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BBC Proms 2021

Tony L

Administrator
8pm kick off on BBC2 tonight!

I’ve not studied the schedule yet (BBC link) but there’s bound to be some decent stuff knocking around. IIRC Nubya Garcia is doing a jazz prom or something.

Sounds like covid wise the musicians are spread a little wider on stage, but the RAH is letting something close to normal numbers of punters in.
 
I missed it as I don’t watch broadcast TV generally but have a licence so I’ll latch onto it. I don’t always like the schedule and don’t like Last Night but I do think the Proms with its varied and eclectic mix is one of our great annual institutions. I queued up once with a mate saying we were guaranteed to get into the gallery, we didn’t!

Why haven’t I been? I think it’s because having been to concerts at the RAH I’ve never like the vast auditorium per se when compared with other venues. I recently booked tickets at another venue for November that I’m really looking forward to. Tchaikovsky 4th symphony, Beethoven 5th piano concerto, pretty safe stuff and I often enjoy later classical live but there’s something magical about live performance and I bet those going to the proms will enjoy.
 
I missed the First Night broadcast but have it on good authority that the Sibelius was magnificent. Shall tune in later on iPlayer.
 
Why haven’t I been? I think it’s because having been to concerts at the RAH I’ve never like the vast auditorium per se when compared with other venues. I recently booked tickets at another venue for November that I’m really looking forward to.

I went a fair few times when I lived in That London back in the ‘90s. Being a cheapskate of some repute I did the queue-up outside and stand in the mosh pit behind the conductor thing, and I suspect that is where the best sound resides in that venue. I was amazed by the sound of a good orchestra playing large scale stuff, e.g. I saw Rattle/BPO Mahler etc. It’s a very long time standing up and I’m not sure I’d want to do it now as a 58 year old, but it was fine 25 years ago! I’d recommend it just for the experience.
 
A good start and some more good concerts to come - not tonight though, as far as I am concerned.

We always listen live on R3.
 
Same. But I do wish they would grow out of the 2-headed presentation for the big concerts. Just increases the inane babble exponentially!

I agree but it`s the way everything is now. I regretted when Peter Allen retired from the Met Opera matinee broadcast and was replaced with a duo though I have come to quite like Ira Siff.

I also wish they`d be more selective with the interval guests - Tasmin Little last night was quite good but often they have people who just giggle and waffle.
 
Been a few times. It’s a lovely thing to attend. Best one I saw was Abbado with Pires and the MYO playing Mahler 9 and Beethoven. Wished I’d attended more.
 
My best was Bernstein VPO Mahler 5th in the late 80's. I was working around the corner at Inperial College, so I took most of the day off to queue.
 
I’ve been going to the Proms on average 3-4 times a season since I came to London 25 or so years ago. In my twenties, with a lot of stamina but little money I happily queued for the arena or gallery. In middle age, with a little more money but rather less stamina, I have booked seats in advance.

I haven’t heard live music since we saw a performance of Stravinsky’s A Soldier’s Tale by some young musicians in a village in Northern Portugal in September last year. I would love to go back to seeing live music regularly but, although double vaccinated, I still feel hesitant about spending 2.5 hours in a building not exactly known for its excellent ventilation.
 
But I long for a television presentation of a prom presented by an adult and without the talking heads. And the very last thing I want to see is the breathless, slightly sweaty concerto soloist being asked how they thought it went.

Thank goodness for the volume control.
 
At the hall for Dvorak's New World last night. It was wonderful. I was able to book Choir tickets the afternoon of for a pittance and easily able to distance in the venue as it seems a lot of people have decided they still don't really fancy going out, not surprising given the older/out of town demographic - at a guess it was between 60-70% full.
 
Summer evenings for me are busy with bowling so I record all the proms on a Humax HD TV recorder.Then transfer them to the PC decrypt them and keep. Lousy wet dark winter evenings I can then pick which concert I fancy. Perfect with a glass of wine.
 
Looking forward to the analysis and performance of Stravinsky’s Firebird tonight by Aurora tonight. They’ll be playing it from memory/no score as ever.
 
I listened to the interval analysis and lost the will to live - dozed off before the performance, which may well have been good for all I know.
 
I quite enjoyed the analysis, although I do find the always-bumptious Tom Service rather annoying. What a piece though!
 
Watching the TV broadcast tonight somewhat spoilt by the distracting triangle theme on the floor and vertical strip lights around the hall but worst of all by the imbecility of whoever decided to bathe the orchestra in blueish light making the orchestral players look ill and losing the warm colours of so many of their wonderful instruments. At least the conductor and soloists had reasonably neutral lighting.

Someone ought to remind the designers that the proms are about music and the people that play it, not a vehicle for the designer to draw attention to themselves.
 
I listened to the interval analysis and lost the will to live - dozed off before the performance, which may well have been good for all I know.
I swear to god if I had been in the audience I would have heckled and then gone to demand a refund. Less than an hour of actual music and a 2nd rate A-level lesson in the middle.
 


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