The Proms 2007

[Mark]

Sorry, Lis. Didn't mean to go OT.

M: Mpeg StreamClip did the conversion job in under two minutes, cutting out all the unnecessary techie stuff mentioned on the Oz forum I linked to. I've since created a menu page and individual (properly titled) DVD chapters in Nero 7, which is transcoding said chapters (I had to manually cut the broadcast first, of course) ready to burn to a DVD-R. The transcoding is unfortunate and will certainly lead to quality loss - a 2.5hr broadcast from the BBC Proms won't, it appears, quite fit onto a standard 4.7Gb DVD-R - need to get the larger, dual-layer type for untranscoded burns. Ho hum. Anyway, I'll strip off the audio track, encode to MP3 and upload here for all to enjoy as soon as the (lengthy) transcode/burn process is done.

[uffeviking]

Nothing to feel sorry about, Mark! 

I am wondering though, if anybody else interested in your subject will think of looking for it on the Proms thread. But then that's their problem, yes? 

[Mark]

Nothing to feel sorry about, Mark! 

I am wondering though, if anybody else interested in your subject will think of looking for it on the Proms thread. But then that's their problem, yes? 

I'll stick an 'advert' in my signature.

[Lethevich]

Hehe... to try to rescue the thread: I watched the Rameau yesterday, the baroque era isn't generally my thing, but these pieces sounded very unusual. I can't pin down what it was about them, but they sounded in a completely different soundworld than most other baroque music I am familiar with. It was fun to see the (I think) clarinettists (using the early different looking version of it) raise the instruments high during certain parts depending on when they need a volume boost or not, the performers seemed informal and to be having fun.

And the dancers, hehe, they made it very entertaining (the coat rack thing : D). The dancers were kind of OTT but they added a circus quality to the performances which kept me watching.

[Mark]

Right, if you want the audio-only version of the First Night of the BBC Proms 2007, see here.

[M forever]

M: Mpeg StreamClip did the conversion job in under two minutes, cutting out all the unnecessary techie stuff mentioned on the Oz forum I linked to. I've since created a menu page and individual (properly titled) DVD chapters in Nero 7, which is transcoding said chapters (I had to manually cut the broadcast first, of course) ready to burn to a DVD-R. The transcoding is unfortunate and will certainly lead to quality loss - a 2.5hr broadcast from the BBC Proms won't, it appears, quite fit onto a standard 4.7Gb DVD-R - need to get the larger, dual-layer type for untranscoded burns. Ho hum. Anyway, I'll strip off the audio track, encode to MP3 and upload here for all to enjoy as soon as the (lengthy) transcode/burn process is done.

Looks like you're on a DVD authoring trip right now.

[knight66]

Here is a connection to the site for full schedules and info. Tonights concerts look to be interesting.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/2007/


I do like a concert that gives me at least one piece I hardly know. I thought the opening concert was too full of familiar music. As it is the 150 anniversary of Elgar's birth, we get a deal of his music. I thought the cello concerto in the first concert was very blandly played. I like more drama and think there is real drama to be got out of the piece.

Mike

[Guido]

Anyone going to tonight's Prom (Ives 4, Bernstein 2)?

[Mark]

I thought the cello concerto in the first concert was very blandly played. I like more drama and think there is real drama to be got out of the piece.

Mike

Agreed. Though Charles Hazelwood was filled with praise for it, saying he'd never heard the piece played with so little ostentation. Hyperbole, if ever I heard it.

[knight66]

A little like praising a flattenened out Beethoven 5! If it is in the music, it ought to be brought out, if someone wants an inward and unostentatious interpretation than the Albert Hall is an odd place to attempt it. I did wonder to what extent it was down to the influence of the conductor; as he managed to drain the colour and verve out of the Walton and the drama from the Beethoven 9th first movement.

Altogether a strange collection of pieces and a strange conductor to open the festival. Most frequently LvB's 9th is played on the penultimate night, though there is no good reason for the tradition and in one year when I was in the chorus, Solti replaced the 9th on the second last night with the Missa Solemnis.

Mike

[Mark]

Most frequently LvB's 9th is played on the penultimate night, though there is no good reason for the tradition and in one year when I was in the chorus, Solti replaced the 9th on the second last night the Missa Solemnis.

Mike

They're doing this work twice this season.

[knight66]

Mark, I have not really looked through the schedule properly, but that seems an odd decision. I know the opener was postponed from last year when the performance was prevented by a powercut. Perhaps that explains it....sort of.

Mike

[Mark]

Mike, it'll be on again on August 30th, Prom 62. Honegger's Third Symphony is before it. Jansons in charge of the BRSO & Chorus.

[knight66]

In which case, that is likely to be a performance that will generate rather more excitement and the pairing looks interesting.

Mike

[Hector]

Mark, I have not really looked through the schedule properly, but that seems an odd decision. I know the opener was postponed from last year when the performance was prevented by a powercut. Perhaps that explains it....sort of.

Mike

That was the reason. It was a fire last year that caused the cancellation of the 9th.

I gave up after the first movement of the 9th. If it does not contain the requisite amount of drama etc then the performance is a failure as far as I'm concerned.

The performance of the Elgar was distinctly odd and I strained my ears to listen to Watkins' "subtlety." This man won a conducting prize!

[Mark]

That was the reason. It was a fire last year that caused the cancellation of the 9th.

I gave up after the first movement of the 9th. If it does not contain the requisite amount of drama etc then the performance is a failure as far as I'm concerned.

The performance of the Elgar was distinctly odd and I strained my ears to listen to Watkins' "subtlety." This man won a conducting prize!

But hey, at least the sound was okay. Mostly.

[Hector]

But hey, at least the sound was okay. Mostly.

Oh, yes. I have Freeview and a PVR.

It was how I caught the Stabat Mater, last night, repeated early in the morning!

[Mark]

For anyone interested, here are links to MP3 files of the Bruckner Seventh Symphony and Wagner Die Meistersinger von Nurenburg Overture (encore) performed by Kurt Masur and the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Orchestre National de France in last Wednesday's Prom 7 (which I attended ):

Bruckner - Symphony 7 - 1st Mvt

Bruckner - Symphony 7 - 2nd Mvt

Bruckner - Symphony 7 - 3rd Mvt

Bruckner - Symphony 7 - 4th Mvt

Wagner - Overture: Die Meistersingers von Nurenburg


I'll upload the Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings which opened the concert once I've captured it again next week - I'm waiting for the repeat broadcast on Radio 3; my PVR f**ked up the first broadcast.

Enjoy.

[Lethevich]

Wow. The thing playing at the moment (Brett Dean - Vexations and Devotions) is so pretentiously shit that it's disturbing. The bemused looks from the audience sum it up - they're going to deserve the Beethoven 7 when it finally arrives. I nominate Vexations and Devotions for worst ever use of tape in a classical piece.

Edit: And wow a) the audience will clap and cheer anything b) that intro/outro presenter guy is possibly even more pretentious than the piece itself. Haha, and the absurd talking head guests! These guys are far more entertaining than the piece itself

[Papy Oli]

mind you, we could have witnessed the birth of a work of art to be hailed for the years or centuries to come...

or not...



(the mute button on the remote never came so handy.....)