Prom 14 (11.08.21) - Rachmaninov & Stravinsky

[Ein Heldenleben]

Still don't know exactly what was the Chopin encore

It was the raindrop prelude in D flat - can’t remember the opus number . It’s only a grade 7 piece but he played it just about as well as I’ve ever heard it played …

[ardcarp]

Watched the TV version tonight. Fabulous playing in both pieces, Collon and his rapport with his players is amazing, and his 'being didactic' to the Prom audience avoided the cringe-factor I always feel from TS. Shall have to go to 'Sounds' to catch the Chopin encore.

[Bryn]

Watched the TV version tonight. Fabulous playing in both pieces, Collon and his rapport with his players is amazing, and his 'being didactic' to the Prom audience avoided the cringe-factor I always feel from TS. Shall have to go to 'Sounds' to catch the Chopin encore.

Outrageous that they cut it from the television version. Better to have ct the commentary if they were short on time.

[Nachtigall]

Watched the TV version tonight. Fabulous playing in both pieces, Collon and his rapport with his players is amazing, and his 'being didactic' to the Prom audience avoided the cringe-factor I always feel from TS. Shall have to go to 'Sounds' to catch the Chopin encore.

"Cringe-factor" indeed: Tom Service's breathless and hyperbolic vocal delivery is always hard to take. But if you're going to have a Bernstein-style audience address I thought that Nicholas Collin managed it with engaging wit. The performances were superb, with an outstanding Paganini Rhapsody from Kolesnikov. We're lucky to have him resident in London and one wonders whether there are personal as well as professional reasons for his living here rather than in his native Russia.

[LHC]

Outrageous that they cut it from the television version. Better to have ct the commentary if they were short on time.

Well they must have been really short of time as they didn’t even have time to repeat the finale to the Firebird over the end credits!

[symphony1010]

I've heard, (and this is only on the grapevine from an LSO player) that they all received an email saying that, as the BBC had asked them to perform the whole prom twice on the same day, (with a morning dress rehearsal) the orchestral management were DELIGHTED to announce that they would be receiving an enhanced fee of 1.4% for the day. That's 0.4% for the extra performance, isn't it? If that's true, I'm struggling to work out the maths, especially when you factor in the stress and time it must have taken to memorise the dots!

[Cockney Sparrow]

I've heard, (and this is only on the grapevine from an LSO player) that they all received an email saying that, as the BBC had asked them to perform the whole prom twice on the same day, (with a morning dress rehearsal) the orchestral management were DELIGHTED to announce that they would be receiving an enhanced fee of 1.4% for the day. That's 0.4% for the extra performance, isn't it? If that's true, I'm struggling to work out the maths, especially when you factor in the stress and time it must have taken to memorise the dots!

In my only contact with the BBC (choir member for two or three concerts in different choirs) they stand out, alone, as having a policy of offering and paying something towards travel costs to the RAH. (As I say, something - the BBC can't become known for largesse to all on licence payers money. No other organisation I've been in contact with has that as a policy).

As this LSO matter is about remuneration and not speculation/gossip I have to accept what is said here. (Initially I wondered if it wasn't a fee enhanced by 4 tenths of the of the original one concert fee. 0.4% seems more like an insult than a benefit - but then maybe the algorithm said 0.4%).

[gradus]

In my only contact with the BBC (choir member for two or three concerts in different choirs) they stand out, alone, as having a policy of offering and paying something towards travel costs to the RAH. (As I say, something - the BBC can't become known for largesse to all on licence payers money. No other organisation I've been in contact with has that as a policy).

As this LSO matter is about remuneration and not speculation/gossip I have to accept what is said here. (Initially I wondered if it wasn't a fee enhanced by 4 tenths of the of the original one concert fee. 0.4% seems more like an insult than a benefit - but then maybe the algorithm said 0.4%).

4/10ths sounds more plausible.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I've heard, (and this is only on the grapevine from an LSO player) that they all received an email saying that, as the BBC had asked them to perform the whole prom twice on the same day, (with a morning dress rehearsal) the orchestral management were DELIGHTED to announce that they would be receiving an enhanced fee of 1.4% for the day. That's 0.4% for the extra performance, isn't it? If that's true, I'm struggling to work out the maths, especially when you factor in the stress and time it must have taken to memorise the dots!

That doesn’t seem to square with the MU / BBC agreement all of which are downloadable online. That would be a three session day - rehearsal and two perfs with one broadcast on tv and radio . Quite a nice little earner I would have thought.
Browsing through the agreement and looking at the rates for doing session work for telly makes me wish I’d got that rock band going…

[ucanseetheend]

Where was it performed other than in the night ? And what was the point of another performance.presumably without an audience

[Bryn]

Where was it performed other than in the night ? And what was the point of another performance.presumably without an audience

There was an afternoon performance, too. Check the RAH Proms listings.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/ez4hj5

[vibratoforever]

Bearing in mind the statements of the composer:

I compose music because I must give expression to my feelings
The new kind of music seems to create not from the heart but from the head. Its composers think rather than feel.

The Rachmaninov performance was seriously undercooked. That it was thought a performance exceeding the virtues of the BAL recommendations just mystifying.

[ucanseetheend]

Bearing in mind the statements of the composer:

I compose music because I must give expression to my feelings
The new kind of music seems to create not from the heart but from the head. Its composers think rather than feel.

The Rachmaninov performance was seriously undercooked. That it was thought a performance exceeding the virtues of the BAL recommendations just mystifying.

. If you want the 'undercooked performance' listen to the Icelandic pianist play Bach and Mozart ! Pavel performance was intense and searching !

[gradus]

Has anyone noticed a sort of air conditioning background sound on Sounds Proms recordings? I very much enjoyed this concert but could hear this slightly wavering background noise. I wondered if it was problems with streaming through my system but other R3 stuff sounds fine as does Spotify streaming, so I'm baffled.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Has anyone noticed a sort of air conditioning background sound on Sounds Proms recordings? I very much enjoyed this concert but could hear this slightly wavering background noise. I wondered if it was problems with streaming through my system but other R3 stuff sounds fine as does Spotify streaming, so I'm baffled.

I wonder if it’s the black box on the stage which (if you believe the collective wisdom of another thread) is thought to be an air filter ?