Proms 11 & 12 - 23.07.17: Ten Pieces Presents ...

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

14:00 (NOT BEING BROADCAST) & 18:00 Sunday 23 July 2017
Royal Albert Hall


Live at the BBC Proms: Ten Pieces Presents...Sir Henry's Magnificent Musical Inspirations! Join rollicking ringmaster Sir Henry Wood (founder-conductor of the Proms) on an exciting adventure for all the family.


Programme to include music by Beethoven, Copland, Elgar, Mozart, Respighi and Ravi Shankar

Kathryn Lewek, soprano
Jess Gillam, saxophone
Gaurav Mazumdar, sitar
Ten Pieces Children's Choir
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Jessica Cottis (conductor)

"Together with young performers, the Ten Pieces Children's Choir and guests, Sir Henry discovers how nature, history, dreams, love, magic and lots more have inspired composers to create musical masterpieces."

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

This is becoming something of a tradition.

Let's hope it bears fruit.

[Serial_Apologist]

I would have made the choice of pieces on offer stylistically more varied...

[bluestateprommer]

I would have made the choice of pieces on offer stylistically more varied...

You mean like:

Copland: Fanfare for the Common Man
Elgar: The Music Makers, Op 69 (excerpt)
Mozart: The Magic Flute - Overture
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition (excerpt; orch. Maurice Ravel)
Lili Boulanger: D'un matin de printemps
Ravi Shankar: Symphony - Finale: 'Banjara' (excerpt)

Vivaldi: Gloria in D, RV 589 (excerpt)
Sir Henry Wood: Fantasia on British Sea-Songs - 'Jack’s the Lad' (Hornpipe)
Walton: Henry V - (a) Overture (excerpt), (b) 'Charge & Battle' (excerpt)
Kerry Andrew: No Place Like Home (BBC commission; world premiere)
Mozart: The Magic Flute - Aria 'De Hölle Rache'
Respighi: Pines of Rome (excerpt)
Sir Henry Wood: Fantasia on British Sea-Songs - 'Jack’s the Lad' (Hornpipe; excerpt reprise)

[BBMmk2]

Last year my school played the Shostakovich piece, wasn't the Scherzo from 10th Symphony?

[verismissimo]

This was altogether good fun.

And my 14 year old granddaughter Isobel sang in the chorus in three of the 14 (very varied) pieces - the 'We are the music-makers' section near the start of Elgar's 'cycle', in the Vivaldi Gloria and in the new work commissioned from Kerry Andrew, which was highly inventive with the choral resources and worked well in the hall.

Intriguing piece from Lili Boulanger. Atmospheric stuff (as usual) from Peter Sculthorpe. Kathryn Lewek was a spiffing Queen of the Night and Jessica Cottis conducted with musicality and style.

The only piece that I felt was a bit sub was the extract from Ravi Shankar's Symphony. A basically monophonic symphony? Not in my book!

[bluestateprommer]

This was altogether good fun.

And my 14 year old granddaughter Isobel sang in the chorus in three of the 14 (very varied) pieces - the 'We are the music-makers' section near the start of Elgar's 'cycle', in the Vivaldi Gloria and in the new work commissioned from Kerry Andrew, which was highly inventive with the choral resources and worked well in the hall.

Intriguing piece from Lili Boulanger. Atmospheric stuff (as usual) from Peter Sculthorpe. Kathryn Lewek was a spiffing Queen of the Night and Jessica Cottis conducted with musicality and style.

It sounds as though you were in the RAH for this one (which would make sense, to be there for your granddaughter). Just listening way back at the time on iPlayer, while some of the actors' delivery may have been a bit OTT, given the vast cavern of the RAH, I can understand why the actors would feel the need to dial it up just a bit. In terms of the musical mix, for a family-oriented concert, it was pretty impressive. Besides what must have been fun visuals for the kids, there was at least one sophisticated in-joke for the adults, near the end, where Rory Kinnear as Sir Henry Wood was giving his "you're not gonna take me down" speech to Kathryn Lewek's Queen of the Night. Namely, RK mentioned Sir Henry's nickname of "Old Timber", and the musical selection that immediately followed his speech was from The Pines of Rome (nudge, nudge).

One other point was that Kathryn Lewek affected a pretty decent British, or at least quasi-British, accent, that I remember. I was thus surprised to learn that she's originally from Connecticut. KL is singing the Queen of the Night in the Met Opera's latest run of The Magic Flute, which is being HD-ed to cinemas this weekend:

http://www.metopera.org/metoperafiles/season/2017-18/operas/zauberflote/programs/101417%20Zauberflote.pdf