Prom 1: First Night of the Proms - 19.07.19

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

19:30 Friday 19 July 2019
Royal Albert Hall


Zosha Di Castri: Long Is the Journey – Short Is the Memory (BBC commission: world premiere)
Dvorak: The Golden Spinning Wheel
Janacek: Glagolitic Mass

Asmik Grigorian, soprano
Jennifer Johnston, mezzo-soprano
Ladislav Elgr, tenor
Peter Holder, organ
BBC Singers
BBC Symphony Chorus
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Karina Canellakis, conductor

Janáček’s monumental Glagolitic Mass, steeped in Moravian rhythms, is heard alongside Dvořák’s fairy-tale tone poem The Golden Spinning Wheel.
Karina Canellakis conducts the massed forces of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and BBC Singers in one of the 20th-century’s great choral masterpieces.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Here we go - just 12 days until the first night.

[jayne lee wilson]

Champing at the bit! It does look a very good first week....

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Canellakis is a terrific conductor - I'm expecting great things from her Janacek. (She should bring out the best in the Dvorak, too.)

[Petrushka]

Canellakis is a terrific conductor - I'm expecting great things from her Janacek. (She should bring out the best in the Dvorak, too.)

Agreed. She has a tremendous rapport with the BBCSO too, witness last seasons' Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances. And it's significant that she's been handed the First Night.

[Alison]

What are we expecting for the opening work?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

What are we expecting for the opening work?

Well, judging by recent years' record, the usual forgettable First Night of the Proms fanfarey-type thing that shows a "commitment" to commissioning "new" Music, whilst providing nothing too long or "inaccessible" to scare off the punters.

But that is a definition of "prejudice" and I may be doing the composer and her work a grave injustice - but you did ask!

http://www.zoshadicastri.com/about

https://ideasimagination.columbia.edu/news/post/world-premiere-of-di-castris-long-is-the-journey-short-is-the-memory-at-the-bbc-proms-2019

[edashtav]

Well, judging by recent years' record, the usual forgettable First Night of the Proms fanfarey-type thing that shows a "commitment" to commissioning "new" Music, whilst providing nothing too long or "inaccessible" to scare off the punters.

But that is a definition of "prejudice" and I may be doing the composer and her work a grave injustice - but you did ask!

http://www.zoshadicastri.com/about

https://ideasimagination.columbia.ed...bbc-proms-2019

I fear that your slightly cynical view is correct, ferney: recent first night f.p.s have been slight, ephemeral creatures, unlikely to grow into well performing teenagers. They have represented poor value for licence-payers and have been an example of the Beeb paying too much for 'talent'. Such associations may bring new music into disrepute.

[Zucchini]

Pompous twaddle.

… recent first night f.p.s have been slight, ephemeral creatures, unlikely to grow into well performing teenagers.

What the f**k do you mean?

They have represented poor value for licence-payers

How do you know? You want 1812 Overture and Nimrod?

... and have been an example of the Beeb paying too much for 'talent'.

Why? How do you know?

Such associations may bring new music into disrepute.

Why? What associations?

[jayne lee wilson]

You know, the great thing with recordings, with music, especially new recordings and new music is......
listen first....listen without prejudice....

The accessibility/difficulty/challenging axis, or the concept of it as often seen here, is one that should be under constant review....

All we know so far is that the new work is around 15' long and celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission etc, as the link in #7 clarifies....

[edashtav]

Pompous twaddle.


What the f**k do you mean?




How do you know? You want 1812 Overture and Nimrod?


Why? How do you know?


Why? What associations?

Well, I recall one recent First Night commission that was a very short piece scored for large Chorus and Orchestra by significant Living British Composer. Such "pièces d'occasion" may be wonderful music but are unlikely to be played often because the repertoire of Symphonic Choruses is well filled with long choral masterpieces and the cost in rehearsal time of adding a modern short piece is disadvantageous. Works such as Prokofiev's. 'Seven, They Are Seven' appear on 'subsidised' programmes such as the BBCs and in metropolitan Concerts but are rarities in concerts promoted by provincial bodies such as the BSO. In earlier decades, the BBC fitted significant premieres into its first and last nights of the Proms, but I've been disappointed with a diet of scraps over the last decade. I do speak, Zucchini, as one who has an insatiable appetite for new music, and a listener who rarely attends concerts containing less than 40% of contemporary music. Maybe, I'm a minority audience yet I doubt that you'd find me pompous were we to meet, but I concede that many find my joyful enthusiasm at the prospect of something new, intense, difficult and gritty irritating and impossible to comprehend.
There are times when I fear that the BBC Commission has been treated disrespectfully by the composer who has delivered something short or under-cooked that represents a high financial return for expertise and energy expended. You may feel differently and I do hope that you are right, Zucchini!

[Edgy 2]

What are we expecting for the opening work?

I’m expecting it not to have many more performances after this concert.

[EnemyoftheStoat]

Well, I recall one recent First Night commission that was a very short piece scored for large Chorus and Orchestra by significant Living British Composer. Such "pièces d'occasion" may be wonderful music but are unlikely to be played often because the repertoire of Symphonic Choruses is well filled with long choral masterpieces and the cost in rehearsal time of adding a modern short piece is disadvantageous. Works such as Prokofiev's. 'Seven, They Are Seven' appear on 'subsidised' programmes such as the BBCs and in metropolitan Concerts but are rarities in concerts promoted by provincial bodies such as the BSO. In earlier decades, the BBC fitted significant premieres into its first and last nights of the Proms, but I've been disappointed with a diet of scraps over the last decade. I do speak, Zucchini, as one who has an insatiable appetite for new music, and a listener who rarely attends concerts containing less than 40% of contemporary music. Maybe, I'm a minority audience yet I doubt that you'd find me pompous were we to meet, but I concede that many find my joyful enthusiasm at the prospect of something new, intense, difficult and gritty irritating and impossible to comprehend.
There are times when I fear that the BBC Commission has been treated disrespectfully by the composer who has delivered something short or under-cooked that represents a high financial return for expertise and energy expended. You may feel differently and I do hope that you are right, Zucchini!

I think I know the one that you’re referring to - an absolute b*****d of a piece, about five minutes long, that chewed up 75% of the rehearsal time and is unlikely to be performed ever again.

[LMcD]

I’m expecting it not to have many more performances after this concert.

Doesn't that apply to most of these special commissions, such as last year's overblown son et lumiere show about telegrams?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Doesn't that apply to most of these special commissions, such as last year's overblown son et lumiere show about telegrams?

Indeed - which is what creates the lack of lustre in my own expectations for the new piece.

But, hey - I may be wrong, and this might turn out to be a great piece . That's the joy of such prejudices - they're always being overturned by works with real invention and imagination.