I admire Voces 8 greatly. Their repertoire is quite varied, but one area of it panders to the fashion for sentimental, slow, minimalist stuff which I'm sure appeals to many, as it presumably did to the Prom audience.(So-called 'mindfulness' was the aim of this Prom.) Mrs A and I thought we'd have a look at the BBC4 repeat....but ten minutes was enough, and the off-button was in our minds before that. (Interesting BTW to see a 'new' bass member in the group.) I hope this post in no way diminishes the admiration for amazing vocal control displayed by Voces 8...even more amazing in the RAH full of people.
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Cracker of a concert - IMO the best Prom so far by a street. -
You did well to last 10 minutes. 5 was more than enough for me. Sure, the singing was well done, in its way, but the material sung in those opening minutes was not deserving of such attention, to my sensibilities. Sorry to say, mindlessness was more how it struck me. Did the music performed become more interesting, later on?Originally posted by ardcarp View PostComment
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I agree with #1 and #3; I lasted 10 minutes and most of that was an intro from Georgia Mann. This sort of stuff is so wasteful of the talents of Voces8. Some years ago there was a similar late night concert centred round Tenebrae; that I attended and it was very effective, no artificial lighting effects or amplification.Comment
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I wonder why Radio 3 feels it's part of its broadcasting remit to provide 'mindfulness'? Who are they catering for? And what has such a potential audience to do with the Proms (or Radio 3)?It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.Comment
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Leaving aside the celebrating togetherness kinds of collectively engaging high energy free jazz of the 1960s currently undergoing some renaissance as "spiritual jazz", along with improvised and some electronic musics, most of what could be said to consist in popularly-orientated contemporary music designed for purposes of present-centred concsciousness has been culturally appropriated into a kind of sonorous stew and heavily formulated. I happen to think that for today's Western consciousness already enmeshed and cut off from the immediate surrounds by electronic gagetry, mechanised grooves, computer games and the like, in musical terms alone only atonality can provide attention-sustaining portals into the immediate - Jonathan Harvey was right on this - since to habitual patterns of expectation-fulfilment, rather than keeping the attention on the immediate, all forms resting on tonal gravitation (in the broadest sense) sustain an ingrained sense of eventual resolution, which for most can only engender boredom. You have to wake people up, not send them to sleep!Comment
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Wish I'd thought of that sentence.Sorry to say, mindlessness was more how it struck me.Comment
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The dictionary definition of ‘mindfulness’ is ‘Awareness of ourselves and the world around us’. The awareness we’ve had so far is the position of the off button, except for the respondent at #2 of course!!!Comment
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Yes, I think mindfulness is a fantastic idea, but then so many people seem to think that the only kind of music that can help to bring on such a state is bland, repetitive and soporific... as has been said, there seems to be some confusion between mindfulness and mindlessness in some people's thinking.Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View Post
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There's no accounting for Draco! Haven't you learned anything from your time on the Choral Evensong thread?Originally posted by jonfan View Post
(Sorry, Draco: each to their own, etc:
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Rather more comments about 'mindfulness' on this thread than about the actual concert here.It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.Comment
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