Gallery Promming Behaviour: Do's - And what NOT to do!

I love the Proms. It's two months of surprises and delights. My passion is live classical music. With a bunch of like-minded friends. What's not to like? For two months of the year, we can stand or sit, listening to some of the best music in the world, with a very special atmosphere. In a heatwave, that atmosphere can become enervating...I understand we are promised air conditioning next year...Let's hope it's silent!

Gallery folk are an eclectic and cheerful bunch; we even have a couple of refugees from the Arena! We boast a wide variety of talents and abilities between us. In common, though, is a real love and knowledge of classical music. We welcome those who've set out on the road of discovery; I know I'm grateful to those who welcomed me, some 15 years ago, when I bought my first Season Ticket. Well, some folks have a very different idea of what constitutes acceptable concert behaviour, albeit in a relaxed atmosphere. Each year, those of us who attend regularly marvel anew at what some believe constitutes 'concert behaviour'. Some of us can get cross. So, to help the newbie Prommer, here's some suggestions on getting the best out of the concert - and the Gallery Prommers!

Accentuate the positive...

• ASK if there's any space at the rail. Asking politely, especially if you're a first-timer, will generally melt the hardest of seasoned Prommers' hearts. Though it will be easier if you're on your own, and not part of a group.
• DO be sociable & friendly with season ticket holders. Some of them - especially the older ones - have been attending Proms for many years. Some can even remember Proms held in the Queen's Hall (bombed in May, 1942 - see this link for some Pathe stills). That's a lot of musical history to plug in to. "How long have you been coming to the proms?" is a good start...
• DO be respectful of others' personal space. This isn't the Tube, and standing closer than one foot behind someone is highly intrusive. Especially if you haven't introduced yourself. Trying to 'shuffle forward' into clothes, bags, etc. also isn't welcomed.
• COUGHING -  it's surprising how much coughing can be restrained. If you are minded to do that, be so minded! At the very least DO use a handkerchief.
• DO TURN YOUR PHONE TO SILENT. Nothing, but nothing, jars like a mobile going off. It's the mark of a Very Naff Person Indeed. To those twats who don't: you're not important, you're just Very Sad. And looking at Facebook during the music is just plain pathetic.
• DO bring a sandwich, or a small pot of salad, for interval energy replenishment...(see Eating & Drinking). Note: I said 'interval'...
•  DO transfer your wine from a glass bottle to a plastic one. Also, do use plastic containers to drink from, irrespective of beverage. Less risk of breakage! DO be discreet: Redcoats have been known to confiscate bottles. DO be discreet about opening your can of fizzy drink (not during the music, please). And about displaying it..

And now the Don'ts. I'm sorry these are longer - but there are some attendees with strange views of what's acceptable behaviour at a classical music concert...

Dress

• Please - no clacky, clumpy, squeaky shoes. Take them OFF, especially if you need the toilet in mid-performance.
• Please - no jangling bracelets, earrings, hair ornaments. You won't add to the music. Rather, the reverse.

Behaviour

• DON'T talk - even in a whisper - while the music's playing. You WILL be heard (the Gallery's accoustically perfect for this). It IS a distraction. 
• NEVER, EVER barge up to the rail to "get a good view" if there are people already there. This is plain Bad Manners, and won't be acceptable. You will not have a good, or welcoming, reception.
• If there are coats or bags adjacent to the rail, but not people, it signifies that the owners have gone to the loo, or the bar, or to find a programme-seller, and that they will expect their coats and bags to be exactly as they left them and the rail still to be vacant at that place for their return. DON'T move others' possessions!

Photos

• You are asked not to take photos - taking them during a performance is an absolute NO. You will get short shrift if you do this.. Do not respond with a 'V' sign: it merely confirms that you are not there for the music, and are a peasant. Shots at the end are acceptable; in many bays, the regulars will have left swiftly, leaving you free to move in.

