Proms in the Past

[underthecountertenor]

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.

I'm thinking of going for a Regiemask (TM) by way of replacement.

Coincidentally, last night's concert programming (Ich Habe Genug, Bruckner 9) seemed in some ways reminiscent of those 1970 programmes. But the programme had clearly been chosen by the single group performing (rather than at the whim of Glock), and the juxtaposition seemed 'right', for a number of reasons (Bach and Bruckner, God, farewell to life). I may very well be missing something, but I still can't see the sense of D898 + Tristan Act III or four Byrd motets + Gerontius.

[ChrisBennell]

The sheer length of programmes in the 50s and 60s was amazing. Take this (the first prom I ever attended) on 29 August 1956 - Halle orchestra - Basil Cameron stood in for Barbirolli who was indisposed. We certainly got value for money in those days.

Trumpet Voluntary - arr Henry Wood
Schubert - Symphony No 5
Delius - Idyll for Soprano baritone and orchestra
Vaughan Williams - Symphony No 8
Interval
Bartok - Concerto for Orchestra

[pastoralguy]

The sheer length of programmes in the 50s and 60s was amazing. Take this (the first prom I ever attended) on 29 August 1956 - Halle orchestra - Basil Cameron stood in for Barbirolli who was indisposed. We certainly got value for money in those days.

Trumpet Voluntary - arr Henry Wood
Schubert - Symphony No 5
Delius - Idyll for Soprano baritone and orchestra
Vaughan Williams - Symphony No 8
Interval
Bartok - Concerto for Orchestra

That is a big programme!

[underthecountertenor]

The sheer length of programmes in the 50s and 60s was amazing. Take this (the first prom I ever attended) on 29 August 1956 - Halle orchestra - Basil Cameron stood in for Barbirolli who was indisposed. We certainly got value for money in those days.

Trumpet Voluntary - arr Henry Wood
Schubert - Symphony No 5
Delius - Idyll for Soprano baritone and orchestra
Vaughan Williams - Symphony No 8
Interval
Bartok - Concerto for Orchestra

I make that just over 2 hours of music, not allowing for breaks for orchestral manoeuvres and the interval (and assuming a brisk enough Schubert 5). So out about 10.10? If that was a typical length, it must have made life pretty difficult for those living outside central London!

[ChrisBennell]

I make that just over 2 hours of music, not allowing for breaks for orchestral manoeuvres and the interval (and assuming a brisk enough Schubert 5). So out about 10.10? If that was a typical length, it must have made life pretty difficult for those living outside central London!

Yes that was pretty typical - 7.30 start and out sometime after 10. Very hard on the players too. RVW was in the audience, and managed his way onto the platform, for the applause. Not sure if he stayed for the Bartok!

Another example from the following year: 16August57 BBC SO - Sargent / Hollingsworth (so at least Sargent didn't have to do it all!)

Beethoven - Leonora No 3
Beethoven - Piano Concerto No 4
Beethoven - Symphony No 4
Interval
William Alwyn - Symphony No 3

William Alwyn was there for that one too! Those were the days. Not quite everything was broadcast, though, as I remember it. There were occasional gaps, but the BBC Home Service (R4) did some, as well as the Third Programme (R3).

[oddoneout]

I'm thinking of going for a Regiemask (TM) by way of replacement.

Coincidentally, last night's concert programming (Ich Habe Genug, Bruckner 9) seemed in some ways reminiscent of those 1970 programmes. But the programme had clearly been chosen by the single group performing (rather than at the whim of Glock), and the juxtaposition seemed 'right', for a number of reasons (Bach and Bruckner, God, farewell to life). I may very well be missing something, but I still can't see the sense of D898 + Tristan Act III or four Byrd motets + Gerontius.

Using the same reasoning as the Bach/Bruckner link posited could something similar not apply to the Byrd/Gerontius coupling? At least in terms of subject matter.

[underthecountertenor]

Using the same reasoning as the Bach/Bruckner link posited could something similar not apply to the Byrd/Gerontius coupling? At least in terms of subject matter.

I did consider that, oddeoneout. Perhaps with Vide, Domine, Afflictionem Nostrum, and more tenuously Ave Verum Corpus. But Laudate Pueri and Haec Dies? Very different. The overall impression I get is that Cantores Ecclesia were available that night and selected 4 Byrd motets with no regard for what followed. I may of course be wrong, but the programme doesn't look thought-through to me.

[underthecountertenor]

Having said which, all thoughts of the preceding Byrd would surely in any event have been swept away for the radio listener by the interval talk, viz:

* The Booming South-East

NICHOLAS TAYLOR in conversation with GERALD SMART. County Planning Officer of Hampshire, and PROFESSOR PETER HALL , a member of the South-East Economic Planning Council.
The Government's Strategic Plan for the South-East has just been published - the latest in a long line of official attempts to rationalise the rapid growth outwards from London. It rejects the idea of any final answer to the problems of the region, but poses various alternative frameworks for the future.

[seabright]

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 end (what'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?

From the BBC Archive page:

Richard Wagner
Tristan and Isolde
Prelude (with Wagner's concert-ending) Act 1

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Vesperae solennes de confessore, K 339

Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No 9 in D minor, 'Choral'

Robert Tear tenor
Anne Howells mezzo-soprano
Siv Wennberg soprano
Hans Sotin bass
BBC Singers
BBC Symphony Chorus
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Erich Leinsdorf Conductor

15 September 1972

[oddoneout]

Having said which, all thoughts of the preceding Byrd would surely in any event have been swept away for the radio listener by the interval talk, viz:

* The Booming South-East

NICHOLAS TAYLOR in conversation with GERALD SMART. County Planning Officer of Hampshire, and PROFESSOR PETER HALL , a member of the South-East Economic Planning Council.
The Government's Strategic Plan for the South-East has just been published - the latest in a long line of official attempts to rationalise the rapid growth outwards from London. It rejects the idea of any final answer to the problems of the region, but poses various alternative frameworks for the future.

Well that would seem to provide a suitable degree of separation to offset the less than ideal programming!

[underthecountertenor]

Well that would seem to provide a suitable degree of separation to offset the less than ideal programming!

Yes, and no doubt when Gerontius sang his opening words, 'Jesu, Maria, I am near to death,' the listening audience were moved to mutter 'you and me both mate, after that'.