Prom 1 - Verdi Requiem (15.07.22)

[Ein Heldenleben]

Have yet to catch the Prom but she was fantastic in RVW1…



The Verdi isn’t my favourite but I’ll try and catch her and Ooooh a cimbasso! … must see & hear!

Nick - you are in for a treat . She’s just getting better and better

[gradus]

I watched it and thought the sheer scale of the sound mesmerising and I enjoyed everything about the performance. A first class opening to the season.

[oddoneout]

Apart from Cloughie and BBKM2 on the Afternoon concert thread there don’t appear to be many listeners or viewers but , despite my earlier reservations about the choice of opener, I thought that absolutely outstanding with Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha producing one of the greatest vocal performances I’ve ever heard at the Proms . She is a sensation…

Well I was listening and watching rather than commenting!
Very much enjoyed that, probably one of the best I've heard. I thought the tenor acquitted himself fine; I've heard far worse from some more familiar names who've had more than 48 hours to prepare.
I remembered I had a score that came to me when my mother's flat was cleared for her move to a care home so dug it out to follow the performance - and have a sing. I realised it had belonged to my grandmother before my mother, so two generations of markings (I had a hire copy when I sang it as a student or it would have been 3) - and also an autograph from April Cantelo who'd evidently been a soloist for a concert in Cheltenham in 1976. Quite poignant.

[bluestateprommer]

Bass magnificent , mezzo very good , soprano quite incredibly moving . Tenor needs to moderate vibrato on full voice..
I’m eating my words because I’m really enjoying it and I think Oramo is doing a superb job.

Agree totally about Oramo, guiding the BBC SO, BBC SC and CEFC wonderfully, all on outstanding form. The BBC SO is keeping Sakari Oramo as chief conductor through 2026 for a reason :) .

I'm no aficionado of solo voices, even after years of classical concert going and opera going (except when someone seems really off, but never mind), but I noticed a few moments of strain from David Junghoon Kim. However, given the very short notice where he had to step in, I'm more than happy not to dwell on the situation, and he acquitted himself very well. Plus, I wonder if this might actually be DJK's first-ever Verdi Requiem.

[Barbirollians]

Agree totally about Oramo, guiding the BBC SO, BBC SC and CEFC wonderfully, all on outstanding form. The BBC SO is keeping Sakari Oramo as chief conductor through 2026 for a reason :) .

I'm no aficionado of solo voices, even after years of classical concert going and opera going (except when someone seems really off, but never mind), but I noticed a few moments of strain from David Junghoon Kim. However, given the very short notice where he had to step in, I'm more than happy not to dwell on the situation, and he acquitted himself very well. Plus, I wonder if this might actually be DJK's first-ever Verdi Requiem.

I shall catch up with this . It is a work I rather struggled with until discovering the RCA Solti with Janet Baker and Leontyne Price.

[ARBurton]

The soprano is out of this world though.

Yes indeed. But was it really necessary for the tv camera to be QUITE so close??? I didn`t really want to examine her dentistry....

[Pulcinella]

Sadly, our tv sound kept dropping out for very short periods, but that didn't really affect us being very impressed indeed by the soprano soloist.
We'd also wondered what the odd-looking instrument was.

Here's a link to today's Times review:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-proms-review-exhilarating-night-of-decibels-and-drama-7gf9gmflp?shareToken=ce3a09aa78c5212a0430e828e009a176

[oddoneout]

Yes indeed. But was it really necessary for the tv camera to be QUITE so close??? I didn`t really want to examine her dentistry....

Yes. I did wonder when the camera was actually going to stop its journey or whether we were going to have a "live at the Proms" gastroscopy. I think someone got the initial flight angle wrong and then didn't have the nous to pull back.
I caught a brief snippet of the pre-performance TV stuff and noticed that Tom Service seemed rather spellbound by the superb Ms Rangwanasha - to the point of seeming much less voluble than usual, even though the mouth was open it wasn't making a noise.
On a completely irrelevant note - what is it with the dishevelled floormop on his head? It looked like something plonked on top for a laugh and then forgotten about.

[Nick Armstrong]

Yes. I did wonder when the camera was actually going to stop its journey or whether we were going to have a "live at the Proms" gastroscopy. I think someone got the initial flight angle wrong and then didn't have the nous to pull back.

yes - badly thought-out use of that camera runway between stage and prommers… Not sure there was room to pull back - but I’ve never seen that inept use of it before. An ENT specialist’s dream (or nightmare).

She did indeed sound splendiferous though…

[DracoM]

Q: does televising the Proms increase/impair/neither the actual music?
If so, why?

[jonfan]

It seems odd to celebrate the opening of a restored eight week season with a Requiem, albeit one as splendid as Verdi's. How about something cheerful such as a Te Deum? Verdi's is rather good but the Berlioz would sound splendid in the RAH.

[bluestateprommer]

It seems odd to celebrate the opening of a restored eight week season with a Requiem, albeit one as splendid as Verdi's. How about something cheerful such as a Te Deum? Verdi's is rather good but the Berlioz would sound splendid in the RAH.

Not so odd, actually, as The Proms has featured the Verdi Requiem three times previously on The First Night:
1978: Sir Andrew Davis
1982: Sir John Pritchard
1992: Sir Andrew Davis

(For the record, the Berlioz Requiem has featured once on The First Night, in 1969 (of course), with Colin Davis (also of course) at the helm. But I digress.)

One more review of The First Night is from David Nice at The Arts Desk:

https://theartsdesk.com/classical-music/prom-1-verdis-requiem-bbcso-oramo-review-introspective-sorrow-and-consolation

DN noticed more incisively what I intuited about DJK at the outset:

"David Junghoon Kim, a late replacement for tenor of the moment Freddie De Tommaso, pushed a bit at first - it's actually not a bad thing when a soloist sings sharp rather than flat; it shows intense commitment – but later won his laurels with intensely moving quiet delivery of the "Ingemisco" in the 'Dies Irae'..."

DN is also with the general consensus that MCR stole the show among the solo singers. He commented as well on the applause that started too soon after the last notes, but then added the big picture comment at the very end:

'Inevitable [sic] someone applauded too soon, and the inanities behind me kicked off in a stream of rubbish you couldn't avoid hearing, above all "I wonder if they're going to do an encore?" But that's the hazard of the Proms live, and I still wouldn't miss it for the world.'

[jonfan]

The point I'm making is that to have a Mass for the Dead to lead a positive celebration is not the best of choices. Maybe the text doesn't count nowadays?

[oddoneout]

The point I'm making is that to have a Mass for the Dead to lead a positive celebration is not the best of choices. Maybe the text doesn't count nowadays?

I wondered about the choice in an earlier post, but it does occur to me that in view of what has happened over the last two years, and what is happening in Ukraine currently it isn't perhaps so strange. "In the midst of life we are in death" and a moment of reflection before launching into the celebration is perhaps no bad thing - and for those not given to introspection and/or for whom the religious aspect is not wanted then it is still a cracking bit of musical drama.