BBC reaction to the anti-Israel disruptions

 ...has been posted ... so this means that my earlier comment on their silence is no longer valid. It would be nice to hear mention of future invitations of the IPO accepted and confirmed.

Thiking about it, I have had some kind of experience like this. In March 2003, the Vienna Philharmonic visited Paris to play Brahms 3rd and Second Symphony under Ozawa at the Théatre des Champs-Elysees. This came after Haider's reults at the Austrian election. At the end of a good but not so special third, D Meyer (I think it was him but am ot 100% sure) came to ask the audience to leave the Theater becuase of a bomb scare after an anonymous phone call. In spite of the cold, the vast majority of the audience waited outside, many of us actually chatting with the musicians.  We could resume a solid 40 minutes after. The orchestra got a massive ovation and played a stunning second half. The orchestra spokesperson Dr Hellsberg, addressed in spotless French the audience to speak about doing extraordinary music under extraordinary circumstances. Maybe the proms audience experienced the same thing.

Anti-Israeli protests at the proms

News are spreading in the music world of last night disturbance by Palestinian activists at the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra concert at the London Proms. The BBC report is here. Several amateur videos can be seen including this one below:



There are various comments on this.

The first one is on the Palestinian situation for which these guys are protesting. While I admit at having my clear allegiances (known to many) and that this would not be the topic of this blog on classical music, just let me mention that too many in Europe do not perceive the complexity of the situation in the Middle East, too many do not realise that Hamas is not the most extreme of the fractions, ie, there are some much more radical ones and that the topology of the land of Israel makes the danger caused by rockets and worse, a genuine reality.

The other comments should be related to music so in bullet point (if I may):

• Sabotaging a concert is terrible for musicians. When one realises what it takes to perform, wrecking a concert is an act of barbary.
• I have read several posts where the IPO is positionned against the West-Divan Orchestra. This is nonensense. Barenboim himself performs regularly with them, the last time being in July. Listen also at Zubin Mehta's coments on the openess of the IPO. Artists are as always more forward-looking than most other groups in any country.
• Why has not anyone protested to the Simon Bolivar whose regime is a dictatorship ? (and by the way, the IPO has better string sound than the SBYO ...)
• I have gone through various sites of the BBC and have not seen one single line of condamnation of the incident by anyone from the Proms or the BBC. If I am wrong, let me know and I will amend this immediately but this BBC-esque silence is deafening.
• Finally, I have often criticised Norman Lebrecht's articles as many of you know. This time, his coverage has been spot on, including the one post where he analyses that Radio 3 was right to interrupt the live program.

 No one got any cause advanced by what happended yesterday, quite the opposite.

Royal Albert Hall

J Duchen's blog is well-known. I was sorry to read that she felt unwell during the Proms's Meistersinger but saw that I may not be the only one who has a problem with the Royal Albert Hall, read here ...

I did not come to praise the Proms ...

It was my intention to watch the opening night of the Proms, Mahler 8 but the cable of my TV may have been (yet again) eaten by my children rabbits. My loss is the blog gain. (More on the Proms here).

The Proms is an initiative for which I am at best ambivalent. It offers at an attractive price a wide range of music. Programs are genuinely varied. If the end of the season brings visiting orchestras which can be often playing works on the safe side, adventurous programs are plentiful.

I first went there in 1978 for a Brendel - Abbado LSO program (Webern op 1, Beethoven 3rd Piano Concerto and Tchaik 5th) and mostly remember the thrill of seeing these artists.

I returned in 1980 for the first BBC SO concert after the musician strike with a program led by Sir John Pritchard with Jessye Norman as soloist. I have few remaining impressions of the performance of Mahler 4, which may have been a one-off case for Jessye Norman but have found memories of Messian's glorious Poème pour Mi. I was not aware of it at the time but this was my best Proms moment.

In 1985, I was studying at Imperial College and the LSO under Colin Davis (not yet Sir Colin) played the same Mahler 8 with Bernum-like huge chorus forces outnumbering the audience. I was then back at the Proms in 1999 for a disappointing Ravel Beethoven Program with an unusual loud VPO under Sir Simon Rattle (I was in the chorus seats and felt that the balances and dynamics were so Un-Viennese). Earlier in the season, I had left the hall during Rameau's les Boréades with the same conductor because I just could not hear the instruments.

My last Proms was a very weak concert with Dudamel and his Gothenburg Orchestra which led me to ask in concertonet if the Albert Hall was not simply the worst of all possible concert halls and if one should not simply move the Proms elsewhere or close them ?

Looking back, I am afraid that I cannot think of one good evening. The stadium-size of the Hall makes music listening a very random event. Can the musicians really hear when they play ? Again, the VPO did not sounded like themselves. Dudamel led a technically poor Symphonie Fantastique but he did a more competent one (if not very Fantastique ...) in the Salle Pleyel with a combination of the French Nouvel Orchestre Philharmonique and his Simon Bolivar forces. 

There is a genuine festive atmosphere and it is a democratic place but quality is just impossible to achieve in such a gigantic venue.

BBC engineers do a good job of capturing a lot of music and produce a good sound but how much is their work and nothing else ? Maybe, I came to praise them, maybe the Proms is a radio - now TV - event and not a musical one ?

(enclosed here a picture of Julius Ceasar staged by Peter Stein at Salzburg's magical Felsenreitschule where every word, every whisper was audible.)