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

[vinteuil]

I remember feeling quite sorry for HM, next to the clown Blair.

... and yet, he - a Fettes boy - might have been expected to know better!

[Roslynmuse]

I've now listened to the 1969 Last Night LP, and my memory wasn't far out: the overall impression is of considerably more controlled, more musical, audience participation than in later years.

...

The whole thing feels at once more relaxed and more disciplined than of late. And considerably more fun.

Thanks for the report! - a very nice evocation. Is that the LP with a sort of mauve-shaded cover?

I was listening to a CD of a couple of combined Viennese nights a while back (early 70s) and relaxed fun is a good description of those too. Perhaps we've lost the art...

[Bert Coules]

Thanks for the report! - a very nice evocation.

Thanks.

Is that the LP with a sort of mauve-shaded cover?

This is the one:

I seem to recall another rather similar Last Night LP, also under Davis - perhaps the following year? But I don't own that one.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Then, in authentic Henry Wood fashion, it turns into a race: Davis and the BBC SO win by a very short beat...

Of course they won, because Sir Henry's orchestration deliberately omitted a beat near the end in order to fool the audience. Even when you know about this, it's easy to be wrong-footed.

[Bert Coules]

Yes, and I recall a later newly-commissioned Last Night piece which included the Hornpipe and did even more fiendish audience-throwing things with the rhythms. I can't remember the composer, though.

Here's the later LP:

It's the 1972 Last Night. Ah, nostalgia: I can see a goodly number of my Prom-going friends in that photo, including a soon-to-be prominent BBC producer, and my wife-to-be...

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Yes, and I recall a later newly-commissioned Last Night piece which included the Hornpipe and did even more fiendish audience-throwing things with the rhythms. I can't remember the composer, though.

Does this help? I quote the relevant bit:-

"In the following year, Glock and Davis made their first effort at reform, by deleting ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ from the ‘Last Night’ programme; but so great was the press and public outcry that in the end it had to be re-instated. In 1970, the controller and conductor attempted an alternative modification: Malcolm Arnold was commissioned to write a modern equivalent of Wood's ‘Sea Songs’, which included audience participation and the traditional hornpipe, but in 5/8 time, demanding an exceptional rhythmic facility in the stamping from the audience; but, perhaps for this reason, it did not catch on. Twelve months later, there was another new commission in the form of Malcolm Williamson's ‘instant opera’ entitled ‘The Stone Wall’; but it, too, was not a success. And in 1972 there was yet a third attempt to produce a modern substitute for the ‘Sea Songs’ in the form of a work entitled ‘Celebration’, by Gordon Crosse; yet this, also, failed to resonate with the audience in the Albert Hall or with the public beyond."

[Bert Coules]

Yes, it certainly does help, thanks. It was the Arnold that I was remembering, clearly. And I was there in 1971 - very nearly at the Arena rail, in fact - for Williamson's The Stone Wall. "Northern Savages! Southern Savages!"...

LATER...

I've just read the whole of that piece. Fascinating stuff.

[mangerton]

... and yet, he - a Fettes boy - might have been expected to know better!

Indeed. We were rather better taught than that.

[Chris Newman]

Oh dear I can see myself with hair on the 1969 cover. My sister thought I had lost my teeth.

I am hidden behind Colin's left elbow on the 1972 cover but can see lots of old friends from the BBC Staff Operatic Society (Ariel Opera).

The Stonewall was conducted by Colin Davis with help from the composer Malcolm Williamson and Richard (Dicky) Baker the newsreader and presenter of the Proms.

[Petrushka]

Oh dear I can see myself with hair on the 1969 cover. My sister thought I had lost my teeth.

I am hidden behind Colin's left elbow on the 1972 cover but can see lots of old friends from the BBC Staff Operatic Society (Ariel Opera).

The Stonewall was conducted by Colin Davis with help from the composer Malcolm Williamson and Richard (Dicky) Baker the newsreader and presenter of the Proms.

What nostalgia! I remember watching that on TV and I had that 1969 LP for Christmas, probably that year, and promptly wore it out! It still sits on my shelves now. Little did I know then that the Albert Hall would become my summer spiritual home in less than 10 years.

[Alf-Prufrock]

Twelve months later, there was another new commission in the form of Malcolm Williamson's ‘instant opera’ entitled ‘The Stone Wall’; but it, too, was not a success.

As I recall it, and I was there too (sitting down rather than standing, I'm ashamed to say), The Stone Wall was a great success. I remember building up the imaginary wall by piling on 'stone on stone' with great enthusiasm along with everybody else. And the piece had a good tune too. Not something one can say about every Prom commission.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

(sitting down rather than standing, I'm ashamed to say)

I always sit down at concerts, and I'm not ashamed.

[BudgieJane]

Why did the BBC move the placing of the chaplet round Sir Henry Wood's bust from the end of the interval/start of the second half, to somewhere in the middle of the first half?

[mercia]

now that they're called the BBC Proms, shouldn't a foliate accessory adorn a bust of Lord Reith, or Mr Wright? (no harm in asking)
(when is a chaplet not a chaplet?)

[David Underdown]

They are still, in full," The [nth] Season of the Sir Henry Wood Promenade Concerts, presented by the BBC" as you will find written inside the programme for every prom