I have read quickly the program of 2013 Proms. I have seen a comforting number of works by Granville Bantock.
Yes, and good news too! I think five works are scheduled? And I'm not too sure why - there isn't (so far as I am aware) any particular 'celebration' coming up as there is in the case of Britten and Wagner. Maybe Bantock has just struck it lucky!
Trouble is, there's precious little else for the jaded palate...
Agreed Alan!
I really feel the proms has gone for overkill on Wagner operas. Time was when they were content to schedule 2 or 3 concert performances of opera per season. Now there are umpteen. And why not confine opera at the proms to those operas which are rarely, if ever, staged? Much as I love The Ring, I wouldn't want to stand through the whole of Gotterdamerung!
What about an opera by Bantock instead? Or by Holbrooke - or by any number of English or foreign composers whose operatic oeuvres are unlikely ever to appear on stage? That's what opera in the concert hall should be about.
You're right, Gareth. Far too much Wagner and not enough Verdi. And not enough unsung music full stop.
Well, yes, what about a non-orchestral Bantock work? Omar Khayyam or the Song of Songs would probably be a sell-out, if the Gothic was.
I couldn't agree more.
Bantock paints lovely pictures, but they often seem curiously insubstantial and ephemeral to me. After listening to one of his works, I never set the CD back in the play queue thinking "I've got to listen to that again."
I'm much more interested to hear Trifonov's take on the Glazunov Piano Concerto No. 2 (Prom 41). He won the 2011 Tchaikovsky Piano Competition. Trifonov's recordings and performances available so far, most of which are several years old, have gotten mixed reviews, but Martha Argerich thinks very highly of him. The Glazunov 2nd is an odd piece and I have not much cared for the few recordings I've heard. I'm wondering if Trifonov, who likes playing less familiar pieces, can breathe some life into it.
I actually agree about Bantock. Don't get me wrong - I'm glad he's being performed, but I've always found he promises more than he delivers. But he's an important figure in the British musical renaissance, of that there's no doubt. Of the reminder of the Proms offerings, only the Glazunov struck me as of any interest to fans of neglected music. Oh dear.
There's the indescribably lovely George Lloyd Requiem, 1998, I know, but indisputably romantic!
Fully agree with you, Jimfin. But shssssssh!
Stenhammar Excelsior Overture, too. Brief, several-times-recorded, but - pardon the double negative - not overplayed. (I like the Szymanowski 3rd in the same concert, but I'd agree it's at least as much impressionistic as Romantic- though probably at least as much Szymanowskian as either... well, anyway. And in honor of a deceased friend of mine (not that it actually is in honor of him, and I like Rubbra's music very much too...), yay that they're doing some Rubbra; from the capsule description above I thought they might have been backtracking to - well, something like our routine of almost all standards all the time..., goodness forfend.)
Omar Khayyam is Bantock's absolute masterpiece - a gorgeous work, beautifully constructed and orchestrated. But I would love to hear Christ in the Wilderness or The Song of Songs - and these are just the sort of works which should be done at The Proms. I think every Proms season should have at least one concert devoted to a large scale work by a British composer who is neglected: Holbrooke's Apollo and the Seaman; Foulds' Vision of Dante; Bliss' The Beatitudes; Bainton's 1st Symphony; Jacobson's Hound of Heaven; etc., etc. - the list is enormous. Surely that's not too much to ask of a BRITISH music festival.
Well, I did quite like the performance of Foulds' World Requiem a few years ago when I heard it over the radio (and I thought I heard some specific things from Brian's Gothic prefigured in it, though I am too often overimaginative about such things.)
I quite agree, and choral works should get more prominence, especially now the Birmingham and Leeds festivals are no more. In the nineteenth century, there was a lot more chance to hear these things, and it encouraged them to be written
Gareth's proposal of at least one Prom devoted to a large scale British choral work is so obviously right. It is so obviously right that no-one of sound mind could possibly deny it!
And of course, as Gareth says, a neglected work. That is essential to the idea. To mount such a work in an occasional, one-off, concert in the Albert Hall (or other appropriate venue) on a wet Tuesday night in February might produce difficulties in filling all seats. But people buy tickets for the Proms because it is the Proms, and I do believe they would continue to do so with enthusiasm even if the work in question was an unfamiliar one. Being a Prom there is also a near guarantee that the work would be a rewarding one and the performance would be of a high standard.
And what would happen then? There's a fair chance that people would fall over backwards in surprise, would exclaim 'How glad I am that I've heard it', 'Why on earth hasn't this been heard for decades?', and even congratulate themselves that they had the sense to have bought a ticket and had been in the audience on this celebrated occasion.
Not a fantasy, surely? But all dependent on the BBC and the Prom planners to exercise some imagination and take a risk.
well, as we aren't discussing silence, we're all of sound mind. (HUSH, Eric. ... *retreats*)
Thank you for your advice, Jolly Roger!
There are other ways also in which neglected repertoire could be brought to the fore without scaring off audiences; the problem is that most people in the concert world don't seem to care.
For anyone not au fait with the UK's "Proms", they comprise a vast series of concerts, workshops, etc., lasting from July 12 to Sept. 7, and the programme can be found at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whats-on/2013/print-season (http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whats-on/2013/print-season)
Wagner gets by far the biggest slice of the cake, whereas the Bantock components amount to roughly one hour:
Sapphic Poem (15 mins)
Pierrot of the Minute (12 mins)
Celtic Symphony (20 mins)
The Witch of Atlas (15 mins)
Sea Reivers (4 mins)
..... hardly time for the Rhinemaidens to get warmed up!
I can't understand why an amazing work like Omar Khayyam (I am with you on that Gareth) has to give way to hours and hours of Teutonic breastbeating! Maybe I need to acquaint myself with the rationale of the Proms.... my personal view is that they should focus on British composers and performers, not to the exclusion of others, but that's where the main attention should be. It seems the organisers have a quite different view, bearing in mind that the exceedingly generous helpings of Britten would not normally be included.
Although Britain may no longer be regarded internationally as "a land without music", little is done to showcase its achievements and sadly I think it remains on the margins. The Proms are the best opportunity to change that. ???
I heartily agree. One could not imagine French composers being so comprehensively sidelined in a music festival in France, for example.
I wouldn't know. I do gather that Canada has a tradition about representation of Canadian composers on music recordings. Taken overall I find this a good idea.
I contradict myself, of course, since the one Prom I have ever attended had not one British work in the lot; it was Debussy La mer, Lili Boulanger (2 Psalms), Sibelius 2. And very, very happy memories I have of it, too (I was curious about one of the Boulanger psalms after reading about it in Fanfare magazine, and was thrilled by the... anyways.)