Prom 2: Bohemian Rhapsody - 20.07.19

[jayne lee wilson]

I have passed through the pain barrier when it comes to execrable presenters. Now I find myself looking forward to the whole excruciating business. KD possesses a unique anti-talent that doesn't get its due on here. I particularly enjoy her over-articulated way with foreign words and her assumption that the listening audience are all suffering from serious brain injuries. It's an unforgettable combination of arrogance and ignorance.

I found myself wondering how someone like Furtwangler would have approached Ma Vlast. Maybe the best conductor for this kind of music would be a first-rate interpreter of Richard Strauss, who can balance the inspired sections with the weaker parts to form a satisfying whole.

Don't mind KD-on-TV so much, she's very stylish (great side-tied hair, I do this myself a lot these days, still unwilling to cut it..) and easy before the camera.
But poor Jess Gillam! Impossible to avoid sounding a note of condescension perhaps, but she was palpably uncomfortable, script-dependent, nervous and hesitant, looking at KD for lead and reassurance. Even worse than the Radio show....

She's 20 for God's sake..her agent badly needs to reconsider their choices....off the air, let her get on with her truly brilliant sax-playing!

KD much better on her own, the Hrusa interview was OK, but that panel....oh dear.

[Once Was 4]

Absolutely, and none finer in the country - though it's a great shame (for - and on - Leeds) that it does most of its non-Opera concerts in Huddersfield.

Incidentally, is Edinburgh the only European capital without a resident Symphony Orchestra?

Sorry if I am getting off-topic here; Huddersfield has a far better concert hall than Leeds (and also has two very good full-scale amateur symphony orchestras and some smaller ones along the Colne Valley) plus a thriving university music department; and not forgetting the choral society. One drawback of the hall in my day (it may not be the case now) is that the local chief fire officer insisted on inspections by his staff during performances; I remember everybody's concentration during Brahms' Tragic Overture being somewhat diverted by three very embarrassed looking firemen touring the stalls.

It was though received opinion amongst early ENON (the acronym by which Opera North was known in its early years) staff that we were, in some ways, pioneers bringing professional live music to the darkest north. This was never true: the ill-fated Yorkshire Symphony has been discussed before on this forum. Its predecessor was the Northern Philharmonic (Chief conductor at one time a certain John Barbirolli) and this appears to have been formed out of players employed in the city's theatres. I knew one of its horn players - Charlie Cadden - and also heard tales of another - Tommy Tasker who was a bit of a legand in his own lifetime. Sadly none of these players are left to tell us their stories.

There was a similar orchestra in Bradford which, like Leeds, had several theatres employing musicians. Bradford had a strong musical tradition at one time with live orchestral music provided by the subscription concerts given by the Halle Orchestra from Manchester. In my youth you needed to purchase your ticket well in advance to secure a seat; now it's a good night if it is half full. But that was for the Halle; they tried to get other orchestras in but these got embarrasingly small audiences. There were also two large choirs giving concerts with professional orchestras (usually the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic); one of these has disappeared and one now gives performances on a much reduced scale. I could go on but will not.

[Once Was 4]

Now then, here's a thing. What about the doubling of woodwind, horns and even the trombones? Was this just for the Proms or was it for Ma Vlast; or is this still routine in Bamberg? There are several films of the Berlin Philharmonic and Furtwangler on Utube and the woodwind are usually doubled - even for a 'werkpausen' concert in the AEG factory in Berlin during 1944 (which somehow survived the Battle for Berlin even though it is in the area where the fighting was most deadly and is now their version of a listed building). I often wonder how many of the audience were still alive two years later (some of the orchestra were not).

[Bryn]

Now then, here's a thing. What about the doubling of woodwind, horns and even the trombones? Was this just for the Proms or was it for Ma Vlast; or is this still routine in Bamberg? There are several films of the Berlin Philharmonic and Furtwangler on Utube and the woodwind are usually doubled - even for a 'werkpausen' concert in the AEG factory in Berlin during 1944 (which somehow survived the Battle for Berlin even though it is in the area where the fighting was most deadly and is now their version of a listed building). I often wonder how many of the audience were still alive two years later (some of the orchestra were not).

https://imslp.org/wiki/Vltava%2C_JB_1:112%2F2_(Smetana%2C_Bed%C5%99ich)

[Alain Maréchal]

The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra has gone in for this sort of catchpenny concert titling for some time. I find it irritating.

How many potential listeners were, like me, dissuaded from listening because they assumed from the title that it was one of the occasional pop concerts that occur in the Proms. I missed a fine concert, apparently.

[Stanfordian]

Now then, here's a thing. What about the doubling of woodwind, horns and even the trombones? Was this just for the Proms or was it for Ma Vlast; or is this still routine in Bamberg? There are several films of the Berlin Philharmonic and Furtwangler on Utube and the woodwind are usually doubled - even for a 'werkpausen' concert in the AEG factory in Berlin during 1944 (which somehow survived the Battle for Berlin even though it is in the area where the fighting was most deadly and is now their version of a listed building). I often wonder how many of the audience were still alive two years later (some of the orchestra were not).

One would have thought that the AEG factory in Berlin would have been the least safest places to inhabit in the city during WW2 owing to Allied bombing instead of being, as it turned out, one of the safest. Windows were blown out but the building was virtually undamaged and neither was production disrupted.

[makropulos]

What about the doubling of woodwind, horns and even the trombones? Was this just for the Proms or was it for Ma Vlast; or is this still routine in Bamberg?

In this case, for Má vlast. In Czech performances it's fairly common to have doubled wind and brass for some parts of the work (it's fairly obvious where and where not to do this– and quite clear on the TV relay, as it was in the hall from a seat overlooking the wind and brass). And you will have noticed there were also four harps (two on each part). In Prague sometimes they run to six, which is a really spectacular sight.