The History and Practice of English Music

I didn't go to any Proms last year, although I had wondered about it: in the end, possibly mistakenly, it just didn't seem worth the risk/reward profile. Now I've had covid, I have a better feel for the risk end of things. At three months ago, my immunity will be waning, and probably won't be particularly effective against the newer variants anyway, but I have no expectation of being severely ill. There comes a point when, as the government is doing the bare minimum to keep people safe, one is only losing out by not doing things.

I recall reading in Sue MacGregor's autobiography that when she was on Woman's Hour in the 1970s the BBC was cautious about what white goods (specifically a freezer) households might be expected to have. It's true that I recall as a family we were late adopters of both the freezer and the VCR, and more recently I didn't embrace the smartphone at the first opportunity. However, it's now more-or-less essential for many things, and buying paperless tickets for the Proms seems to be one of them. (Strictly, you could buy a ticket online and print it out, but that still requires some hardware and an Internet connection, and a printer). Even season ticket holders have to collect their tickets daily online, and there's only a single queue for the Arena. This has some advantages, but also brings some risks, as the online queueing system requires your constant attention. Anyhow, having bought a ticket mid-morning, and arrived in London mid-afternoon, this allowed me to find a central space in the second row of the Arena, curiously as if almost nothing had changed since 2019.

To the music: The recently re-formed Sinfonia of London was conducted by John Wilson in an all-English programme. I had expected this to be a popular concert, but the seats only filled out at the last minute and looking back across the Arena, it was quite sparsely populated. The concert began with Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, one of those works I recognise but don't know well. This gave me the feeling it's worth getting to know better. The next piece, Huw Watkins' Flute Concerto with soloist Adam Walker, was more take-it-or-leave-it; I've certainly heard worse, but it didn't particularly engage me. The flute is an instrument that seems to me to provide a visualisation of tone rows; a lot of this work seemed to be an alternation between the orchestra and the soloist. The final piece in the first half was the one that had initially caught my attention, Bax's symphonic poem Tintagel, and I enjoyed seeing it performed live. I'm not sure it gives me a picture of an Arthurian castle, but it does give me a view of a seascape along rough terrain on the Cornish coast.

The second half began with another unfamiliar work, Walton's Partita. This was an energetic piece and another which I think merits further attention. This is what the Proms is good at, drawing you in with something familiar but also expanding your horizons. The final scheduled work was Elgar's Enigma Variations. I'm not a particular Elgar fan, but the most popular works are generally justifiably so, and it's true of this one; it was another enthusiastic performance. There was an encore which felt absolutely in character for British Light Music fan Wilson and a real lollipop for this concert. It was one of those pieces I recognised quickly, but couldn't name; I was fairly sure it was Eric Coates. Checking on BBC Sounds confirms it was his At the Dance from Summer Days.