BBC Proms 2016

[Peter]

It's coming round frighteningly quickly!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms

Beethoven concerts - http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/events/co...0-2c5373b7eac9

[hal9000]

I'm going to make an effort to see Beethoven's proms 13, 17 and 59. Unfortunately I will have to stand in the sarlacc pit becaue tickets for these events sold out pretty quickly. But hey, I can't really complain for a fiver.

[Michael]

The Ninth Symphony seems to be featured twice in the one week, unless I am reading it incorrectly.

[Peter]

The Ninth Symphony seems to be featured twice in the one week, unless I am reading it incorrectly.

If you're referring to Prom 5, it's the Missa Solemnis!

[Peter]

I'm going to make an effort to see Beethoven's proms 13, 17 and 59. Unfortunately I will have to stand in the sarlacc pit becaue tickets for these events sold out pretty quickly. But hey, I can't really complain for a fiver.

Yes Prom 59 in particular stands out for me.

[Michael]

If you're referring to Prom 5, it's the Missa Solemnis!

Oh, right! It just said "Beethoven's choral masterpiece" and all I picked up on was the word "choral".

[Peter]

First night tonight can be watched on BBC 2 and then it should be available on BBC iplayer for everyone outside the UK.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07kt9wf

[Peter]

What is a prommer? Someone who is prepared to queue for hours and in all weathers to get to a proms concert - as one who gets impatient waiting 5 minutes in a supermarket queue I admire their spirit!
http://www.classical-music.com/article/what-prommer

[hal9000]

Yeah, I was considering promming this coming Sunday for Beethoven's 9th, but not if the weather is still this unbearably hot.

[Peter]

Last night's invigorating performance of Mozart's symphony no.41 played from memory by the Aurora orchestra with an entertaining introduction and explanation of the finale by Tom Service available here on BBC iplayer
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...rt-from-memory

[Megan]

This evening listening at, 19:30



Prom 63: Bach - Mass in B minor
BBC Proms, 2016

Live at BBC Proms: Les Arts Florissants and William Christie perform Bach's Mass in B minor.

Live from the Royal Albert Hall, London
Presented by Sara Mohr-Pietsch

Bach: Mass in B minor

Katherine Watson (soprano)
Tim Mead (countertenor)
Reinoud Van Mechelen (tenor)
André Morsch (baritone)
Les Arts Florissants
William Christie (conductor)

During the last four years of his life, Johann Sebastian Bach worked on a piece that he knew would represent the summation of his life's work. In the end, the material of Bach's almighty Mass in B minor was almost two decades in the making - a compilation of some of his finest vocal music woven together with startlingly original new music born of acute inspiration.

William Christie conducts Bach's Mass with a quartet of soloists and his own ensemble Les Arts Florissants, known for its historically informed and infectiously exciting performances of Baroque music.

[Humoresque]

I'm listening to this via computer from outside the UK and find I cannot get a decent volume (well, enough to really hear the continuo properly). But from what I can hear I'm not enamored of Christie's reading of the work; it's cold and also rather mannered at times. Something of real passion is missing here (and it's not just the volume!).

Very disappointing since I'm a huge enthusiast of Les Arts!!

OK, I've fixed the volume problem. Nothing has changed to improve my opinion. At times this performance is leaden; wide-open ornaments more reminiscent of Rameau than Bach; much-too-precious reading lacking the drama which the text and music seem to imply.

Those occasional, very French ornaments and mannered singing style don't suit Bach; the tempo was too fast in places (Sanctus) and too leaden in others (the rest!). The Dona Nobis Pacem should be the show-stopper of this magnificent work but it was more of a damp squib than a powerful firecracker. And the too-precious and cold rendering from a group of THE most marvellous musicians (of HIP) was a sad testament to the decline of a man whose vision has always illuminated baroque music - especially the French baroque - but who should leave Bach to John Eliot Gardiner!!

It's a 'killer app', this Bach!!! A high-wire act definitely not for the too precise and fussy renderings of French theatre music.

[Peter]

I'm listening to this via computer from outside the UK and find I cannot get a decent volume (well, enough to really hear the continuo properly). But from what I can hear I'm not enamored of Christie's reading of the work; it's cold and also rather mannered at times. Something of real passion is missing here (and it's not just the volume!).

Very disappointing since I'm a huge enthusiast of Les Arts!!

OK, I've fixed the volume problem. Nothing has changed to improve my opinion. At times this performance is leaden; wide-open ornaments more reminiscent of Rameau than Bach; much-too-precious reading lacking the drama which the text and music seem to imply.

Those occasional, very French ornaments and mannered singing style don't suit Bach; the tempo was too fast in places (Sanctus) and too leaden in others (the rest!). The Dona Nobis Pacem should be the show-stopper of this magnificent work but it was more of a damp squib than a powerful firecracker. And the too-precious and cold rendering from a group of THE most marvellous musicians (of HIP) was a sad testament to the decline of a man whose vision has always illuminated baroque music - especially the French baroque - but who should leave Bach to John Eliot Gardiner!!

It's a 'killer app', this Bach!!! A high-wire act definitely not for the too precise and fussy renderings of French theatre music.

Part of the problem was performing this with small forces in such a vast -space. "Articulation was veiled, volume muted, clarity and rhythmic bite sacrificed to a wash of subdued sound" - read more at The arts desk critic: http://www.theartsdesk.com/classical...sants-christie