Proms at ... Wilton's Music Hall - 2.09.17

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

15:00 & 19.30 Saturday 2 September 2017
Wilton's Music Hall

John Luther Adams: songbirdsongs (excerpts)
Olivier Messiaen: Le merle noir
Rebecca Saunders: Molly's Song 3
Peter Maxwell Davies: Eight Songs for a Mad King

Jennifer France soprano
Marcus Farnsworth baritone
Birmingham Contemporary Music Group
Sian Edwards conductor
Olivia Fuchs stage director

Dating from the mid-19th century, Wilton's is the world's oldest surviving music hall. With its tumbledown beauty and colourful history, it's the perfect space for a staged performance of Peter Maxwell Davies's Eight Songs for a Mad King - a dramatic monologue exploring the crazed fantasies and crumbling visions of George III.
The fluttering and chattering of the king's pet bullfinches which run through the work find an echo in bird-inspired pieces by Messiaen and Handel, as well as Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer John Luther Adams.
Sian Edwards conducts the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, with exciting young British soloists Jennifer France and Marcus Farnsworth.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Where?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Where?

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Wilton's+Music+Hall/@51.5107013,-0.0668967,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xf0c0741b5edf781a!8m2!3d51.5107013!4d-0.0668967

[Bryn]

15:00 & 19.30 Saturday 2 September 2017
Wilton's Music Hall

John Luther Adams: songbirdsongs (excerpts)
Olivier Messiaen: Le merle noir
Rebecca Saunders: Molly's Song 3
Peter Maxwell Davies: Eight Songs for a Mad King

Jennifer France soprano
Marcus Farnsworth baritone
Birmingham Contemporary Music Group
Sian Edwards conductor
Olivia Fuchs stage director

Dating from the mid-19th century, Wilton's is the world's oldest surviving music hall. With its tumbledown beauty and colourful history, it's the perfect space for a staged performance of Peter Maxwell Davies's Eight Songs for a Mad King - a dramatic monologue exploring the crazed fantasies and crumbling visions of George III.
The fluttering and chattering of the king's pet bullfinches which run through the work find an echo in bird-inspired pieces by Messiaen and Handel, as well as Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer John Luther Adams.
Sian Edwards conducts the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, with exciting young British soloists Jennifer France and Marcus Farnsworth.

Brilliant venue, but what are the Promming arrangements?

[Darkbloom]

Brilliant venue, but what are the Promming arrangements?

Here you are:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2mxSgKywcyQ55qW26cBSTBs/wilton-s-music-hall

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Here you are:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/arti...n-s-music-hall

A little more detail about what "limited promming" means would be helpful.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

A little more detail about what "limited priming" means would be helpful.

Well - look at the paintwork:

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Well - look at the paintwork:

Oops. Will edit.

[Bryn]

Here you are:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/arti...n-s-music-hall

Thank you. Looks like an early rise is called for.

[bluestateprommer]

First, the slightly tweaked program:

John Luther Adams: songbirdsongs – excerpts
Messiaen: Le merle noir
Anon.: 'Mad Maudlin’s Search for Her Tom O’Bedlam'
Rebecca Saunders: Molly’s Song 3
Handel: Rinaldo – 'Augelletti, che cantate'
Peter Maxwell Davies: Eight Songs for a Mad King

There were some pauses, though obviously not a full interval, which means you have to put up with TS filling the dead air between those segments (although I think that there is a legitimate technical reason why there can't be too much silence on the radio, something to do with emergency systems kicking in), although those do include some clips of Olivia Fuchs speaking about her concept for the concert. All that aside, this was a very well performed concert all around. Marcus Farnsworth was perhaps a tad less histrionic than what I recall of Julius Eastman on the classic recording with the Fires of London. Even more than usual, it sounds as though with the theatrical nature of this concert, you really had to be there. Will be interesting to have a first-hand report from anyone at this concert.

[LeMartinPecheur]

First, the slightly tweaked program:

John Luther Adams: songbirdsongs – excerpts
Messiaen: Le merle noir
Anon.: 'Mad Maudlin’s Search for Her Tom O’Bedlam'
Rebecca Saunders: Molly’s Song 3
Handel: Rinaldo – 'Augelletti, che cantate'
Peter Maxwell Davies: Eight Songs for a Mad King

[...] Marcus Farnsworth was perhaps a tad less histrionic than what I recall of Julius Eastman on the classic recording with the Fires of London. Even more than usual, it sounds as though with the theatrical nature of this concert, you really had to be there. Will be interesting to have a first-hand report from anyone at this concert.

I listened, partly because I've been trying for some 45 years to get my head round PMD in all his phases except the simple pleasures of his most popular/tuneful, and partly because I've been hugely impressed by Marcus Farnsworth in some 'new music' down here in Kernow.

Was mightily by both today. I need to revisit Eastman, but MF's delivery was beautiful without, imo, detracting from the power and (presumably) the intended effect of the score. Brilliant, don't miss it on IPlayer if you didn't catch it live!

[For violists, there's the guilty pleasure of hearing a violin being smashed up onstage]