Booking 2020

[LMcD]

A complete season, voted if possible in a poll. I prefer a season from at least 15 years. Before all these broadway show proms and other non standard classical repertoire came in.

1969, for musical and other reasons. It's not every day you can hear Gervase de Peyer and the Amadeus play Mozart's Clarinet Quartet followed by Bruckner's 8th, played ion thos occasion by the BBC SO conducted by Reginald Goodall.
I'd forgotten, or never realized, that this took place exactly 30 years after the start of WW2. This was the first performance of K581 at a Prom.

[Bryn]

Come to think of it, the 1972 season would suit me well, especially as I was stuck in the Green Room during Bartok's Sonata for 2 Pianos and Percussion., waiting to go on for the highly controversial revised/combined version of Paragraphs 1 and 2 of Cardew's The Great Learning. It would also give me the opportunity to hear the concerts towards the end of that season since I was on tour with the Scratch Orchestra in Munich and the Austrian Tyrol at the time.

[Petrushka]

An update on the 2020 Proms:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/384LXFP6B13d4q2GnLx8HGy/an-update-on-the-2020-proms

[Alison]

Must admit desire to visit London is Nil right now :-(

[Petrushka]

Must admit desire to visit London is Nil right now :-(

I'll say ditto to that.

Awaiting a refund from the Barbican for two concerts not now taking place. Rather surprised to have to enter my bank details to get this as I thought giving such information was a big no-no on the internet. However, the e-mail from the Barbican checked out as genuine so fingers crossed I'll get my money back.

[Dave2002]

It looks as though theatres, cinemas and concert halls as well as restaurants might well be hit hard in the next year. Over the last few years we have been to many events. Now our desire to go out to anywhere where we might be in close proximity to other people has dropped to "avoid at all costs".
Other people may be less averse, but they may be in lower risk groups.

I can't see the Proms actually running this year - so perhaps it's now time to start modelling or remodelling a listening room. Maybe I will convert the garage or the loft, after all.

[Petrushka]

I was rather hoping that the Guide would be published so I could see, somewhat masochistically, which concerts I would have attended. I've still got the 1980 Guide which includes details of those concerts that were cancelled due to the Musicians Union strike.

Proms organisers must feel the weight of historical responsibility on their shoulders that an entire season has never before been cancelled, even at the height of the Second World War, and they don't intend starting now. I would be interested in a possible short autumn/winter season rather than a summer one as I can't see London being over this virus for several months.

[LMcD]

I was rather hoping that the Guide would be published so I could see, somewhat masochistically, which concerts I would have attended. I've still got the 1980 Guide which includes details of those concerts that were cancelled due to the Musicians Union strike.

Proms organisers must feel the weight of historical responsibility on their shoulders that an entire season has never before been cancelled, even at the height of the Second World War, and they don't intend starting now. I would be interested in a possible short autumn/winter season rather than a summer one as I can't see London being over this virus for several months.

The Guide is available from 22nd April.

[Old Grumpy]

The Guide is available from 22nd April.

Unless it's withdrawn. Or do you think (or know) it will be published anyway?

OG

[Petrushka]

The Guide is available from 22nd April.

If you read the update as linked to in my #33 you will see that it won't be.

[Alison]

Yes, it would be interesting to see the season even if it doesn’t happen.

I understand the 1980 cancellations were replaced by gramophone records as far as possible.

[LMcD]

The fist to have been broadcast in stereo would be fun. Now, which one was that? Probably wiped year ago, though.

I believe it may have been on the 1st of September 1966:
Schubert 8th Symphony
Mozart Sinfonia Concertante K297
Dvorak 6th Symphony

[seabright]

I was rather hoping that the Guide would be published so I could see, somewhat masochistically, which concerts I would have attended. I've still got the 1980 Guide which includes details of those concerts that were cancelled due to the Musicians Union strike.

