Prom 1: First Night of the Proms - 19.07.19

[kernelbogey]

[....] I don't feel this Mass is particularly religious.

Perhaps not religious, but certainly 'sacred' IMV - a celebration of nature and humanism, IIRC, in the composer's view - so cf Vixen!

[edashtav]

Perhaps not religious, but certainly 'sacred' IMV - a celebration of nature and humanism, IIRC, in the composer's view - so cf Vixen!

Yes, indeed.

[jayne lee wilson]

Does anyone else find the applause between movements particularly irksome in a sacred work? I thought it really intruded between the Agnus Dei and the big organ solo.

Never usually annoyed by it at all (except where grossly inapt), part of the event-ful scenery really, but absolutely with you in this specific instance - it sounded absurdly, unthinkingly Pavlovian. Bad timing in every sense...

[Anastasius]

Does anyone else find the applause between movements particularly irksome in a sacred work? I thought it really intruded between the Agnus Dei and the big organ solo.

Yes. I detest it. And too much applause in opera. Especially from the Met audience. I dipped briefly in to the 'commission' and just as briefly dipped out. This new stuff does nothing for me. Too plinky-plonk that goes nowhere. I have recorded the TV programme of the Mass and so have that to look forward to.

Incidentally, the Supraphon recording was voted the best IIRC in Building a Library.

Which version of the Mass was it tonight ?

[Anastasius]

The 5.1 TV mix sounded good. The organ in particular was filled out by the ambience in the rear channels.

How do you get the 5.1 mix ?

[Bella Kemp]

I welcome applause when it is spontaneously generated by exceptional performance, but at last year's proms sections of the audience appeared to be clapping between movements merely because they wanted to make some sort of absurd statement that by making a noise they were somehow making classical music less 'stuffy.' I think we witnessed the same tonight and it was wholly inappropriate in a sacred work.

[Edgy 2]

Does anyone else find the applause between movements particularly irksome in a sacred work? I thought it really intruded between the Agnus Dei and the big organ solo.

Yes,in any work for me.
The conductor seemed to have had enough too by the moment you mention,giving the nod to go straight into the organ solo,or is that normal for the piece,I don't know it well enough.

[Petrushka]

Just back from the hall. All I can say is 'Wow!' The Janacek was absolutely thrilling, the organ properly overwhelming and, yes, KC is most definitely the real deal. A great performance.

[Stunsworth]

How do you get the 5.1 mix ?

Virgin TV box plugged into a Denon 5.1 receiver via HDMI.

[Bella Kemp]

For me the first night of the proms represents the start of summer - and, yes, quibbles aside, it has got off to a great start.

[Nick Armstrong]

a few "modernistic" techniques chucked into the mixture with all the aplomb and self-assurance of Del-boy sticking French phrases into his conversation.

Creme de menthe, Rodney; creme de menthe ...

[Bryn]

Hmm - not so much "prejudice" as "premonition". Sort of "We can't afford to commission Saariaho or Adams, so could you give us something that sounds a bit like either/both of them?" And a few "modernistic" techniques chucked into the mixture with all the aplomb and self-assurance of Del-boy sticking French phrases into his conversation.

The Dvorak waffles along from one stock Bohemian idea to another pleasantly enough, but I'm impatient for the Janacek.

Creme de menthe, Rodney; creme de menthe ...

The Music We'd Like to Hear concert I attended was very fine indeed, and was recorded for future broadcast on Radio 3. Mr. Worby was in attendance prior to the concert itself but had to depart to attend to other commitments.

[maestro267]

The music itself last night was wonderful. Shame about the elements outside of that (parts of the audience...the TV presentation) which tried their best to ruin things.

[jayne lee wilson]

A play of contrasts - of stasis/motion, of extremes of intensity, pitch and colour, of sudden against sustain; Long is the Journey, Short is the Memory by Zosha da Castri rewards - to some extent - a second (and a third) hearing….

it is tempting to play mere influence-spotting, dismiss the work as derivative and turn away. But I do like the sounds and shapes she creates from those influences, from the stentorian brass chords and deep bass rumblings at the start to the various combinations, interjects and resonances, of extensive and unusual percussion; the flowing undulating trills of winds against hovering strings, the leaping and declaiming vocal lines. This all creates a densely-textured fascinator, a spatial musical mobile which pleasurably engages the ear - even if those pleasures remain largely superficial.

Long is the Journey… seems on one level to follow a darkness to light trajectory, the static/rhythmic elements finally cohere into a climactic culmination for all the voices and orchestra; but this soon fades into an soft, uncertain, fragmentary coda, very different in its brighter tones from the ominous roars and rumbles with which the work began. (The journey is over, the memories are fading…we lost sight of the Moon, and now are beginning to remember our need to rediscover it - in inner and outer space…)

The work was very apt to the occasion and had moments of true beauty and mystery. But it lacks focus, tautness, and the Stravinskian episode shortly after the start sounded a little out of place, despite its elements recurring later on; the episodes, often attractive to the ear in themselves, seemed to need a firmer guiding hand - or perhaps a stronger, more mature artistic personality.
One can’t expect many composers to spring fully-formed, like Minerva, from the head of Zeus; but despite an impressively lengthy worklist, perhaps Zosha di Castri is yet to find her own voice, her own way forward… perhaps harder than ever to do, when so many have gone before…

[Alison]

I didn’t warm very much to the three tv guests.

A routine jog through all the normal house priorities, access points and inclusivity just when I was feeling upbeat at the start of another season.

Did I gather they’re to be on every week??