The Proms

Do you go? I think I've only ever been to one of them EVER and I can't remember what it was that I saw. Although I've looked at one or two that look pretty good (the one with Berg's Chamber Concert, for example).

Chamber Concerto, I mean.

I went to a couple last year; never been before. One was ok - Rite of Spring and some Gershwin - but the other was fantastic, a sing-through of Messaien's St. Francis of Assisi. Seven hours (including a couple of long intervals) of static bird-song religious opera. One of my favourite musical experiences of recent years.

I've meant to go a bit more this year, but have been busy so far. It's an amazing thing really - being able to wander along on a whim and hear all these top-class musicians and orchestras for £5. I don't know classical well enough to figure out what I want/need to hear, but it makes it easy to take a punt and find out about something new/random.

I'm committed to thorough flat-clean tomorrow, but I want to finish in time to make the evening prom, which sounds like the kind of thing I'm talking about. Out of the country for the Berg, sadly.

Yep, I'm heading down for tomorrow night's too, the Antheil should be great fun.

Although it's a shame Reich's Piano Phase isn't on that programme.

Have been to quite a few - last year (?) I was in London for a week and saw Rach's Vespers and 3 Bach Cello suites. In the past have seen some Reich, Stravinsky, and some other stuff that isn't springing to mind. If I lived in London I'd go to loads of them.

I go to some every year, yeah. I went to the Purcell Fairy Queen which was a Glyndebourne production, and I'll be going to the Handel Samson and Beethoven Fidelio done by Barenboim.

I go to Proms in the Park every year in Glasgow now, al fresco picnicking while getting a sort of greatest-hits package of some popular classical music. Is fun (and better than the London one, which you have to pay for and end up listening to Barry Manilow instead). I forgot to apply for tickets this year though, so I hope it is wet and miserable.

a sing-through of Messaien's St. Francis of Assisi. Seven hours (including a couple of long intervals) of static bird-song religious opera. One of my favourite musical experiences of recent years

Oh yes when I heard about that I kicked myself for one or two weeks after for missing out.

I'll try and make it tomorrow - that's one hell of a programme.

I used to go quite often, standing and sitting, my dad is a big fan and has been to a number of last nights, always gets the program on the day it comes out and books a bunch of balcony seats for the season. Although it is better since its renovation the RAH is still not a great place to see music, good for spectacle and anything with a choir and organ though. haven't been for a while, though.

Yes its reputation as a venue has always been put into question by many of the contemporary crowd. At the same time, most of the composers would not run away from a commission.

Of course this is all fine and reasonable as the music does have a life beyond its one Proms appearance (although mostly it will not be in this country)

Huh. Tonight's Antheil was the lite version, missing most of the things that should've made it great. Pretty disappointing, although the John Adams made up for it.

Yes, I share in the disappointment, what's the point of doing it if you're not gonna give it a good go! Although it did get me thinking there is lots of Americana embedded within this kind of experimental piece that I've never listened to (Virgil Thompson and the like) and should. Second half was much better, especially the Bartok.

DETESTED the Adams I'm afraid - I like my minimalism 70s style (Rzewski, Andriessen, er...'Metal Machine Music')

When to see Unsuk chin/Ravel/Stravinsky last night.

Unfortunately the former (a piece from a few years ago) is something I'm so predisposed to liking that I'm trying to now resist it...which I was easily able to do, on this occassion. Frankly bored of those samey orchestral deconstructions, Kagel (or Ligeti, with whom she studied with I think) w/out the humour or tactic(s), and the vertigo inducing strings. But also I kept thinking about how a newer piece like this (that shows some of the old-ish techniques now) could only be given applause, but one look at the size of the audience the potential is there for interrogation, although who knows what form that could take...can't help thinking that the booing/polite riot that the Stravinsky could get in the 1910s as a possible.

I just want to be annoyed, dammit.

Not looked at anything but am going to one or two this year.

So what looks good?

