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"The Proms" 2009 season

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Reiner Torheit
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« on: June 23, 2009, 09:42:37 pm »

The opening of "The Proms" is now less than three weeks away, on 17th July - and running until 12th September.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/2009/whatson/season/

Which performances will you be marking in your diary to hear?  How will you hearing them - on DAB radio, on FM radio, by going to the live performance... or over the internet on the BBC's rather temperamental iPlayer technology?  Which will you be recording so that in 20 years time you can share it with others on this very site? :)

Of course it's very fashionable to tear the programming of the Festival to pieces, but there is a lot that excites me in this year's programme, specifically...

  • at last a chance to hear The Mask Of Orpheus again, albeit in part.  One of the masterpieces of British music-theatre of the C20th, and unavailable in any form for far too long
  • as an expat I never get a chance to hear Stan Tracey usually
  • The Faerie Queene ought to be in safe hands with Bill Christie at the harpsichord
  • Say what you like about G&S - when it's conducted by Charles Mackerras and Graeme Danby's in the cast, I shall be tuning in :)
  • Antheil's Ballet mécanique. John Adams's Grand Pianola Music plus Les Noces - clearly umissable
  • FIDELIO with Barenboim, the East/West, and Sir John Tom?  You'd be mad to miss that!

How about you?
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smittims
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« Reply #1 on: June 24, 2009, 10:18:52 am »

I listen to the Proms live on DAB, but as I share my home with my family, sometimes I can listen to the music better on 'Listenagain ' the folowing day.

I'm looking forward to the 'semi-staged' Fairy Queen, to se how they approach the problems of performing 'semi-opera' today. I well remember the last time I heard it at the Proms: it was Benjamin Britten conducting his concert version. It was my introduction to Purcell's music and I was spellbound by the 'Night and silence ' section.

Daniel Barenboim's and the National Youth Orchestra's concerts are always essential dates for me; I invariably find them memorable  experiences.


It's sobering to think how much Tod Handley  and Richard Hickox will be missed this year.
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #2 on: June 24, 2009, 08:26:47 pm »

It's sobering to think how much Tod Handley  and Richard Hickox will be missed this year.

Programming was probably too far advanced to be able to do so this year, but I would hope that both of these titans of British music and music-making will be marked next year with concerts that celebrate their work - and their commitment to the Proms in particular.  Elder seems the obvious man to be asked,  although I would be keen to hear Jurowski as well.

I agree it will be interesting to see how the "semi-opera" format works with THE FAERIE QUEENE - I for one was particularly irked by the way ENO staged KING ARTHUR a couple of years ago (by discarding the original libretto entirely and staging a plotless kitschabilia instead).  Reviews from the Glyndebourne production have been positive :)
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Tony Watson
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« Reply #3 on: June 25, 2009, 12:03:29 am »

I shall listen to DAB radio most evenings or preferably see it on BBC4 if possible.

A number of concerts have caught my eye but if I could just mention a few for now:-

Haydn's Creation (Prom 2). It's good to see it sung in English and there are good reasons for doing so. I see that the English text has been revised by the conductor: Paul McCreesh. I know the tradition English version is clumsy in a few places but it has its charm for all that. I wonder how McCreesh is going to "improve" on it.

Then there's Prom 73: Haydn Symphony 97 and Schubert Symphony 9 played by the Vienna PO. An evening devoted to two symphonies by Austrians and both in C major. Inspired programming or a misguided one? I know another distinguished Austrian, Alfred Brendel, has strong views on the keys of pieces chosen for a concert. I have my doubts but it's an unmissable one.

And then there's Patience under Charles Mackerras (Prom 35). I too am an admirer of Danby (and Mackerras - who has a distinguished association with G&S) but I am intrigued by the inclusion of Simon Butteriss as Bunthorne because of this review of a recording of Patience he has made: http://www.cris.com/~oakapple/gasdisc/patndoc.htm. Donald Maxwell is common to both performances too. I don't have that recording, though I see it is available on iTunes.
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Serenus Zeitblom
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« Reply #4 on: June 25, 2009, 03:13:53 pm »

For me, the undoubted highlight of what IMO is not a particularly vintage year will be the extract from The Mask of Orpheus.  I attended the premiere and IMO it's something of a blot on our musical life that, apart from a single concert performance at the RFH, this stupendous work has never been revived.  A full performance at the Proms would be too much to wish for (I have a subversive fantasy of clearing the schedule on the last night, sending Britannia, the Sea-Songs and, this year, those wretched vacuum cleaners packing, and getting four hours of Birtwistle instead!); but in its place the second act will have to do.

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Roehre
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« Reply #5 on: July 03, 2009, 10:33:19 pm »

I personally am looking forward to Louis Andriessen's The hague hacking Glanert's Shoreless river (August 19th), Max Davies' Violin concerto no.2, Westerlings and Solstice of Light (September 8th) and his Roma-amor (August 6th).
Birtwistle's the masque of orpheus (August 4th) is in my diary too of course.
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Reiner Torheit
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« Reply #6 on: July 03, 2009, 11:55:25 pm »

Max Davies' Violin concerto no.2, Westerlings and Solstice of Light (September 8th)

How did I manage to miss those when skimming through?  I suppose I am still mostly concerned with the earlier half of the season! 
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