Applause

• DO NOT applaud if you are not absolutely sure that the piece has ended; silence may indicate only a break between movements or even just a pause in the music. 

•  Especially for pieces that end quietly or contemplatively, only applaud after the conductor has lowered his or her arms.

Nothing wrecks the ending of a deeply-felt piece of music like the clever-clogs who rushes in to be first to clap. Some conductors are better than others at controlling the audience, too! The safest bet here is to observe the behaviour of the front row of the Arena Prommers.

Eating & Drinking

• DON'T EAT while the the music is playing. If you're that hungry, you really should have stayed at home, & possibly listened to BBC Radio 3. It's not 'Proms in the Park'.
• If you really must buy & eat crisps, DO NOT, EVER, eat these while the music is playing. Ditto with any food that comes in a noisy wrapper.
• Plastic carrier bags are ubiquitous. They are noisy. DO NOT delve during the music. 'Nuff said: you should be getting the drift by now.

Why these don'ts? The regulars are there for the music. (We hope you are, too) They focus on it, and concentrate. Distractions & noise break this focus; season ticket holders don't look well upon a lack of manners. If you don't get told off, you're lucky. But you will not be welcomed. You will barely be tolerated.

Finally...

If you indulge in your special brand of callisthenics during the interval, you will be laughed at. It may not be subtle, either...

Just in case any reader thinks I'm a finicky old biddie, may I add that several people added their suggestions to this piece, all of which have been incorporated.

A word on the Last Night - it's NOT a jingoistic celebration of England & Empire from the turn of the last century. It IS an end-of-term party, for those of us who've attended regularly throughout the Season. One Prom attendance does not a 'regular Prommer' make!

Heard this year from one of the Stewards - A quartet of people bought a Fortnum & Mason's picnic hamper (minimum cost £50), replete with glasses, china plates, cutlery, and foodie goodies. They paid a fiver a head for entry to the Gallery. They left the picnic hamper behind, having eaten the food....

Picking up the pieces

Getting over grief? It takes time...

An apologetic nurse phoned: "Your mother's had a fall; she's been taken to A&E in Merthyr. I think you ought to get there..." It's the phone call that everyone with an aged parent dreads hearing, and worse still when that parent is already in the care of  the NHS at Cwm Cynon, near her home in Aberdare.

The pathway to Cwm Cynon Hospital

There followed  frantic phone calls with other members of the family, and the arrangement of travel for the following morning - no good travelling that evening, as there is no transport to get from Merthyr to Aberdare after 6.30pm. It's a long way from London, with its easy access to tubes, overground trains, and - where needful - night buses.

My mum was 92, with "end-of-stage heart failure". I'd already had the discussion with nursing staff about interventions. Dad had died in 1999, and she never really recovered from this. Her life had slowly shrunk: walking was slow and difficult, macular degeneration rendered reading (and watching TV) impossible, and hearing aids do not restore that which is lost. A life fined down to the taking of medication, and memories of my father. She'd been in Cwm Cynon for a couple of months, but wanted to get out. Who could blame her? In a side room all day, with only her thoughts for company, and the brief visits of family and friends. She recognised she was no longer able to live alone in her sheltered accommodation, and that a care home beckoned. We knew that her heart was gradually packing up, and that it was highly probable she would die before the end of the year. But this? It was sudden, and shocking.

I don't blame the staff at Cwm Cynon. Without exception, I always found them to be patient, compassionate, and gentle. They were just short-staffed on Friday 13th September: one individual had to take emergency leave, another was off the ward attending a patient. Mum wanted the toilet, rang; then tried to make it alone. She fell onto her face, with the loss of a tooth, and horrific bruising; she looked like the local mugger had given her a serious beating. There is much to be said for regulated numbers of staff on duty in wards, especially those for the elderly - but you cannot legislate for emergency leave, nor the need to accompany another patient elsewhere.

I made it to Merthyr in time - and for that, I am grateful. She died holding my hand - and she'd always said she never wanted to die alone. I thought she'd gone to sleep - and she had.

