Prom 14 (11.08.21) - Rachmaninov & Stravinsky

[jayne lee wilson]

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.

Definitely coming from the hall. On the thankfully rare occasion levels have been manipulated on the webstream, you hear this getting louder when pps are boosted...

I've noticed those large boxes among the orchestra on the TV shows. I guess it could be them...

[mikealdren]

I've noticed those large boxes among the orchestra on the TV shows. I guess it could be them...

Yes, I wondered what they were too, noticed them on the SCO Mozart concert and thought they might have been loudspeakers from some earlier part of the concert that I had missed (for a harpsichord or other instrument with insufficient volume for the RAH). I suppose they could be some sort of Anti-Covid filter device, just in case social distancing isn't sufficient.

[Barbirollians]

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.

I didn’t find it undercooked - perhaps understated for some but I agree with JLW I have seldom heard a better 18th variation .

Cutting the Chopin encore was just contemptible from the BBC .

[Cockney Sparrow]

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 ?

Surely the RAH would have gone for filtration of virus particles -having spent all that money since the start of the pandemic on improving ventilation. Didn't the initial available research identify the flute (followed by other woodwind) as the highest emitters of vapour particles with the ability to carry the virus? I'm not surprised they would locate an air extract unit/filter in the appropriate area of the orchestra..........(I'm yet to read the other thread....)

[Ein Heldenleben]

I didn’t find it undercooked - perhaps understated for some but I agree with JLW I have seldom heard a better 18th variation .

Cutting the Chopin encore was just contemptible from the BBC .

Having listened to most of the Proms this year I would venture to suggest that encore was the single best performance I’ve heard in any of the concerts !

[edashtav]

Having listened to most of the Proms this year I would venture to suggest that encore was the single best performance I’ve heard in any of the concerts !

I agree that Chopin encore is the stand-out performance for me at the halfway point of this Prom season.

[jayne lee wilson]

Having listened to most of the Proms this year I would venture to suggest that encore was the single best performance I’ve heard in any of the concerts !

Please try to hear the Chaconne from Rameau's Indes Galantes..... that hit the highest notes for me.... stunningly played and so airily relayed, with a great & cumulative emotional impact....
But then I'm a devoted Ramellian/Ramovian/Ramiste and I've adored the music for a long time....the Britten Sinfonia were marvellous in it.

Just as good, the Kilar encore at the end of the Mancs Collective's Big Night...