Proms on Afternoon Concert 12 (18.08.20): (a) 'A Patchwork Passion', (b) Bruckner 8

[bluestateprommer]

"Penny Gore presents great BBC Prom concerts from recent years by BBC orchestras and choirs. The first of today's two concerts is a Prom from 2017 given by the BBC Singers, the City of London Sinfonia and soloists under the baton of Sofi Jeannin: it's called 'A Patchwork Passion', and brings together five centuries of Biblical settings, including works by Schütz, J.S. Bach, Handel, Mendelssohn, Arvo Pärt and Sir James MacMillan.

Then, from 1995, the last of the legendary BBC Proms given by the German conductor Günter Wand with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

2.00pm
'A Patchwork Passion' - a retelling of the Passion story with music by various composers

Thomas Elwin, tenor
Christopher Bowen, tenor
David Shipley, bass
BBC Singers
City of London Sinfonia
Conductor: Sofi Jeannin

3.30pm
Bruckner: Symphony No. 8
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Günter Wand"

Archival Forum thread on Prom 48, 2017: http://www.for3.org/forums/showthrea...chwork-Passion

BBC R3 programme page: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000lw1r

[Ein Heldenleben]

This Bruckner 8 is tremendous. Been spending the afternoons recently going through the few complete Bruckner Symphs available on Amazon Prime: Solti CSO, Barenboim CSO and Jochum Dresden (dodgy brass). This is up there if not better.

[Nick Armstrong]

I had no idea there was a Bruckner 8 scheduled this afternoon, but I turned on R3 at random (safe this afternoon as I’d noticed Penny Gore is presenting this week).

I was instantly rooted to the spot: the scherzo of Bruckner 8 well underway... and I thought ‘this is a REAL Bruckner performance’, this is how I hear this music in my head.

A reasonably accurate blind tasting: Günter Wand from the 1995 Proms, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra...

What a performance. Recommended

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000lw1r

[Ein Heldenleben]

I had no idea there was a Bruckner 8 scheduled this afternoon, but I turned on R3 at random (safe this afternoon as I’d noticed Penny Gore is presenting this week).

I was instantly rooted to the spot: the scherzo of Bruckner 8 well underway... and I thought ‘this is a REAL Bruckner performance’, this is how I hear this music in my head.

A reasonably accurate blind tasting: Günter Wand from the 1995 Proms, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra...

What a performance. Recommended

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000lw1r

Yes wonderful - the Adagio absolutely magnificent ....

[antongould]

I had no idea there was a Bruckner 8 scheduled this afternoon, but I turned on R3 at random (safe this afternoon as I’d noticed Penny Gore is presenting this week).

I was instantly rooted to the spot: the scherzo of Bruckner 8 well underway... and I thought ‘this is a REAL Bruckner performance’, this is how I hear this music in my head.

A reasonably accurate blind tasting: Günter Wand from the 1995 Proms, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra...

What a performance. Recommended

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000lw1r

You are Nicholas Kenyon and I claim my £5 .......

[Nick Armstrong]

You are Nicholas Kenyon and I claim my £5 .......

Cheers, Petroc

[Nick Armstrong]

This Bruckner 8 is tremendous. Been spending the afternoons recently going through the few complete Bruckner Symphs available on Amazon Prime: Solti CSO, Barenboim CSO and Jochum Dresden (dodgy brass). This is up there if not better.

One thing that strikes me on re-listening (earlier today via iPad/Airport Express/big speakers) is what an exceptionally good recording / broadcast it is - blended and atmospheric yet individual instruments and sections shining through. Powerful and focused timps too, important! Utterly involving - quite apart from (or rather, in conjunction with) the performance

[Ein Heldenleben]

One thing that strikes me on re-listening (earlier today via iPad/Airport Express/big speakers) is what an exceptionally good recording / broadcast it is - blended and atmospheric yet individual instruments and sections shining through. Powerful and focused timps too, important! Utterly involving - quite apart from (or rather, in conjunction with) the performance

It was a very good sound balance as was the Guilini last night . Interesting that you use the iPad as the digital device . I tend to use an MacBook Air as I thought it would have a superior sound card but maybe newer iPad ones are just as good. I’m interested because it would be more convenient to use my iPad .

[Nick Armstrong]

It was a very good sound balance as was the Guilini last night . Interesting that you use the iPad as the digital device . I tend to use an MacBook Air as I thought it would have a superior sound card but maybe newer iPad ones are just as good. I’m interested because it would be more convenient to use my iPad .