It's now nearly six months since she died. She would be astonished - and amused - at quite how much I miss her. She would be caustically amused, for example, that the HSBC require me to go to a branch with a copy of granted probate, the letter of 26th September sent by their Bereavement Team , plus two forms of identification (passport & a bill from within the last 3 months) - only to watch, bemused, while someone photocopies these documents, returns them to me, then tells me they will be sent to the Bereavement Team... I could have done that at home...

I think of her frequently; and I can feel the warmth of her affection and love for me: a gossamer scarf, woven of tenacious threads.

A moment in the sun

I have much more understanding of the Victorian mindset on death. Her birthday has passed (November 24th), and so has Christmas. There is still Mothering Sunday to face, and I may wimp out on that. I find myself wearing black almost automatically; I don't feel quite right in colours just yet. I recognise I am grieving for two parent, as my own grief when my father died was muffled by the enormity of Mum's. A shaft of joy came when I discovered Dad's signet ring: I now wear this on one hand, Mum's wedding ring on the other.

Death, like taxes, is inevitable. It's top of the list of high stressors. If you know someone who's recently suffered a bereavement, be kind to them: you will appreciate all the kindness that comes your way when it happens to you.

Prom 35

Friday 9 August

Another of my favourite men...who are mostly dead...

I'd been looking forward to this Prom for a Very Long Time. I will ever be grateful to an ex-colleague who, during a chat about music, mentioned Mahler. On spotting my non-comprehension, he most kindly loaned me two records (it's over 25 years ago. We treasured our vinyl then). One was Das Lied von der Erde; the other, Mahler's Second Symphony, the Resurrection. Of course, it was the classic recording



I listened carefully, and there was an immediate connection. I vowed to collect recordings of all Mahler's music, and to attend live performances of the symphonies in order! Which I did, although it was some time before I was brave enough to tackle the bleak, other-worldliness of the Ninth.

My notes from this evening's prom read 'beautiful phrasing, clear articulation, and plenty of spaciousness'
Here's a review which agrees.

When first attending the Proms, I was - for at least the first two years - regularly 'overcome' with hearing music live. Pieces I'd heard on the radio, or on records, were being played for me - live. The effect was, initially, overwhelming, though I'm pleased to say I no longer require tissues every time I attend a concert! However, I had a suspicion that the Resurrection would set me off - especially in the light of the recent visit to Wales. And it did. As we moved to Urlicht, the vision of life after death, the only way I could maintain any semblance of composure was to firmly close the programme, and thankfully, on this occasion not understanding German, just listen.

This was one of the best performances of Mahler 2 I've heard live. Thank you, Mariss Jansons & the Bavarian Radio Symphony Choir and Orchestra, also Anna Larsson (a wonderfully smoky mezzo) & Genia Kuhmeier (sop). I found a clip of Ms Larsson here, singing the finale.

And - oh joy - a big thank you to the kind man who came to the Gallery queue to distribute some copies of his book on Mahler! Keith Clarke's book has garnered favourable reviews on Amazon (though they're out of stock at present). Here are details:
Mahler's Heavenly Retreats
Keith James Clarke
Oblique Angle Publishing (2006)
ISBN-13: 978-0955408007

It's a fascinating book, and if there were views such as this, then it's easy to see why he wanted to get away.

Prom 33

Thursday 8 August

It wasn't the LvB I was there for, it was Mitsuko Uchida! As you can see from the photo in this review, her outfit was gossamer elegance - though the jacket proved too much, and at some time between the first & second movements it was discarded, nearly floating to the first violins' desks..

Her playing is miraculous, her touch exquisite. And she played this as though it were but next door to Mozart. Of all Beethoven's piano concertos, this is the most Mozartian - no revolutionary here, but some tender phrases. I did wonder, however, if this was slightly under-rehearsed - there were moments (fleeting, yes, but they were there) where soloist & orchestra weren't totally together. However, it was nearly 20 years since Uchida had last played at the Proms - so any slight imperfections were forgiven immediately.

