Unprecedented Proms
Jul. 5th, 2020 11:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
qatsiOf course, the BBC Proms season is usually announced in April, but this is no normal year. I was impressed but not entirely surprised that the season was merely postponed when so many other festivals had already been cancelled: it is certainly in the nature of live classical music that, whilst major artists and orchestras are booked up years in advance, it's frequently necessary and possible to make last-minute adjustments.
And so here we are, in early July, with a selection from the BBC's archive to last until late August, with the hope of some live, albeit audience-free, music for the final two weeks of the season. Apparently there are multiple possibilities for the live concerts, depending on the pandemic situation as it evolves. It's all a bit reminiscent of Who shot JR?
I'm a bit surprised that there's nothing going back further than the 1980s; perhaps the deep archive has been destroyed or awaits rediscovery in Nigeria. Of course, going a long way back will lead to inferior audio and video quality, which is perhaps impractical for a full-length programme. Maybe also in the minds of the selectors was the need to re-broadcast more recent material that would be beneficial for living performers missing out on current income.
Here's a selection of potential highlights. Unfortunately the full listings of each concert are not linked to at the moment, so some of this is a bit hit-and-miss. There's always the Proms Archive which can be cross-referenced and removes almost all ambiguity. Spoiler alert: In cases where I went to the concert - and there's a surprisingly high hit-rate - there are links below; if they're listed here I obviously think they're worth a re-watch or listen.
Proms on TV
Proms on Radio
I see there are two John Wilson Proms in the listings; I'd rather they had substituted one of them for the Tango Prom, or one of the British Film Music Proms. There's quite a bit of Beethoven in his anniversary year - Leonore and the Missa Solemnis - as no doubt there would have been in the original plan. I'd like to have seen Nixon in China in the listings, but it's not to be. Operatic highlights include Die Walküre, The Queen of Spades, Salome, Handel's Saul, and a spritely Bernard Haitink from the 1990s with Verdi's Don Carlos.
And so here we are, in early July, with a selection from the BBC's archive to last until late August, with the hope of some live, albeit audience-free, music for the final two weeks of the season. Apparently there are multiple possibilities for the live concerts, depending on the pandemic situation as it evolves. It's all a bit reminiscent of Who shot JR?
I'm a bit surprised that there's nothing going back further than the 1980s; perhaps the deep archive has been destroyed or awaits rediscovery in Nigeria. Of course, going a long way back will lead to inferior audio and video quality, which is perhaps impractical for a full-length programme. Maybe also in the minds of the selectors was the need to re-broadcast more recent material that would be beneficial for living performers missing out on current income.
Here's a selection of potential highlights. Unfortunately the full listings of each concert are not linked to at the moment, so some of this is a bit hit-and-miss. There's always the Proms Archive which can be cross-referenced and removes almost all ambiguity. Spoiler alert: In cases where I went to the concert - and there's a surprisingly high hit-rate - there are links below; if they're listed here I obviously think they're worth a re-watch or listen.
Proms on TV
- 2 August - (2017) Proms debut of the BAME orchestra Chineke!
- 9 August - (2002) Rattle / NYO / Mahler 8
- 16 August - (2016) Argerich / Barenboim, the West-East Divan Orchestra (review)
- 23 August - (2007) Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Orchestra of Venezuela
Proms on Radio
- 17 July - (new for 2020) First Night Beethoven
- 21 July - (1989) Tavener's The Protecting Veil
- 27 July - (1989) Norrington in a presumably vibrato-free programme of Beethoven and Schubert
- 30 July - (2014) Mark Elder and the Hallé
- 1 August - (2016) The Makropulos Affair (review)
- 3 August - (2016) Argerich / Barenboim (see TV listings for 2 August)
- 4 August - (2015) Oramo conducts Sibelius - could be any one of three from this season, but En Saga / Kullervo is the only all-Sibelius programme (review)
- 5 August - (2007) Marin Alsop (review)
- 6 August - (1994) Neville Marriner conducts Haydn and Beethoven
- 6 August - (2018) BBC Radiophonic Workshop
- 7 August - (2014) Rattle conducts the Berlin Philharmonic in Rachmaninov and Stravinsky
- 12 August - (2012) Manze with a chance to get to know Vaughan Williams
- 13 August - (2003) Dido and Aeneas - a Prom I would have liked to go to but missed because of a holiday booking, IIRC
- 17 August - (2012) Gianandrea Noseda and Mahler (review)
- 21 August - (2010) Thomas Dausgaard conducts Ligeti, including Lux Aeterna, and Sibelius 5
- 6 September - (2017) Rachmaninov Vespers (review)
I see there are two John Wilson Proms in the listings; I'd rather they had substituted one of them for the Tango Prom, or one of the British Film Music Proms. There's quite a bit of Beethoven in his anniversary year - Leonore and the Missa Solemnis - as no doubt there would have been in the original plan. I'd like to have seen Nixon in China in the listings, but it's not to be. Operatic highlights include Die Walküre, The Queen of Spades, Salome, Handel's Saul, and a spritely Bernard Haitink from the 1990s with Verdi's Don Carlos.