Prom 74: Saturday 10th September at 7.30 p.m. (Last Night of the Proms)

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    Prom 74: Saturday 10th September at 7.30 p.m. (Last Night of the Proms)

    Conductor Edward Gardner leads the traditional festivities of the Last Night of the Proms with performers including super-star pianist Lang Lang playing Liszt and soprano Susan Bullock singing Wagner.

    Gardner, who is the youngest Last Night conductor since Sir Henry Wood himself on the first Last Night in 1895, brings a youthful verve to the celebrations, and it's an event he's looking forward to greatly: "I was aware of the Last Night as a kid and to be involved is extraordinary." He's joined by leading dramatic soprano Susan Bullock who performs Brunnhilde's famous 'Immolation Scene' which concludes Wagner's epic Ring cycle, as well as leading the customary communal singing after the Interval. Super-star pianist Lang Lang - the man who's inspired millions of Chinese children to take up the piano - performs Liszt, a composer who he describes as a "rock star" but also a "truly great musician" - words that could equally describe Lang Lang himself.

    But it's the Prommers who give the Proms their special atmosphere. Standing night after night in the arena and the gallery their attentiveness and enthusiasm for the music inspires performers to produce exceptional performances. They also organise the nightly collection which raises thousands of pounds every year for musical charities. So it's fitting that this year the party begins with a celebration of the Prommers with a new work by Peter Maxwell Davies commissioned by the Musicians Belevolent Fund who are one of the beneficiaries of the annual collection

    Sir Peter Maxwell Davies: Musica benevolens (Musicians Benevolent Fund commission - World Premiere)
    Bartók: The Miraculous Mandarin - suite
    Wagner: Götterdämmerung - Immolation Scene
    Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat major
    Chopin: Grande Polonaise brillante, Op. 22
    Grainger: Mo nighean dubh (My Dark-Haired Maiden)
    Britten: The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra
    Rodgers: The Sound of Music - 'Climb ev'ry mountain'
    Rodgers: Carousel - 'You'll never walk alone'
    Elgar: Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 in D major ('Land of Hope and Glory')
    Arne: Rule Britannia
    Parry (orch. Elgar): Jerusalem
    The National Anthem

    Lang Lang (piano)
    Susan Bullock (soprano)
    BBC Symphony Chorus
    BBC Symphony Orchestra
    Edward Gardner (conductor).

    #2
    Any bets as to who the narrator will be in The Young Person's Guide?

    Comment


      #3
      Hopefully nobody. Too twee with one: it works much better played without.

      Comment


        #4
        I don't know if anyone else has mentioned this, but every year I bring up the fact that the glorious tune of Pomp & Circumstance No. 1 has decidedly inappropriate words for our times; after all, talking about our bounds getting 'wider and wider' doesn't make much sense when the British Empire no longer exists! There are, however, alternative words, written for the Coronation Ode of 1902. Surely some sort of adaptation of these would be much better? (Mind you, I'm not sure that 'truth and right and freedom' are exactly appropriate of modern Britain, either, but at least they are aspirational).

        'Land of hope and glory,
        Mother of the free,
        How shall we extol thee,
        who are born of thee?
        Truth and Right and Freedom,
        each a holy gem,
        Stars of solemn brightness,
        weave thy diadem.

        Chorus
        'Tho thy way be darken'd,
        still in splendour drest,
        As the star that trembles
        o'er the liquid West.
        Thron'd amid the billows,
        thron'd inviolate,
        Thou hast reign'd victorious,
        thou hast smil'd at fate.

        Soloists and Chorus
        Land of hope and glory,
        Fortress of the free,
        How shall we extol thee?
        praise thee, honour thee?
        Hark! a mighty nation
        maketh glad reply;
        Lo, our lips are thankful;
        lo, our hearts are high!
        Hearts in hope uplifted,
        loyal lips that sing;
        Strong in Faith and Freedom,
        we have crowned our King!'

        Comment


          #5
          BBC - Radio 3 Blog Calling all Prommers - come and take part in the world premiere...

          See the BBC Radio 3 blog entry on Calling all Prommers:

          Help us thank the Promenaders’ Musical Charities and the Musicians Benevolent Fund for their hard work. Here's how to learn your part:

          Download the music file of Musica Benevolens (mp3)

          Download the score for Musica Benevolens (PDF)

          Comment


            #6
            The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra

            See http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whats-on/...rogramme-notes

            Jenny Agutter is listed as narrator, with a newly commissioned poetic commentary by Wendy Cope.

            Comment


              #7
              It is (as has been stated very clearly on other threads !!) an entirely MUSICAL event
              nothing to do with politics or anything extra musical at all



              Will Max's piece quote the Sibelius "swan" theme ?

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by MrGongGong View Post
                It is (as has been stated very clearly on other threads !!) an entirely MUSICAL event
                nothing to do with politics or anything extra musical at all
                Indubitably, Mr GG! Indubitably!

                Comment


                  #9
                  I for one
                  am TOTALLY SICK AND TIRED
                  of the relentless left wing nonsense peddled to us by the Bolshevik Broadcasting Committee
                  its obvious that the whole place is crawling with Marxists who are plotting to overthrow our noble nation as this image so clearly shows !

                  Comment


                    #10
                    A weekly journal for literature and ideas. We publish book reviews, book extracts, essays and poems by leading writers from around the world. Each week, we also review the latest in fiction, film, opera, theatre, dance, radio and television.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      LNOTP is one of the greatest disservices done to classical music. Many people - quite reasonably, since they haven't been, and London isn't at the end of every back garden - have the idea that the Proms are nothing but flagwaving for six weeks on end.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by Al R Gando View Post
                        LNOTP is one of the greatest disservices done to classical music. Many people - quite reasonably, since they haven't been, and London isn't at the end of every back garden - have the idea that the Proms are nothing but flagwaving for six weeks on end.
                        Yes, I've had to explain this to no end of work colleagues and friends over the years and it does become very tiresome.
                        "The sound is the handwriting of the conductor" - Bernard Haitink

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Some will still attend, notwithstanding - having made the marathon of having attended every single Prom this season.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Originally posted by Al R Gando View Post
                            LNOTP is one of the greatest disservices done to classical music
                            But THE greatest disservice is not in the RAH, but in Hyde Park.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Originally posted by Petrushka View Post
                              Yes, I've had to explain this to no end of work colleagues and friends over the years and it does become very tiresome.
                              Me too

                              Comment

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