After the interval, Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique. This was the piece that introduced me to Berlioz as a child. We were in one of our irregular periods of owning a television (amazing to think that 'the telly' was not always the indispensable 42" necessity it seems to be today), and the BBC screened, I think, The Count of Monte Cristo as a children's serial. Which took, as its theme music, March to the Scaffold. I sat up & listened - I can't remember any of the serial (apart from the inevitable shot of a man in period costume on a horse), but I most definitely remember the music! Thus was I introduced to one of music's best composers & orchestrator - and writer, too.

Jansons took everything slowly at first, building the tension throughout the piece to a rip-roaring finale. An excellent antidote to the rain & damp in Wales...

Prom 34

As for our Nige - while marvelling at the queues round the block for this Prom, I listened at home. I'm not sure if the queues were a commentary on how people still 'get' Nigel; or how they only know him for this one piece, first recorded over 20 years ago. Those who were there enjoyed it - and had the freedom of the Bristol Proms to applaud when they wished. If you liked jazzy Ba-rock, you would have loved it. Baroque-lite, if you will. Because of the queues, the Prom was late starting - & Mr. K even later on stage. I hope those who needed to get the last Tube home were lucky. These events don't happen in a vacuum, Mr. K; not everyone has the luxury of sleeping on the following morning.

Notes from a friend

I have been in south Wales...

as my mother is very unwell...but a more musical friend has given me his permission to quote his thoughts. I always enjoy reading Will's emails: they are always intelligent, extremely cogent, and very well-written. Thank you, William Willans, of Bath!

Prom 26 - Thursday 1 August

... missed the Henze.

About the best performance yet, for me, of the Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments. I really enjoyed the whole of it. Likewise Sir Michael Tippett's 2nd - again for the first time, the contrasting styles of the first movement ("sunlight on a fast-flowing stream", did someone say?) and the last, all jagged, all made sense. And the second movement was magic.

But what really got me was Movements. I've been aware of this piece from earliest days. But heard it for the first time only recently. And found it very, very difficult to follow. But ye Gods - not this time. It held together. It worked. It was lovely. For me, at any rate.

Having bitched about R3 presentation lately, have to admit, this time it was stunning. Bits from Oliver Knussen and P Serkin that really were helpful. And, two recorded bits from Sir Michael, one (1960), on the Symphony, and the other (1970's) on Stravinsky; the latter making an excellent point, that in spite of the radically different musical language as time went on, "Stravinsky is still Stravinsky" (might not be an accurate quote). That really was a tonic, after the Concerto and before Movements. An encouragement to look for similarities, in the terse fragments of the latter, rather than be put off by strangeness.

Incidentally, Oliver Knussen also said (can't remember his words), Movements really is a difficult piece for the listener, he didn't get it all at first, but when he did he loved it - and, he and P Serkin probably have done it more than anyone else, etc. A bit like Hendrick's Gin adverts - "This is not for everybody" ... After that, who could resist ?

I had asked Will to listen to James MacMillan's Violin Concerto, given on Saturday 3 August. I'd heard this at its Proms premiere, and been distinctly underwhelmed. Would Will agree, and if so, why? Here are his thoughts:

Okay, here goeth.

Gesture. First and second movements, anyway - solo part in second might just as well have been improvised. Third did get my attention, in a biggish way, with tremendous sounds (esp piano clunking away in the orchestra).

Up to the point when the woman spoke. Which was effective, in its way, because I nearly laughed out loud.

After that, more gesture, and I found the cadenza most uninteresting.

And now, an Obscure Comparison. Found myself thinking of modern worship styles, with everything focussed on the individual and the group, looking inwards. For the soloist, as in so many violin concertos, was being made to say "Me, me, me ..." And we were being brought together in a response to that. As opposed to the old BCP way, celebrant facing E, leading us to something beyond our wretched selves, which is what music can do. Of whatever sort. Bach, or folk, or country-and-western fiddle player, or plainchant, or whatever. If it's the real thing.

