Prom 1 - 14.07.17: First Night of the Proms

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • Eine Alpensinfonie
    Host
    • Nov 2010
    • 20569

    Prom 1 - 14.07.17: First Night of the Proms

    Royal Albert Hall
    The 2017 BBC Proms opens with a dance and a shout. Celebrate John Adams’s 70th birthday with a masterpiece of American Minimalism – Harmonium. Award-winning pianist Igor Levit is the soloist in Beethoven’s ground-breaking Third Piano Concerto.

    Programme:
    Tom Coult: St John’s Dance - BBC commission: world premiere
    Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto No 3 in C minor
    John Adams: Harmonium

    Igor Levit piano
    BBC Proms Youth Choir
    BBC Symphony Chorus
    BBC Symphony Orchestra
    Edward Gardner conductor


    John Adams's Harmonium is an intricate tapestry of sound, with bright vocal threads and driving brass and percussion rhythms. Marking the composer's 70th birthday this year, it features the BBC Proms Youth Choir alongside stalwarts of the First and Last Nights, the BBC Symphony Chorus.
    Award-winning pianist Igor Levit is the soloist in Beethoven's groundbreaking Third Piano Concerto, and this year's First Night opens with the world premiere of St John's Dance by rising British composer, Tom Coult.
    Last edited by Eine Alpensinfonie; 07-07-17, 11:19.
  • Eine Alpensinfonie
    Host
    • Nov 2010
    • 20569

    #2
    It all starts a week today, with a serious concert - not a mega-scale work, and not a bitty sampler.

    It bodes well.

    Comment

    • antongould
      Full Member
      • Nov 2010
      • 8777

      #3
      Originally posted by Eine Alpensinfonie View Post
      It all starts a week today, with a serious concert - not a mega-scale work, and not a bitty sampler.

      It bodes well.
      Indeed it does EA ......

      Comment

      • Zucchini
        Guest
        • Nov 2010
        • 917

        #4
        Does it? Isn't that less than 90mins music in a 2hr 30min transmission.

        So plenty of chat from CBH and Petroc then ...

        Comment

        • Eine Alpensinfonie
          Host
          • Nov 2010
          • 20569

          #5
          Originally posted by Zucchini View Post
          Does it? Isn't that less than 90mins music in a 2hr 30min transmission.

          So plenty of chat from CBH and Petroc then ...
          It isn't all good news, but I was referring to the programme content.

          Comment

          • Zucchini
            Guest
            • Nov 2010
            • 917

            #6
            Originally posted by Eine Alpensinfonie View Post
            ... but I was referring to the programme content.
            I know and agree!

            Comment

            • bluestateprommer
              Full Member
              • Nov 2010
              • 3007

              #7
              Originally posted by Zucchini View Post
              Does it? Isn't that less than 90mins music in a 2hr 30min transmission.
              Perhaps, but the flip side is that there will be plenty of time for an encore from Igor Levit, should IL feel in the mood. Plus, the guess is that there will be a considerable pause for stage changes between the Tom Coult work and LvB 3, given the great likelihood of the very different orchestrations of the two works, to put it one way.

              Comment

              • ferneyhoughgeliebte
                Gone fishin'
                • Sep 2011
                • 30163

                #8
                Originally posted by bluestateprommer View Post
                Perhaps, but the flip side is that there will be plenty of time for an encore from Igor Levit, should IL feel in the mood. Plus, the guess is that there will be a considerable pause for stage changes between the Tom Coult work and LvB 3, given the great likelihood of the very different orchestrations of the two works, to put it one way.
                Absolute certainty, bsp - triple woodwinds (with doublings), no horns, Timps & 3 percussionists, Harp - as well as a large String Section:

                [FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]

                Comment

                • EnemyoftheStoat
                  Full Member
                  • Nov 2010
                  • 1131

                  #9
                  Originally posted by ferneyhoughgeliebte View Post
                  Absolute certainty, bsp - triple woodwinds (with doublings), no horns, Timps & 3 percussionists, Harp - as well as a large String Section:

                  http://www.tomcoult.com/works/st-johns-dance/
                  Four horns, surely, according to that link? And maybe a fandango in there too.

                  Comment

                  • ferneyhoughgeliebte
                    Gone fishin'
                    • Sep 2011
                    • 30163

                    #10
                    Originally posted by EnemyoftheStoat View Post
                    Four horns, surely, according to that link?
                    <doh>! Yes, of course - I was thrown by the "-" and missed the "1" (tuba) after the trombone bracket!

                    And maybe a fandango in there too.
                    Only when Milhaud's Scaramouche is on the same programme.
                    [FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]

                    Comment

                    • Petrushka
                      Full Member
                      • Nov 2010
                      • 12232

                      #11
                      Originally posted by ferneyhoughgeliebte View Post
                      Absolute certainty, bsp - triple woodwinds (with doublings), no horns, Timps & 3 percussionists, Harp - as well as a large String Section:

                      http://www.tomcoult.com/works/st-johns-dance/
                      Thanks for the link. From the description of the piece there would seem to be scope for something longer than a mere 6 minutes. I can imagine a work twice or three times that length that could easily do justice to the programmatic inspiration behind it.

                      Anyway, looking to forward to a cracking opening 4 concerts of what is my 40th season at the Proms.
                      "The sound is the handwriting of the conductor" - Bernard Haitink

                      Comment

                      • Serial_Apologist
                        Full Member
                        • Dec 2010
                        • 37578

                        #12
                        Originally posted by ferneyhoughgeliebte View Post
                        Only when Milhaud's Scaramouche is on the same programme.
                        And what in Bristolian dialect would be called a Fan Dangle, if I'm not mistaken! Ahinton? French frank??

                        Comment

                        • Alison
                          Full Member
                          • Nov 2010
                          • 6455

                          #13
                          Everybody up for Harmonium then?

                          Comment

                          • EdgeleyRob
                            Guest
                            • Nov 2010
                            • 12180

                            #14
                            Originally posted by Alison View Post
                            Everybody up for Harmonium then?
                            No

                            Comment

                            • Bryn
                              Banned
                              • Mar 2007
                              • 24688

                              #15
                              Originally posted by Alison View Post
                              Everybody up for Harmonium then?
                              Well I am. One of his better works. Not been so taken with more recent stuff, however.

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X