Proms organisers must feel the weight of historical responsibility on their shoulders that an entire season has never before been cancelled, even at the height of the Second World War, and they don't intend starting now. I would be interested in a possible short autumn/winter season rather than a summer one as I can't see London being over this virus for several months.

I just googled "Previous Pandemics" and they've all lasted two years at least ... ie: the 1918-1920 flu pandemic which killed millions of people world-wide; the Asian Flu from 1956-1958 which killed 2 million; and many others going way back in history. It's impossible for anyone, least of all the "health experts," to say when we'll be out of this one but I doubt if we'll see any Proms at all this year, at least in the format we've all been used to ...

https://www.mphonline.org/worst-pandemics-in-history/

[bluestateprommer]

Yes, it would be interesting to see the season even if it doesn’t happen.

On an academic level, I would agree, although it's understandable if such a schedule were not released publicly in case the 2020 Proms are cancelled. However, if they do go ahead, then you have this to look forward to on the first weekend of September:

Friday, 4 September 2020:

Anton Webern: Passacaglia, op. 1
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Symphony No. 1 in c, op. 11

Johannes Brahms: Symphony No. 4

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Kirill Petrenko, conductor

Saturday, 5 September 2020:

Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3

Josef Suk: Asrael, op. 27

Daniil Trifonov, piano
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Kirill Petrenko, conductor

Plus this concert the next Thursday, 10 September 2020 (c/o this pdf, page 125 of the brochure, page 127 of the pdf):

Wagner: Tannhäuser - Overture and Venusberg Music
Sofia Gubaidulina: Prologue for Orchestra (UK premiere)
Beethoven: Symphony No. 8

Gewandhausorchester Leipzig
Andris Nelsons, conductor

Going back to others' posts (not that an American's opinions count with anyone), I'm against the idea of repeating a particular season in its entirety, and more in the camp of cherry-picking selected past Proms worth another listen, perhaps in keeping as much as possible with themes that David Pickard and his team had planned for 2020.

Assuming the worst, one slightly off-the-wall scenario, if it were possible in terms of performers' safety, would be to do something on the order of what's happened in Melbourne recently, with the Melbourne Digital Concert Hall. That is to say, something on the order of this:
* In each city where the BBC Orchestras are based and have dedicated venues (Maida Vale - London, Media City - Salford, etc.), see if it is possible to sanitize down performing areas where a limited number of musicians could gather, either as solos or in small groups, appropriately socially distanced.
* Plan programs of chamber music to be streamed live, in real time, not necessarily with a visual component, but truly live via radio, without audiences in the spaces.
* The BBC could coordinate with other ensembles who would have traveled to London to stream audio readings from those ensemble's home cities, perhaps in collaboration with resident radio networks in each country. This would be much like the concerts that BBC R3 airs from other European radio networks.

Even American ensembles could get in on this. I say this because I can guess at least one US ensemble that might be on the 2020 Proms docket, per this press release earlier this year (emphasis mine):

"EUROPEAN FESTIVALS TOUR: The Pittsburgh Symphony embarks on a 12-concert, 11-city, five-country European Festivals Tour in August and September. The Pittsburgh Symphony is the only American orchestra that will perform at the prestigious Salzburg Festival (August 27) and will be a featured orchestra as part of the Opening Weekend at the Beethovenfest in Bonn (September 6). Superstar violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter joins the orchestra as soloist in nine of the concerts while pianists Rudolf Buchbinder and Lukáš Vondráček also appear as featured soloists. Additional concerts will be announced later this year."

Of course, this announcement was before COVID-19 threw everyone's plans for a loop. So that may all be moot.

[Petrushka]

Thanks for the info, bsp! The Proms Guide should have been released tomorrow but there is no further update on the Proms site other than the one stating a decision will be made by the end of May.

To be honest, I think they should simply cancel now. Events as far ahead as September and October are already being cancelled in countries that are in a better place than the UK at this time. If I was David Pickard and his team I would regretfully cancel now and throw everything possible into making 2021 a season to remember, if necessary re-jigging plans already made to create something worth waiting for.