Friday, 13 September 2013

Last Night of the Proms - Innovative and Exciting


By Julia Hudson


Balloons, Aston Villa, £1 million of sparkling Chopard diamonds and a lot of queuing – as usual, the Last Night of the Proms was a spectacle, and one which hundreds of people had waited through a rainy September night and day to see. We were also witnessing history in the making, with Marin Alsop, the Proms’ first female conductor, taking to the podium for a varied night of music making. The programme looked back at the many composer anniversaries celebrated this season: Verdi, Britten and of course Wagner were all revisited, and Nigel Kennedy and especially Joyce DiDonato provided real ‘star quality’ (Ivan Hewett). Particular highlights for this very fortunate audience member were Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, with a beautiful counter-tenor solo from Iestyn Davies, and Britten’s unusually poignant arrangement of the National Anthem.

Jacob Banks at the Urban Classic Prom
Looking back a few weeks, though, was a very different evening; the Urban Classics prom, which I was entirely convinced I would detest and utterly loved. The reassuring number of regular prommers and their ‘sensible shoes’, as remarked on by Alsop at the Last Night, mingled with Laura Mvula supporters and sky-high stilettos. By the end of the concert, to the tune of ‘One Love’ by Bob Marley, beautifully arranged and directed by Jules Buckley, classical and urban fans alike were swaying with hands and mobiles in the air (backstage, a senior BBC-er was thrilled that he had learned how to work his iPhone light). BBC Three’s coverage attempted to paint the evening as a controversial “culture clash”, for the purposes of good TV – but every single musician treated the venue, festival and institution with tremendous respect, excitement and, sensibly, a little bit of terror.

There were, of course, countless other season highlights; more than 300,000 people attended the concerts this year, with 57 out of 75 concerts sold out. It is easy to remember the ‘out-of-the-ordinary’ proms like the Urban Classic and the Doctor Who, but sometimes it is the simplicity of the Tallis Scholars’ late-night offering, with a rapt audience at nearly midnight, or the stunningly vivid Pictures at an Exhibition from the London Symphony Orchestra under Gergiev. No summary would be complete without recalling the epic tribute to Wagner, especially Barenboim’s Ring cycle, where he praised the audience saying “the communion between musicians and public depends not only on us but also on you, and you have brought so much silence”. This rapturous silence, with hundreds of people standing stock still, was never felt more keenly than at the Last Night – one minute, loud cheers and enormous balloons were ricocheting off audience members’ heads; the next, absolute concentration as the solo violin sound soared upwards.

In July, Manchester International Festival programmed music from both the Halle Orchestra and Goldfrapp. Alex Poots, the festival’s artistic director and CEO, said: “It’s not helpful to have divisions between the art forms; it’s a remnant of the old class system.” The Guardian suggests that the Last Night still falls prey to its “imperialist-era ruts”; but Poots disagrees, aware that creative programming “inevitably straddles a wide range of creativity, across art forms and different styles, and the spaces between them.” This, combined with the “quality of listening” remarked on by Director Roger Wright and the very celebratory nature of the Proms itself, makes it, in Alsop’s words, the "ultimate showcase for great artistry and superb audiences".

Patriotism and pride at the Last Night
To find out what Southern Sinfonia Patron Sir Roger Norrington had to say about conducting the Last Night of the Proms in 2008, click here for our exclusive interview. What did you think of this year’s event? Comment below to leave your thoughts on join in the discussion on our Facebook and Twitter pages!

No comments:

Post a Comment