Proms 2022

[Albion]

Here's the guide -

https://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/events/by/date/2022

 :)

[Albion]

Bloody Nora, Ethel Smyth's "The Wreckers" and the Mass in a single season?

 :o

[Albion]

Bloody Nora, Ethel Smyth's "The Wreckers" and the Mass in a single season?

 :o

Blurb:

The coast of Cornwall in the 19th century: a place where passions run strong amid the crashing waves, and villagers on the wild edge of civilisation eke out a desperate living from salvage, wrecking and even murder. What price love, when life itself struggles against such merciless forces? Ethel Smyth’s tragic love story is one of the great might-have-beens of British opera, admired by Mahler but never adequately performed in her lifetime. Glyndebourne’s eagerly awaited new production comes to the Proms in a full-length semi-staged performance, complete with the raw elemental power of Smyth’s sweeping score: presented with the commitment (and the world-class performers) that the composer intended.

Semi-staged; sung in French, with English surtitles

There will be two intervals

Ethel Smyth wasn’t especially religious, but her majestic Mass in D major is one of the crowning glories of the British choral tradition. Sakari Oramo and the BBC Symphony Orchestra give the first Proms performance since the composer’s own lifetime.

 :)

[Albion]

Somehow or other, these Ethel Smyth broadcasts will be recorded and archived. Until (or probably more likely unless) they are made commercially available. Please could more tech-savvy members earmark them for recording just in case?

 :)

[cilgwyn]

That's fantastic news! I love the Mass. The (fairly) recent Chandos recordings of the Mass and The Prison have been superb. The kind of recordings this repertoire needs. I'm not so familiar with The Wreckers. Of course,I've heard allot about it over the years,  (decades!) but maybe the broadcast performance put me off? (I've liked everything else I've heard by Ethel Smyth) Although,I like the celebrated Overture & the Prelude to Act 2 (On the Cliffs of Cornwall). You'll have to remind me what was wrong with the recording,Albion? Was it the singers? (Or one of them?!) Hopefully,this will be the performance that the opera deserves? And the magnificent Concerto for Violin,horn & orchestra get's a hearing as well!

I'm sorry to hear you have handed in your notice as forum moderator! (Is that the right terminolgy? It's a bit early in the day! 02: 19 am!!) I would have said something before,but I mislaid my password!! ::)  And I thought I might give everyone a bit of peace after some of my rather hyper-active posts!! ::) ;D

[guest822]

That's fantastic news! I love the Mass. The (fairly) recent Chandos recordings of the Mass and The Prison have been superb. The kind of recordings this repertoire needs. I'm not so familiar with The Wreckers. Of course,I've heard allot about it over the years,  (decades!) but maybe the broadcast performance put me off? (I've liked everything else I've heard by Ethel Smyth) Although,I like the celebrated Overture & the Prelude to Act 2 (On the Cliffs of Cornwall). You'll have to remind me what was wrong with the recording,Albion? Was it the singers? (Or one of them?!) Hopefully,this will be the performance that the opera deserves? And the magnificent Concerto for Violin,horn & orchestra get's a hearing as well!

I'm sorry to hear you have handed in your notice as forum moderator! (Is that the right terminolgy? It's a bit early in the day! 02: 19 am!!) I would have said something before,but I mislaid my password!! ::)  And I thought I might give everyone a bit of peace after some of my rather hyper-active posts!! ::) ;D

Not a bit of it! I'm always happy to read your posts, hyperactive or otherwise! ;D Not having seen one from you for a while, I was beginning to get worried... Glad to see you back.

Like you and Albion, I am really looking forward to the Ethel-fest! :)

[cilgwyn]

And I'm always pleased to read your posts,Lionel! :) An Ethel-Fest? Who'd have thought?!! About time,though!

[Albion]

I'm not so familiar with The Wreckers. Of course,I've heard allot about it over the years,  (decades!) but maybe the broadcast performance put me off? (I've liked everything else I've heard by Ethel Smyth) Although,I like the celebrated Overture & the Prelude to Act 2 (On the Cliffs of Cornwall). You'll have to remind me what was wrong with the recording,Albion? Was it the singers? (Or one of them?!) Hopefully,this will be the performance that the opera deserves? And the magnificent Concerto for Violin,horn & orchestra get's a hearing as well!

The Conifer recording of the 1994 Proms broadcast has been re-issued by Retrospect Opera and is generally very good indeed, although Justin Lavender in the key role of Mark just doesn't sound virile enough and is under strain when his vocal line gets higher. The chorus and orchestra are excellent, as is the conducting of Odaline de la Martinez.

The overture and "On the Cliffs of Cornwall" are stand-outs and deserve regular separate concert performance: Smyth provided an extensive concert-ending to the overture, which in the opera itself runs straight into the opening chorus.

There are a few duff moments, chiefly involving the character of Avis, but otherwise everything is top-quality music and highly dramatic. As the 2022 performance will be in French (which was Smyth's original intention), it's still well worth getting the Retrospect Opera re-issue...

https://retrospectopera.org.uk/product/the-wreckers/

 :)