Proms 2018

[french frank]

Thanks, Andrew. (And in answer to your PM, indexes rather than indices here).

[Lat-Literal]

The pdfs are now up and running and I've managed to generate some links which are bookmarkable and will always point to the latest version (I should be able to update them periodically as it's all automated now).

2 columns here

3 columns here

The main html page is also bookmarkable, will always point to the latest version and should land on the appropriate day during the Proms season.

All three of these links are now in the main Forum sidebar.

I'm looking into an index of works and possibly one of artists, but it won't be immediate.

Thank you.

While it accentuates the predictable, I think this season, on balance, looks the most attractive one for perhaps five or six years.

Is there a list of broadcast performances yet - or have I missed any obvious highlighting of it?

[french frank]

Is there a list of broadcast performances yet - or have I missed any obvious highlighting of it?

Presuming you mean televised broadcasts, the BBC list is here . But Andrew's one page listing marks each one.

[pureimagination]

Once again this thread is full of comments on the lines of "not much worth listening to", "I won't be bothering to go" and "too much of this/not enough of that". This seems to be a commonality every year the new Proms season is announced. Please can we have a bit more positivity, support for those orchestras/artists/performers who have been asked to perform.
I enjoy the spread of the Proms, [I don't want to re-ignite the "but these are the classical Proms" arguments] and there are plenty of Proms I will gladly pay money to attend, many I will be happy to listen to on the radio/watch on TV. There will also be Proms in which I will hear a piece that is new to me that will require further investigation, there will be Proms where I hear a piece of music that I never want to hear again and of course there will be those Proms where a piece or performer creates an impression that will stay with me for a long time - that surely is what we can expect from the Proms. I'm not suggesting we will all come away with the same responses but that's not the point. As I said last year we can't expect the Proms to cater for every individuals needs, "our dream Prom" but I think there is something for everyone in the 70+ Proms - just spend less time thinking about what you don't like and more on what you do.
One final point. I appreciate the work done by Andrew but for me a combination of the BBC website, the RAH website and the Proms brochure gives me all the information I need.

[Sir Velo]

This year's season features ALMOST NOTHING OF INTEREST!

Do you like classical music?

[Lat-Literal]

Presuming you mean televised broadcasts, the BBC list is here . But Andrew's one page listing marks each one.

Many thanks.

That is very helpful.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I've spent all day sorting through this year's Proms, and I think there's real cause for optimism. Concert programmes have been better planned. Instead of mindless saturation concerts, some real thought has gone into it. In recent years, the entire set of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos would have been fed into a single concert, but this year it has been split over two nights, with appropriate modern works mixed into the programmes.

[Beef Oven!]

I've spent all day sorting through this year's Proms, and I think there's real cause for optimism. Concert programmes have been better planned. Instead of mindless saturation concerts, some real thought has gone into it. In recent years, the entire set of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos would have been fed into a single concert, but this year it has been split over two nights, with appropriate modern works mixed into the programmes.

Hmm, sounds like opinions being presented as facts. You've often whinged about 'saturation' gigs. Ok, fair enough, you don't like them, it's a free country. But because there are none this year does not mean that concerts have been better planned - that's an opinion fuelled non-sequitur.

Last year I attended a rather special Edgard Varèse saturation day that was an excellent example of good concert planning, nothing mindless at all.

[MrGongGong]

I've spent all day sorting through this year's Proms, and I think there's real cause for optimism. Concert programmes have been better planned. Instead of mindless saturation concerts, some real thought has gone into it. In recent years, the entire set of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos would have been fed into a single concert, but this year it has been split over two nights, with appropriate modern works mixed into the programmes.

REALLY ???

It's all a bit (IMV)

[french frank]

People seem to want something to be really exciting each year, with instant Must-GoTo appeal, and strong on the areas they particularly like. If anything, it's gone back to the original Proms idea - just some good quality concerts for a wide range of audiences. All slightly middle-of-the-road and not trying beat its chest to prove anything (like the Biggest, the Best, Anywhere in the World). I think that coincides with Andrew, um, Clements' view: ticks the boxes but where is the radical and recherché?

REALLY ???

It's all a bit (IMV)

[MrGongGong]

People seem to want something to be really exciting each year, with instant Must-GoTo appeal, and strong on the areas they particularly like. If anything, it's gone back to the original Proms idea - just some good quality concerts for a wide range of audiences. All slightly middle-of-the-road and not trying beat its chest to prove anything (like the Biggest, the Best, Anywhere in the World). I think that coincides with Andrew, um, Clements' view: ticks the boxes but where is the radical and recherché?

I guess so
But it seems such a missed opportunity to me
and NOT just to do epic weirdness that I might want to go to but to take advantage of the opportunity the RAH affords to engage with music and audiences.
I think their idea of a "wider range" of audiences is still very narrow indeed

I was at BEAST FEaST last weekend, electroacoustic and acousmatic muiscs are two of the things that "we" do very well in the UK ... but where are they?

[french frank]

I think their idea of a "wider range" of audiences is still very narrow indeed

That may be a consequence of it being a "classical music" festival. And where the term becomes most obviously elastic is in beginning to embrace popular forms which will attract 'broader (aka bigger) audiences. 'Popular' as in 'of the people' and what, demonstrably, they like. Less so in embracing the radical and recherché. Or 'epic weirdness' as you would say

They've been frightened into toning down anything that might add to the 'elitist' accusation - and epic weirdness is exactly what those on the outside looking in would think of as elitist i.e. it won't appeal to lots and lost of 'ordinary people'.

[teamsaint]

That may be a consequence of it being a "classical music" festival. And where the term becomes most obviously elastic is in beginning to embrace popular forms which will attract 'broader (aka bigger) audiences. 'Popular' as in 'of the people' and what, demonstrably, they like. Less so in embracing the radical and recherché. Or 'epic weirdness' as you would say

They've been frightened into toning down anything that might add to the 'elitist' accusation - and epic weirdness is exactly what those on the outside looking in would think of as elitist i.e. it won't appeal to lots and lost of 'ordinary people'.

I wonder if they are afraid of a half full hall ,and how that might look, as well as revenue implications.
There is plenty of mainstream Classical repertoire that wouldn't look particularly " elitist " EG Honegger, Martinu, Malcolm Arnold that hasn't had any sort of Proms coverage of note for decades, if ever. But the received wisdom is that those composers don't shift tickets.

[MrGongGong]

That may be a consequence of it being a "classical music" festival. And where the term becomes most obviously elastic is in beginning to embrace popular forms which will attract 'broader (aka bigger) audiences. 'Popular' as in 'of the people' and what, demonstrably, they like. Less so in embracing the radical and recherché. Or 'epic weirdness' as you would say

They've been frightened into toning down anything that might add to the 'elitist' accusation - and epic weirdness is exactly what those on the outside looking in would think of as elitist i.e. it won't appeal to lots and lost of 'ordinary people'.

No problem with it being a "classical music" festival
but a few more "classical musics" would be good IMV

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

No problem with it being a "classical music" festival
but a few more "classical musics" would be good IMV

- in spite of pure1's urging that I consider a three-quarters empty glass as a quarter full, I cannot but help finding the Beeb's emblazoned "The World's Greatest Classical Music Festival" to be grimly amusing.