Music
More than a yard of tickets to the Proms!
Here are some views of The Proms that you don't see on the BBC.
The gradual convergence of the audience as you walk from South Kensington or High Street Kensington tube stations.
The typically British picnicing on the steps of the Albert Memorial.
And of course the queue to Prom in the arena.
A dance with the devil, a romantic escapade and a death dance, followed by a titanesque performance of Mahler’s First Symphony that filled the Albert Hall: this evening’s Prom from the Budapest Festival Orchestra, conducted by Iván Fischer, was a Proms treat.
This evening’s Prom, given by BBC Philharmonic, conductor Gianandrea Noseda, was one of those evenings which demonstrate the Proms’ claim to be “The World’s Greatest Classical Music Festival”. A full and attentive Royal Albert Hall audience heard Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 in B flat major, Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 5 in F major, ‘Egyptian’, with Stephen Hough, piano; then Liszt’s Dante Symphony with Julia Doyle, soprano and the women’s voices of the CBSO Chorus.
Gianandrea Noseda’s Beethoven Fourth Symphony was played by a medium sized orchestra, which is slightly unfashionable nowadays for a Beethoven Symphony. Nonetheless, the conductor reigned back the strings (both first and second violins sitting on the same left-hand side of the platform) allowing more detail than would have been audible in a mid-twentieth century performance.Yes there were a very few couple of passages of rough ensemble but the solos were impeccable with very little slowing down of a cracking pace even for the (in)famous bassoon and flute solos. But this was still an intense, dynamic and above all, a meticulously controlled reading. A treat and a revelation to encounter a new reading of such a familiar piece. The performance received the full, warm acclamation of an audience appreciative and knowledgeable as only the Proms audiences seem to be.
We saw this concert relayed live on France 3 in Marseille whilst enjoying Terry's excellent French cooking and some wines I had chosen. Being able to do that in Marseille is great fun.
The excerpts on YouTube give very much the highlights from a 3½ hour concert: the YouTubers haven't bothered with the French variety performances nor the French presenter who appeared incredibly self-indulgent. Nor France 3's ham-fisted presentation.
Great performance of the production of Hector Berlioz’s “The Damnation of Faust” by the English National Opera (ENO) at the London Coliseum this evening.
“Our production follows the trajectory of German art and history from the late nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century” says the programme.
Berlioz called his piece it a “dramatic legend” rather than an opera and it’s hard to imagine that a traditional production would be satisfactory. Therefore a production directed byTerry Gilliam, the “Mischievous showman” of Monty Python fame, has given us on stage Berlioz’s interpretation of Goethe’s classic poem.
Terry Gilliam’s fame is from television or film and there’s a strong case that this production would look even better as a made for television production or even as a movie. His interpretation has been fairly loose and some tidying up of Berlioz’s score might be a good thing, ie cutting.
There are plenty of design trademarks, for example Mephistopheles’ wraiths wear bowler hats as they dance and some unification of the design in the colours - the devil’s colours are red and black which ties in nicely with the Nazi swastika logo. There's also some deep stuff like using the origins of “The Ballad of the King of Thule” as justification for the inclusion of the Third Reich story.
The big dance numbers stop just short of Mel Brook’s “Springtime for Hitler” for comic or shock value - the Opera Comique in Paris was the only venue Berlioz could afford for the first performances but I hadn’t previously considered this a comic opera.
