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Proms 2012

Tony L

Tony L

Administrator
Another year, another Proms. A fair bit of interesting stuff (link). Shame they chickened out of televising the John Cage (14th & 17th August) as I'd love to have seen that, I must remember to listen to it on the radio / iPlayer. The Barenboim Beethoven cycle starts tonight, I'll be watching that for sure, in fact I'll be watching it all bar the gimmicky film music / light music bollocks.
 
Tony L said:
Another year, another Proms. A fair bit of interesting stuff (link). Shame they chickened out of televising the John Cage as I'd love to have seen that, I must listen to it on iPlayer. The Barenboim Beethoven cycle starts tonight, I'll be watching that for sure, in fact I'll be watching it all bar the gimmicky film music / light music bollocks.
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Aboslutely agree, though we`ll mostly be listening rather than watching.
 
Yep, pretty damn good programme this year. Must confess that I've always rather enjoyed the John Wilson proms though...
 
I was interested to note that at some point on Friday evening the broadcast was simultaneous between BBC 4 and Radio 3.

I only listened via my Freeview-enabled cheapo TV.

Anyone know if the sound feeds for these two broadcasts were identical ?
 
serendipitydawg said:
.

Anyone know if the sound feeds for these two broadcasts were identical ?
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No, they're not - you don't even get simultaneity between BBC HD and standard def digital TV, never mind between TV, FM, DAB, internet radio etc etc.....

There must be some uber-geek out there who knows the precise non-simultaneity between all these delivery media...
 
I thought the Vaughan Williams symphonies were pretty impressive yesterday.

I thought Andrew Manse only did Baroque?

:confused:
 
why would watching it on the tv be better than the radio 3 broadcast?

just wondering, coz I do find myself often enjoying / appreciating broadcast music more when I can see the performers - even if SQ is, 'relatively, crap.
but you probably mean something else.
 
pickwickpapers said:
just wondering, coz I do find myself often enjoying / appreciating broadcast music more when I can see the performers - even if SQ is, 'relatively, crap.
but you probably mean something else.
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No, purely that. Especially with Cage as his approach to music creation is very far from the conventional - this isn't typical orchestral or string quartet material by any stretch and it would be interesting to see how exactly the various pieces are performed. I'd argue it was probably the Prom of the whole season best suited to TV for this reason. A real missed opportunity.
 
I've listened to a few Proms this year, but was shocked to hear applause between movements. What's that all about? How long has that execrable habit been going on for?

S.
 
sergeauckland said:
I've listened to a few Proms this year, but was shocked to hear applause between movements. What's that all about? How long has that execrable habit been going on for?
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Doesn't seem consistent Prom to Prom either. I guess some night they must accidentally let the plebs in.

PS #1 rule of classical music: Never be the one to clap first.
 
sergeauckland said:
I've listened to a few Proms this year, but was shocked to hear applause between movements. What's that all about? How long has that execrable habit been going on for?

S.
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I agree it is rather irritating, seems to happen with the more popular works; I've been at the Opera when this has happened too.

I endeavour to listen to every Prom [R3 fm] including new works which sadly, in the main, disappoint. The trendy World music/pop music is a turn off.
 
It's been the convention to applaud big arias at the opera for as long as I can remember (and that's a long time!).

The applause between movements of orchestral and chamber works has crept in over the last decade or so and I absolutely deprecate it. It used to be a good wheeze to be the first person to applaud as soon as the last note had died away at the end of a work, showing that you knew it by heart (or that you were following it in the score!)
 
The Cage has thrown the audience, they have not a clue when to applaud. The current performance involves one or more mic'd cacti.
 
Am planning to catch the Cage on listen again. I have to choose my time to listen to prepared cactus.
 
Just got back from the Cage prom, the last piece Branches? was beautiful with performers placed all around the Hall, lit up at delayed intervals as they joined the preceeding players, cactus sounds emanating from everywhere, plucked, tapped and scraped with precise timings.

mat
 
sergeauckland said:
I've listened to a few Proms this year, but was shocked to hear applause between movements. What's that all about? How long has that execrable habit been going on for?

S.
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It is certainly getting a lot worse but as I have mentioned before it happened at the first Prom I ever went to, more than forty years ago - only once though after a basilisk stare from Malcolm Sargent turned the offenders to stone.
 
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