Prom 75: 10.09.16 - Last Night of the Proms

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:15 Saturday 10 Sep 2016 ON TV
Royal Albert Hall

Tom Harrold: Raze (BBC commission: world premiere)
George Butterworth: The Banks of Green Willow
Alexander Borodin: Prince Igor: Polovtsian Dances (Act 2)
Gioachino Rossini: La Cenerentola
Gaetano Donizetti: L'elisir d'amore – 'Una furtiva lagrima'
Benjamin Britten: Matinées musicales
Jonathan Dove: Our revels now are ended
Ralph Vaughan Williams:Serenade to Music
Gaetano Donizetti: La fille du régiment – 'Ah ! mes amis'
Edward Elgar: Pomp and Circumstance March No 1 in D major
arr. Sir Henry Wood: Fantasia on British Sea-Songs
Thomas Arne: Rule, Britannia! (arr. Sargent)
Hubert Parry: Jerusalem (orch. Elgar)
The National Anthem (arr. Britten)


Juan Diego Flórez (tenor)
Francesca Chiejina, Eve Daniell, Lauren Fagan, Alison Rose (sopranos)
Claire Barnett-Jones, Marta Fontanals-Simmons, Anna Harvey, Katie Stevenson (mezzo-sopranos)
Trystan Llyr Griffiths, Oliver Johnston, Joshua Owen Mills, James Way (tenors)
Bragi Jónsson, Benjamin Lewis, James Newby, Bradley Travis (basses)
BBC Proms Youth Ensemble
BBC Singers
BBC Symphony Chorus
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sakari Oramo conductor.

The Last Night of the Proms live from the Royal Albert Hall. Sakari Oramo conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Singers and Chorus, and soloists headed by Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez in a Last Night that also showcases a hand-picked selection of young singers in Vaughan Williams's Serenade to Music.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07sxvjv

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Good to see the Wood Fantasia back (without the annoying extra bits).

[BBMmk2]

I was pleased about that too. looks not too bad this year!

[Mary Chambers]

I am hoping people will turn up with EU flags as has been suggested. There's a poosibilty some will be handed out at the RAH.

[Prommer]

I am hoping people will turn up with EU flags as has been suggested. There's a poosibilty some will be handed out at the RAH.

Oh gawd... And make the Proms seem posturing/patronising to a large chunk of the rest of the country? I'm not sure that will exactly win hearts and minds. Especially as the Proms is known for its Britishness (whatever that is), it would be a curious, not to say perverse, thing to do. There are always lots of flags from around the world, inc. the EU ones: it doesn't need to be contrived, especially by Special Agents in the hall...!

Anyway, I am looking forward to JDF, but I wish he was singing something a bit more interesting than 'A mes amis'. It's a millstone round his neck! 'Una furtiva lagrima' could also do with one less hearing...

[BBMmk2]

OMG! Surely not!

[Mary Chambers]

I don't think people would be bothered by some EU flags, would they? There have always been some. I'm sure there'll be lots of other flags, same as usual. I thought it was rather a good idea.

[arthroceph]

Surely una furtiva lagrima was chosen exactly for EU flag bearers!

[Prommer]

Surely una furtiva lagrima was chosen exactly for EU flag bearers!

Now that is harsh.

[Ravensbourne]

Fantasia on British Sea-Songs

Good to see the Wood Fantasia back (without the annoying extra bits).

I'm sure there will be plenty of scope for annoying extra bits.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I'm sure there will be plenty of scope for annoying extra bits.

I was referring to the Bob Chilcott insertion of 3 PC extra tunes , two of which were not even sea songs, and none was arranged as well as Sir Henry's and weren't up to BG's usual high standards. Embarrassing all round.

[Ravensbourne]

Fantasia on British Sea-Songs

I was referring to the Bob Chilcott insertion of 3 PC extra tunes , two of which were not even sea songs, and none was arranged as well as Sir Henry's and weren't up to BG's usual high standards.

It sounds like you have inside knowledge. The BBC website says:

The programme takes a trip around the UK in a celebration of Henry Wood's Fantasia on British Sea Songs, with contributions from the Proms in the Park in Colwyn Bay, Glasgow Green and Belfast.

Have new arrangements been commissioned for this year?

[Tetrachord]

We will watch the Last Night on pay TV here in Australia. But, at the risk of heresy, may I say that the formula is already beyond tired and dull!! I'm always hoping for something different from those "British Sea Songs" etc. These bore me to tears, I'm sorry to say.

New life needs to be injected into the program, IMO. Here's hoping, not very optimistically!!

[Petrushka]

We will watch the Last Night on pay TV here in Australia. But, at the risk of heresy, may I say that the formula is already beyond tired and dull!! I'm always hoping for something different from those "British Sea Songs" etc. These bore me to tears, I'm sorry to say.

New life needs to be injected into the program, IMO. Here's hoping, not very optimistically!!

Not heresy at all as my heart sinks as we approach this annual jamboree. I've attended the Last Night a few times but you're right; the formula is now beyond belief stale. The 'Hello Park' routine was funny and innovative the first year they did it but it's now like hearing the pub bore tell the same joke time after time.

The speech will be as embarrassing as ever and I really don't know why I continue to watch it! Perhaps it's because it's one of those events that marks the passing of the seasons and the year would somehow feel incomplete without it.

[Prommer]

Not heresy at all as my heart sinks as we approach this annual jamboree. I've attended the Last Night a few times but you're right; the formula is now beyond belief stale. The 'Hello Park' routine was funny and innovative the first year they did it but it's now like hearing the pub bore tell the same joke time after time.

The speech will be as embarrassing as ever and I really don't know why I continue to watch it! Perhaps it's because it's one of those events that marks the passing of the seasons and the year would somehow feel incomplete without it.

Agreed. It is a ritual. But elements of the ritual can be refreshed without altering the overall form. The programmes just need to be better!