Tempted by this, very un-Proms like :

Prom 47: Cage Centenary Celebration
Friday 17 August
7.45pm – c. 11.15pm

Cage
1O1 (12 mins)
Cage
Improvisation III (12 mins)
Christian Marclay
Luggage 2012 – improvisation for orchestra (c5 mins)
Cage
Atlas eclipticalis/Winter Music/Cartridge Music (30 mins)
INTERVAL
Cage
Concerto for Prepared Piano and Orchestra (20 mins)
Cage
Four2 (7 mins)
Cage
But what about the noise of crumpling paper ... (15 mins)
Cage
Experiences II (3 mins)
Cage
ear for EAR (Antiphonies) (2 mins)
David Behrman, Takehisa Kosugi, Keith Rowe & Christian Wolff
Quartet – improvisation (c25 mins)
Cage
Branches (20 mins)
John Tilbury piano, prepared piano
Frank Denyer piano
Aki Takahashi piano
Christian Wolff piano
David Behrman live electronics
Takehisa Kosugi live electronics
Keith Rowe
Vicki Bennett
Steve Beresford
Adam Bohman
Jonathan Bohman
John Butcher
Karen Constance
Angharad Davies
Rhodri Davies
Patrick Farmer
Ram Gabay
Christoph Heemann
Lina Lapelyte
John Lely
Anton Lukoszevieze
Dylan Nyoukis
Mariam Rezaei
Robyn Schulkowsky
Dimitra Lazaridou Chatzigoga
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Exaudi
Ilan Volkov conductor
Seats £7.50-£36
Price Band A
Tickets
Promming on the day for £5
Discover the music
More from Radio 3

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Cage
John Tilbury

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About this event
To mark the centenary of John Cage’s birth, Ilan Volkov has curated a programme that reflects the composer’s iconoclastic thinking, fertile imagination and arresting humour.

John Tilbury, who has for decades been associated with Cage’s work tonight plays the exquisitely beautiful Concerto for Prepared Piano and Orchestra. Cassette players and plucked cactuses are just two examples of the blindingly original yet almost naively simple thinking that saw Cage – wittingly or otherwise – upturn practically every musical rule in the book.

I was at the Cage evening tonight and it was incredible, the second half was one of the most prolongedly beautiful live music experience I've had. For some reason I had never even really considered going to the Proms before someone told me about this evening's lineup, but it's a really nice environment and at £5 I think I'll be trying for a couple more before the end.

^Second that. And being slap bang in the middle of the arena for once gave you the best "seat" in the house. 'Branches' was astounding.

Great. There is a few John cage concerts lined-up this autumn/winter so gave this one a pass.

Seeing Berg's Violin Concerto sunday after this.

just scanned through the listings for this year and at least from my fairly partial miserable perspective it doesn't look that interesting
a lot of mahler, clearly the world needs more concerts of mahler symphonies
& none of the late concerts intrigue like last year's rzewski/feldman which was exquisite
tickets seem to have increased a lot in price, fairly sure i paid twenty quid each for the cheapest box seats to see debussy's le martyre a couple of years ago, the equivalent now is thirty

Seeing Berg's Violin Concerto sunday after this.

― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 18 August 2012 14:10 (1 year ago)

that was another great concert with an average audience age probably somewhere around that of the surviving members of the 1966 england world cup squad; i remember how muted the applause was for the berg compared to strauss' relatively trifling rosenkavalier suite which got them off their seats

I'm struggling to come up with anything.

LMF line-up looks good, even if the venue looks unsuitable and 'Marxist chillwave' is an unfortunate name for one of the evenings, but Nono and Cradew then plus Ablinger and Ashley on the 30th looks very good. Most nights have an item I'd be interested in.

They would also be completely alien to a proms programme..

Missed out the contemporary in my acronym there..

Not a vintage season this year either – it seems like they're sticking to the canon more than usual. Gotta make money, I guess.

Anniversary composers are Nielsen and Sibelius.

Qigang Chen's "Iris dévoilée" was a cool piece to hear; a mix of contemporary western, Peking opera and classical elements - available til August 29.

On closer inspection, I take it back about the ratio of canon/modern. There's been plenty of new stuff played. Just not a lot of weird... for want of a technical term.

Went to the one for the kids with the kids this year. Can't quite remember what it was called, something on the order of "Ten Easy Pieces," maybe?

yeah, not easy pieces but i know what you mean - John Adams, "Hall of the Mountain King", bit of "Firebird" maybe?

the BBC has run a year-long project across the country using the 8 or 10 selected pieces to try to introduce the kids to classical music, i saw the Hull Youth Orchestra play some of them last year

Yes, those three are all in. Simply "Ten Pieces," nothing Easy about it.

