Prom 1: First Night of the Proms - 19.07.19

[Bryn]

(and AGAIN ) it's NOT 3 hours of Feldman at HCMF

I had a similar experience at the Kabuki in Tokyo where things moved swiftly from a solemn religious ceremony to a football match ... wonderful stuff

When I attended For Phillip Guston at HCMF, I was sat right at the back, knowing I might well need to leave before the end to catch my coach back from civilisation, (the break in the performance ensured that this was what transpired). Two audience members, fairly close to where I was ensconced, snored loudly through considerable sections of the music.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

When I attended For Phillip Guston at HCMF, I was sat right at the back, knowing I might well need to leave before the end to catch my coach back from civilisation, (the break in the performance ensured that this was what transpired). Two audience members, fairly close to where I was ensconced, snored loudly through considerable sections of the music.

Yes - they could be heard (as a gentle, rhythmic background hum) from the front!

But just "3 hrs of Feldman"?!!! (I hate these modern "play-it-as-fast-as-you-can-just-because-you-can" performances! )

[edashtav]

Yes - they could be heard (as a gentle, rhythmic background hum) from the front!

But just "3 hrs of Feldman"?!!! (I hate these modern "play-it-as-fast-as-you-can-just-because-you-can" performances! )

[bluestateprommer]

That would be welcome - and would lead to the remarkable example of the BBCSO having women as Chief Conductor and Principal Guest Conductor (the equally marvellous Dalia Stasevska).

I just hope that this won't reduce Ms Canellakis' appearances with the Hallé or Ms Stasevska's with the Orchestra of Opera North up here!

With KC taking on the RFO in Hilversum next season (albeit for just 4 weeks of concerts), she definitely needs time to get concentrated experience with one orchestra as its boss under her belt. I would think that the long-term strategy would be to keep Oramo around as chief conductor for as long as both sides are happy with the partnership, and to keep the relationship with KC open over the next several years as a welcome guest conductor. KC's initial RFO contract is 4 years, and her share of concerts with the RFO will undoubtedly grow over that time, since her schedule has been so jam-packed that she had to make some bit of room for the RFO when sparks flew with them. KC has no engagements with the BBC SO next season, but fingers no doubt are crossed for next summer at The Proms.

But back to the main business at hand: finally got to hear the second half again at home through computer speakers, rather than headphones. My favorable impression of the first listen got distinctly better with the second go. The spontaneous female audience whoop was a perfectly fine expression of genuine audience enthusiasm, rather than the lemmings-to-the-shore between movements clapping that seemed more desultory in nature. But again, presumably many of them were newbies. The Dvorak also grew on me with the second listen. I went back to the liner notes of the recording in the collection (Harnoncourt / Concertgebouw), which mentioned that the music follows much of the poem line by line. This may explain the repetitions in the music to some degree. It also occurred to me that this program isn't just a quiet tribute to Belohlavek in its way, but may also be KC's homage to Harnoncourt in the choice of the Dvorak.