I have a 2010 MacBook Pro which I don’t really use any more since moving on from iTunes (I have no other need for it). The iPad I have is a year old, the sound is noticeably better than a similarly aged iPhone 7, and wholly acceptable. (I’m thinking of upgrading to an iPad Pro though, which I had before, as the inbuilt speaker system is better, and I also want a bit more storage than the basic 32GB currently).

I never thought I’d like iPads but I’ve become a fan.

[Cockney Sparrow]

It was a very good sound balance as was the Guilini last night . Interesting that you use the iPad as the digital device . I tend to use an MacBook Air as I thought it would have a superior sound card but maybe newer iPad ones are just as good. I’m interested because it would be more convenient to use my iPad .

I'm not an apple device user, but I did look into using the Airport express (Aex -last generation - best DAC) in the past and my understanding is that the file (0's and 1's) sent via wi-fi** to the Aex would be the same from whatever source?

(** cuts out the opportunity for all those mega ££ cables to work their magic.....)

I have half an idea that you are much more technically literate than I am, so apologies in advance if this comes over as - how do I put it - teaching you to suck eggs.

P.S on edit - I have had a iPad user in the household - and I can agree the inbuilt speakers are very tolerable for speech programmes. Wouldn't want to listen to music on them for long though.

pps on Edit - just to be clear - the DAC (Digital to Analogue converter) is located in the Aex - so as above the file (from whatever source) is sent to it by wi-fi. The DAC in the 1st generation Aex (the whole AEX plugs into a power socket) is inferior to the 2nd generation AEX (A square block, with a detachable lead for mains power.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I'm not an apple device user, but I did look into using the Airport express (Aex -last generation - best DAC) in the past and my understanding is that the file (0's and 1's) sent via wi-fi** to the Aex would be the same from whatever source?

(** cuts out the opportunity for all those mega ££ cables to work their magic.....)

I have half an idea that you are much more technically literate than I am, so apologies in advance if this comes over as - how do I put it - teaching you to suck eggs.

P.S on edit - I have had a iPad user in the household - and I can agree the inbuilt speakers are very tolerable for speech programmes. Wouldn't want to listen to music on them for long though.

Hi no I am more of an analogue know-it-all . I did think though that airport express is essentially a wireless port and that the analogue to digital conversion takes place in the iPad or laptop. And that the reason people buy DAC’s is they provide a higher quality analogue output than a computer ..I didn’t realise that airport express does DAC conversion but as I’ve never seen one that doesn’t surprise me.

[antongould]

Simply majestic performance IMVVHO .....

[bluestateprommer]

Listened to this Afternoon Concert double-bill from the Proms archives, again just before the deadline. It was very good to revisit "A Patchwork Passion" and to re-appreciate the work of John Butt and Jonathan Manners in assembling the sequence, as well as Sofi Jeannin's direction of this concert. It also made it interesting to have this aural experience in the back of the mind on moving to the 1995 Bruckner 8 Prom with Gunter Wand and the BBC SO. Excellent performance, as noted here by many, and a privilege to hear for the first time. (Did hear one momentary horn blip, but no matter.) Also nice that BBC SO horn player Michael Murray shared memories of working with GW on this Prom.

From reading John Drummond's memoir, apparently he intended for GW to conduct Mozart 40 and Tchaikovsky 5, and this Prom had sold out accordingly. However, Wand then changed his mind and insisted on Bruckner 8, which he had done previously at The Proms in 1985 and 1992. Drummond gave in, and gave up a lot of sales, apparently, as many ticket buyers asked for refunds because of that change. According to the Proms archive, that 1985-1995 period featured 5 performances of Bruckner 8, thus with Wand leading 3 of them. (Mehta and Haitink had one each of the other two.)

[crb11]

From reading John Drummond's memoir, apparently he intended for GW to conduct Mozart 40 and Tchaikovsky 5, and this Prom had sold out accordingly. However, Wand then changed his mind and insisted on Bruckner 8, which he had done previously at The Proms in 1985 and 1992. Drummond gave in, and gave up a lot of sales, apparently, as many ticket buyers asked for refunds because of that change. According to the Proms archive, that 1985-1995 period featured 5 performances of Bruckner 8, thus with Wand leading 3 of them. (Mehta and Haitink had one each of the other two.)

Whereas I queued all day to hear the Bruckner, but probably wouldn't have come for the original programme. I think it might have been the first time I was number 1 in the Arena queue.