Prom 26: Mozart’s Requiem - 7.08.19

[oddoneout]

Watching this on TV now, I can`t help but wishing that Tom Service would SHUT UP!

Thank heavens for the volume control!

[DracoM]

For me it was so mannered and -'hey, look at me being controversial'
And the TENOR.............blimey.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

For me it was so mannered and -'hey, look at me being controversial'
And the TENOR.............blimey.

A Requiem that showed no respect for the text. Instead we had a zippy-doo frolic.

[oddoneout]

For me it was so mannered and -'hey, look at me being controversial'
And the TENOR.............blimey.

Now you see I didn't get that feeling. But yes the tenor... I commented unfavourably after the live broadcast and 'seeing him for real' was even worse.

[Lordgeous]

Very poor intonation. in some passages unbearable.
As they sing towards FF the choir sing sharp in places (particularly sopranos), with reverting to flat as soon as it comes back to p>pp.

There were violent clashes to the pitch between the orchestra and the choir in umpteen passages.
It only started to come a little cleaner somewhere around the benedictus, not even to talk about the completely constricted tenor, and completely unrelaxed bass.

I have sung and played this piece, so I might know a little of the technical difficulties btw.

The whole performance was so totally uneven and in places dreadfully mediocre, it was NOT UP TO the high standard you would expect to hear in London.
The only saving point was the (eventual) beautiful soprano who flooded the area with beautiful sounds but which then unbalanced the ensemble because the others weren't up to the task.

What to do?
Do it all again PROPERLY next time.

Shame!

I thought the Mozart was pretty good (Yes I've sung in it too) but the highlight for me was the radiant soprano. Surely destined for a fine career.

[jayne lee wilson]

Quite right too - and he's another of these presenters who can't keep their hands still while they speak. Up and down they constantly go, like a pair of piston engines, as they accompany his incoherent babble. Also, it's evidently been decided that the TV Proms have to be presented by a male and female pair, a decision doubtless brought about by the politically-correct equality-driven situation of the times. What I find extraordinary - and the female on display tonight provided an excellent example - is that her every utterance, no matter how banal, was accompanied by a ghastly smirk, stretching chimpanzee-like from ear to ear. In fact, practically all the women TV presenters these days have grotesque grins stretched across their features for minutes on end. Only a few minutes before, I'd seen a female weather presenter telling us how dreadful it was going to be outside, with hurricanes and rainstorms and so on, this information being delivered to the camera with a preposterous smile adorning her countenance. At least the male TV presenters mostly take their jobs seriously but is there no-one in the studio to tell these smirking women how ridiculous they look?!

So you don't watch Newsnight, BBC24 or Sky News, the Kay Burley Show etc at all then?
I truly don't wish to derail this musical thread which has some interesting divergency of opinion, but I think we should have a forum whip round to buy SeaBright an MCP Tie...

I'm certainly not smiling now! Wine shall soon correct...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I had very mixed feelings about the Mozart. I felt that she was trying to do with massive forces what a slightly eccentric HIPP director might have done. A slightly uncomfortable result?

I can see this point of view, and share it to a certain extent - but I think I enjoyed it a lot more than you did, ardy. It wasn't, as had been said upthread, "joyous and sprightly": it was fiery and dramatic - a representation of the fury of bereavement, rather than the slushy scoopings of some "traditional" performances and recordings. I was less impressed with the sentimental rits at the end of the Rex Tremendae (at the Salva me) and the choir and orchestra got out of agreement in the central Qui salvandos bit, too. Not happy with the solo soprano's hand gestures - but very happy with the sounds she produced, and I thought the solo quartet was very good (the Bass was a little fragile in the lower notes, but had a nice, lyrical sound elsewhere).

A performance I'm very glad to have heard, without feeling any particular urgency to hear it again.

[jonfan]

Well this thread has generated some very unpleasant comments verging on the downright rude ‘not worthy of London’ so ok for the uncritical and unsophisticated provinces then? ‘no respect for the text - zippy —‘ etc. Not to mention the stuff about Tom and partner. (Danielle DN always talks like that, she’s an opera singer).
Well I still think it was fantastic and I’m going to make a permanent copy so there.

[Bryn]

Well this thread has generated some very unpleasant comments verging on the downright rude ‘not worthy of London’ so ok for the uncritical and unsophisticated provinces then? ‘no respect for the text - zippy —‘ etc. Not to mention the stuff about Tom and partner. (Danielle DN always talks like that, she’s an opera singer).
Well I still think it was fantastic and I’m going to make a permanent copy so there.

My main criticism of the presentation is that it failed to deal with just how relatively little of the work is actually by Mozart or how low an opinion Mozart had of Süssmayr musical abilities. That said, I feel wonders were worked with the material available to Stutzmann & co.

[kernelbogey]

My main criticism of the presentation is that it failed to deal with just how relatively little of the work is actually by Mozart or how low an opinion Mozart had of Süssmayr musical abilities. That said, I feel wonders were worked with the material available to Stutzmann & co.

I wonder who is actually responsible for what is said by the presenters. I suspect the dead hand of a producer or three. Clearly Tom S has his breathless style, but I suspect the whole presentation - black jeans, black shirt etc - is meant to exude new-style not-stuffy classical music presentation. It doesn't really work, unfortunately. I imagine TS wants genuinely to convey enthusiasm, but simply ends up being over the top.

[Stanfordian]

And the enthusiastic TS is one of the better presenters.

[Stanfordian]

Yes. For God's sake, what is he ON?

I had very mixed feelings about the Mozart. I felt that she was trying to do with massive forces what a slightly eccentric HIPP director might have done. A slightly uncomfortable result?

I have heard Stutzman conduct the Liverpool Phil very successfully but I wasn't too keen on this performance which just didn't flow naturally for me.

[Nevilevelis]

I have heard Stutzman conduct the Liverpool Phil very successfully but I wasn't too keen on this performance which just didn't flow naturally for me.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

And the enthusiastic TS is one of the better presenters.

I wouldn't say that about anyone who is rude enough to think it's okay to talk over the music. But he is among the most knowledgeable.

[chrisjstanley]

Watched and listened to this on the telly. Not too bad IMO although as commented above a little too zippy in places most notably the Recordare. It was infinitely better than the dreadful Jane Glover performance of 1991 for the 200th anniversary of Mozart's death. I had to switch off and put on a record IIRC.

bws
Chris S