LOL Sinatra prom #ohMyDays

2016 begins – catching up with the first two weeks today, it's been pretty decent so far, with plenty of premieres. The main theme (highly tenuous) is "pieces inspired by Shakespeare plays" 400 years after his death. If they wanted true excitement, they would pick a random page in the book Shakespeare and Music on the night, and play a piece unrehearsed, whatever the hell it was. But they won't, will they #biasedbbc

I really liked Michael Berkeley's new Violin Concerto (Chloe Hanslip on electric violin, Diego Espinosa on tabla). A strong programme generally, from Wednesday
http://www.bbc.co.uk/events/ebhmbp#b07lg587

And there's been a David Bowie Prom, which I haven't heard yet, but is presumably WORTHY. Also, at one point someone let off an MF-bomb or similar and Radio 3 exploded perhaps
http://www.bbc.co.uk/events/e63p6q#b07m4956

Oh Christ, Palmer's on it

lol that was the precise point at the beginning of the programme where i turned it off

Turned it on to see that woman Anna Calvi murdering some song or other, Jesus H. Christ what she's all about? Then later on saw John Cale deciding to do "Space Oddity" using only one of the numerous notes used in the original. Ugh, the whole thing looked hideous.

Also, cheeky of Cale to do a cover of a cover version - almost like Bowie hadn't written enough good songs of his own for his liking.

I watched up until Marc Almond doing Life on Mars, when he got to the chorus a powerful force outwith my control compelled me to hit the off switch.

shd've just had somebody play Glass's Heroes symphony and forget the other bollocks tbh

I don't go to proms no more.

I'm going four times this year - Beethoven 5, Dvorak 7, the Rite, plus La Mer tomorrow. All big stuff but then what I like about the Proms is how they work premiers and more difficult stuff in with populist bangers - last year they put half a programme's worth of Boulez before The Planets.

The wider season looks less interesting and diverse than previous years, a preponderance of bombastic German romanticism. I might go and see Rossini's Missa Solemnis in the Royal Naval College in Greenwich but there's some dumb no-bookings policy, as if a load of pensioners are going to want to treat a concert like it's a Hoxton burger place.

shd've just had somebody play Glass's Heroes symphony and forget the other bollocks tbh

They did this at Glastonbury on Saturday night (with lasers) but by that point in the weekend I really wasn't in the frame of mind for it. The attempts to mix pop with the Proms have been consistently cringeworthy. The Barbican has been doing better stuff in this vein for years, but maybe putting Jeff Mills onstage with a symphony orchestra isn't going have the same mass appeal.

The last night this year is going to be the worst thing to have happened in this country since the war.

All the pop proms last year like the 'Ibiza Prom' and the 1Xtra prom were so successful that the organizers were afraid it would start to overshadow everything else. That's why they're not on this year. Classic BBC there. Don't be too popular, that wouldn't be right at all!

i think there's an argument for them existing in their own space away from the Proms - this is the problem when the thing's a brand tho

I actually think that's both sensible and the right call, it prevents mission creep. If you're going to do stuff like that then maybe it should be it's own thing (although they appear to have substituted that with a range of execrable ideas like the Strictly Prom).

I did go to the 6music one last year with Nils Frahm and it was great but I would have been happier seeing it without the radio tie-in and where it didn't start at like 10.

Obviously it is a national outrage there was no Lemmy Prom.

The Mahler 3 was very good. Was in the hall.

(xp) Would have been more interesting than a Bowie one tbh.

2017 calendar is here https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/rcrbj5/by/date/2017

Apparently the Strictly / Horrible Histories / Mrs Brown's Boys gimmicks are being avoided this time. Andrew Clement says director David Pickard "has not risked changing a successful formula" in his preview.

In the schedule, among others there's a long overdue Relaxed Prom, an Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzy Gillespie tribute with Dianne Reeves, a very late-night India/Pakistan classical retrospective, and Chineke! performing pieces by Hannah Kendall and George Walker. Also a tribute to Stax Records, and in a shameless ILM-pleasing maneouvre, a Prom at Tate Modern including The producer known as ACTRESS and his r&b concrète (concrete R&B).

aha! edgy but not "too popular", which did for the ibiza prom two years ago