The Proms

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Gigglygyal

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Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique...I felt the conductor lost his way a little in the last movement, but what a piece of music it is. Berlioz's flickering, unpredictable imagination is nowhere better displayed. Some of the orchestration is pure genius.
 
Ohh yes I was and I did.

After the breathtakingly wonderful Prom 22 last year when JW painstakingly re did the MGM Musical scores, Prom 49 2010 was in my calendar from the moment this concert was first mentioned and it lived up to what I hoped for and more. Not sure if any other JW geeks watched it on BBC2 as the precursor to the tecnically superb performance later on BBC HD - ohhhh my. The sound stage was much better than last year - much better. The BBC positioned their mics much better and I believe they spent much more on the recording than they did last year. This year's concert did not go out live on TV, just on Radio but the quality of the 5.1 Dolby Digital Sound last night IMHO was superb. Listening to it on BBC2 - the sound stage was muddied but the orchestra and the performances came alive on HD - - a magical event.

Last year I don't believe the world was ready for JW and his wonderful Orchestra - hand picked musicians from across the globe from the best orchestras around. But this year there was a growing anticipation with the feeling that he would not let us down - he didn't !!!!!!!!!!

My stars as last year were the trumpet player and the gorgeous violin player with the long crimped hair (I believe I'm in love with her lol! - she should be promoted to 1st violin :)) - but where was the first french-horn player from last year? the guy with the scar on the back of his hand? That's not to say the guy from last nigh was no good, far from it but this comparison is making me wonder like crazy how JW can put such a wonderful orchestra together and actually who all these musicians are. Without having actually gone to a concert, may I ask - is there anyone out there who knows who they all are? - maybe from a concert program for instance, if you were lucky to be at the Albert Hall?

My wife and I are going to see a re-run of the MGM-Musical concert at Bridgewater Hall in Manchester in November and we cannot wait but I frimly believe that after 2 concerts only, John Wilson will emerge now as a Global star. Last years concert is out on DVD, but from what I can see this is only out on standard DVD (std definition) - my archived version which still resides on my Sky HD box's hard drive will be vastly superior than that, if only I could find a way to archive it for watching in HD away from my Sky HD box................

Hopefully the BBC has got it's act together for the concert shown last night and will present it for sale in Blu-ray - we will see.

A thoroughly marvellous evening of entertainment - worth the BBC Licience fee on it's own - for once lets pat the BBC on the back - WELL DONE the BBC and THANKYOU

Paul
 
Yeah I was at the organ recital one but watched the later one on the TV at home (I only live 20 minutes away :D) and I too found the interview in the middle of the organ one quite bizarre!

I liked how in the organ concert we had "Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major" that we're used to hearing played by orchestra, but in the evening concert we had an orchestra playing "Toccata and Fugue in D minor" that is obviously normally an organ piece. Nice reversal across the two concerts.
 
Anyone planning to watch tonight's on BBC 4? Shostakovich's 10th and the Australian Youth Orchestra. I remember really enjoying a youth orchestra last year (can't remember who they were, possibly the UK's National Youth Orchestra) - they were really vibrant and exciting.
 
What?

The bobbing up and down of the promenaders is a tradition of the Last Night that goes back decades!

Just put it to the back of your mind and run with it. Its fun.
 
Just listened to Bartok's 3rd piano concerto on the radio broadcast. Quite unexpoectedly beautiful; a perfect blend of the Romantic and Modern. Another piece by him later on in the Prom...
 
The problem I had with it was that it seemed very one-dimensional. It was angry, glowering Beethoven throughout and I personally think there's a lot more to the music than just that e.g. in the coda of the final movement where the music changes from C minor to C major. The music should dance on air and yet Lewis insisted on making it as grimly determined as the rest of the final. He made me acutely aware of quite how many almost unending scales there are in the piece and gave very little characterisation to the passagework.

Plus I did not like the way he tried to trash Mozart in his interview with Charles Hazelnut. Mozart s***s all over Beethoven.
 
Oh dear - why?
Many people have catholic tastes in music - for instance, my husband and I adore 'grand' opera and by dint of scrimping and saving like mad, have managed to visit several of the major opera houses in Europe - but I also love a lot of 'old school' heavy-metal music - and some modern country music - and definitely, most certainly, the music of Rogers and Hammerstein!

Don't think me rude, but can't we all enjoy 'good' music wherever and whenever we come across it?
 
Hmm...I suppose so. Having listened to nothing but 'classical'/art music for the last 20 years I find now that other genres have nothing to offer me. I don't have an eclectic musical taste at all. I passed through the dross and found myself at the summit ;)
 
The Waltz and Polonaise from his opera Eugene Onegin. I missed the earlier '1910 prom' but looking at what was on I think the evening concert was the better of the two. Dorothy Howell's Lamia was suprisingly good. (given that it hadn't been played since its Henry Wood debut)

Berlioz and the Emperor piano concerto on The Proms today, which will be televised at a future date.
 
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