Proms

 After not going to more than three Proms in the last twenty years I have now attended three within a week. The BBC Promenade Concerts are still the premier festival of "Classical" music in the World, and of course it is on my doorstep! Even now I probably wouldn't have stirred myself if a very generous friend had not gifted me some tickets when she found she couldn't make a trip half way round the World just at the moment.

The first I went to was the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, with an interesting and entertaining programme,  I thoroughly enjoy all three pieces, the first two (Shostakovitch suite for Variety Orchestra and the Ravel Piano Concerto for left hand) I knew, indeed I have played them relatively recently, the Walton first Symphony was new to me, it is a monumental piece with some fantastic playing, I suspect that this is a symphony that you need to hear live to get the full impact.

BBC Symphony Orchestra

The second was this Wednesday and was billed as a French Night, I will confess I had never even heard of Joseph Bologne never mind know his music. It was a brilliant performance with lots of energy and and French joie de vivre. The third was last night with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. There were two pieces that were new to me, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed, slightly against my expectations in the case of the Davis (Anthony Davis, Tales(tails) of the Signifying Monkey). The Mendelssohn had a tremendous verve and energy. On the other hand I remain to be convinced that Richard Strauss had a sense of humour!

It is not my intention to review these concerts, but I do have a few observations.

• The soloists had great affinity with the music, and performed with such enthusiasm and energy that the audience truly "bought in to" their performances.
• Each orchestra had a different layout, the most obvious thing being having the basses in different places. I'm not sure how much difference this makes to the audience as I was sat in different places, but I do know that when playing I like to be in touch with the basses as we are often playing the same line.
• Each night was a very different audience, the first applauded enthusiastically in between movements, and even cheered on occasion, the other two nights they were more restrained, but were still rewarded with jewel like encores.
• Why do British tuba players in British orchestra insist on using the upright 3+1 Besson Sovereign EEb (or a clone thereof) as their go to instrument when there are so many better (in my opinion) options? The Sovereign can do pretty much anything, but that does mean that it should be used to do everything

I have been reminded how much I enjoy the Proms, and how the Royal Albert Hall is actually the second easiest concert hall for me to get to (I can walk to the Fairfield Hall in Croydon), I have booked tickets for more concerts in this years festival, and will certainly be going to more next year.