Prom Night

[Michael]

The BBC Proms are starting today with - unusually - a performance of Beethoven's Ninth. It's being broadcast on BBC One or Two around eight pm GMT. In fact, the Ninth is being performed twice at the proms this year. This might be because it couldn't be performed last year due to a fire. I, for one, have no problem with two Beethoven Ninths.

(BBC 2 at 8pm)

[Peter]

Yes but we've got to sit through Walton & Elgar to get there! Better I suppose than the first performances Rossini interludes.

[Michael]

What's wrong with Elgar? Now, if it were Schoenberg ..................

[Peter]

What's wrong with Elgar? Now, if it were Schoenberg ..................

Nothing - I love the cello concerto, but we're talking Beethoven 9 here and I don't think anything else should appear in the same programme!! Enjoyed the performance though (aside from the silly Hazlewood commentary) and am looking forward to the next one. Why in the interval do they have to fill the time with boring rehearsal interviews? Why couldn't they have done some history on the 9th or something Beethoven related?

[Michael]

Why in the interval do they have to fill the time with boring rehearsal interviews? Why couldn't they have done some history on the 9th or something Beethoven related?

Yes. This performance was also broadcast on Radio 3 and in the interval (according to the Radio Times) there was an item about Dominico Dragonetti and the opening recitative dialogue between double bass and orchestra in the finale. It used excerpts from his diaries, etc. It sounds much more interesting than the waffle we got on telly and I really should have switched over. But I enjoyed the performance.