintet and the St Anthony Variations in the second (again Boult conducting the orchestral bits). What a strange and, on the face of it, unsatisfying structure!

Does anyone admit to recall having been at these or similar proms? Did they work?

I must now stop trawling the genome for old proms.

[pastoralguy]

I remember seeing an advertisement for an Albert Hall concert, (I'm not sure if this concert was a Prom or not), but the programme was an all Elgar 'evening'. Introduction and Allegro, the Violin Concerto in the first half followed by 'Gerontius'! Now THAT is a big programme!

[underthecountertenor]

I remember seeing an advertisement for an Albert Hall concert, (I'm not sure if this concert was a Prom or not), but the programme was an all Elgar 'evening'. Introduction and Allegro, the Violin Concerto in the first half followed by 'Gerontius'! Now THAT is a big programme!

Crikey. I imagine that a few members of the audience would have sympathised with Gerontius when he sang 'take me away' at that one.

[underthecountertenor]

Post script, breaking my own vow.

I see that back in 1970 Radio 3 didn't grubby its lavender-scented hands with the Last Night at all. Instead it took The Bartered Bride from Edinburgh, leaving it to Radio 2 to broadcast the shenanigans, thereby exposing the latter's audience to Berlioz, Rawsthorne and Tippett in the first half (as well as Arnold's Fantasy for Orchestra and Audience in the second - I dread to think what the audience contribution was: coughing, shouts of heave-ho and musical charity announcements perhaps?).

[pastoralguy]

[Petrushka]

Crikey, my 16 year old self listened to that Act 3 of Tristan back in 1970 and remember doing so very well.

What is so astonishing when examining the Proms archive for around that time is the insane workload of the BBCSO, sometimes giving three different programmes on consecutive evenings. Have a look at the 1972 season for example.

[Alison]

I must say I'd welcome some of that sense of quirky novelty now.

The first sight of each new season invariably brings a feeling of disappointment at the staleness of the current approach.

[EdgeleyRob]

I must say I'd welcome some of that sense of quirky novelty now.

The first sight of each new season invariably brings a feeling of disappointment at the staleness of the current approach.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

+ 1

Far from "perverse" and/or "unsatisfactory", these unorthodox programmes strike me as inspired and highly attractive.

[oddoneout]

I love Byrd. I love Gerontius. But the decision to have both on the same night seems (now at least) to be perverse.

I rather like the sound of that, although I can see that it might not suit all audiences - and possibly didn't even back then?

[underthecountertenor]

Well, i guess I could have predicted most of those responses.

Petrushka: amazing! How was it for you? Particularly the principals.
And yes: that BBC SO workload was insane. I seem to recall that the quality suffered as a result. But then again, I lost my backward-looking rose-tinted specs some years ago.

[BBMmk2]

I attended a Prom, a long way back, late 60s perhaps, and I distinctly remember that the programme c/w Beethoven's 9th, was Mozart's work that has that alleluia at the end9what's it called?), but Erich Leinsdorf conducted. What a pity I wasn't old enough to fully appreciate the occasion. Now who were the singers that night? anyone?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I attended a Prom, a long way back, late 60s perhaps, and I distinctly remember that the programme c/w Beethoven's 9th, was Mozart's work that has that alleluia at the end9what's it called?),

Exultate Jubilate

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Well, i guess I could have predicted most of those responses.

But isn't that true of any such post/conversation - some people will strongly agree with an opinion, others strongly disagree; the majority not really fussed either way?

A pity you've lost your rose-tinted specs - the replacements you can get these days just aren't up to the standards they used to be.

[BBMmk2]

Exultate Jubilate

Yes, that's the one. I think the singers was the great Hans Sotin(In the Beethoven! :))!