One violin concerto does that for me, and only one. Samuel Barber's.

Still my view after this evening.

And - Dear Mr Macmillan, all the violin pyro stuff has been done before, by Mr Paganini. Much better. Get over it.

So: hollow, then. I didn't have the words for it three years ago, just a sense of it missing a core. I had returned home on Wednesday 7 August, but was in no frame of mind to attend the RAH that evening. Here are Will's thoughts on Tuesday's & Wednesday's Proms:

To continue - didn't get on any too well with the Korngold Symphony. Competent, of course. And excellently played. It would have been perfectly okay as background for the right sort of film (gay love story set in a provincial university, with romantic sunsets and perhaps a hint of S/M?).  But not quite the real thing.

Nor did I warm to the Rubbra piece. And I really wanted to - but, like the ER pieces I've heard, one gorgeous bit, and the rest again, not quite the real thing.

I saw ER once. It was at St Bartholomew's the Great, in (I think) Nov 1973, and I was peeking in through the door before a special service. I knew that ER had done a piece for it - and the Rector, Canon Eddius Neville Wallbank, burst out with a great cry of:

"My dee-ah Edmund ... !"

And there he was. Just as in pictures. A very, very distinguished-looking man, grey hair, grey beard carefully trimmed.

That was the one time I saw Sir John Betjeman, already with his mobility impaired, shuffling through the gateway, in the rain, escorted by ENW holding an umbrella over him. Poor, poor man, I thought. Much later, I read Anthony Powell's journals, in which the suggestion was made that at that time, at least, he did rather put it on. And if Spoken To, could function much better...

 Back to that Prom. "Orb and Sceptre" was fun, of course, and great stuff for an occasion, but as a concert piece ... This is all very negative, and will go on thus for a while - the Bruch concerto made little impact on me. But I did enjoy the encore. Which reminds me - in my comments on the Stravinsky / Tippett wingding, I forgot to say, the encore was wonderful. In its own right, of course, and also as the perfect bridge between Movements and the Symphony.

Anyway. After Tuesday came Wednesday. Good Heavens. GOOD HEAVENS ... what an evening. Missed the first piece, alas. But was ready for "Egdon Heath". Or thought I was. I was not ready to be quite so completely overwhelmed. From the start. Okay, thought I, this one understands. This is a conductor whose aim is to give the music its own shape and substance, all the feeling and at the same time the strictest attention to detail. And in the second half, he'll do "The Planets..."

But first, the Lutoslawski Concerto, which I loved, really exciting, and challenging in the best way.

Then the interval, and a talk from some feller on the borrowings from the "Planets" in pop music.  Whilst I attended to domestic Stuff, and only just got back to the armchair in time for Mars.

Oh, my. The pace, just a little faster than most do it. The detail. The drive - building up tension all the way, and for once not slackening off in returning to the 5/4 beat,  but urging on, to those last spaced chords, each one a hammer-blow, absolutely annihilating. I tell you, the hush afterwards was palpable. The audience seemed stunned.

And so through Venus, and Mercury, each breathtaking.

To Jupiter ... I find this movement less gripping, after the first three. Or rather, I used to - this time was different - such verve. And again such attention to detail, a bass-line I'd never noticed before, a brass note sustained through a chord putting the phrase in a new light. And this time, yes, I was gripped. So much so, that when The Tune started, I was saying to myself:

"What's this wonderful tune ... ?"

It really was as though hearing it for the first time.

On again. Saturn, slower than I've ever heard it, chilling in its beauty - and, I heard every harp note. Uranus -  can miss-fire, be made to sound facetious, but no hint of that - wonderful timps, and, in the big chord when everything vanishes, I HEARD THE ORGAN GLISSANDO. That really was a first. Maggie heard it, too:

"What WAS that chord? I've never heard anything like it ..."

And Neptune - well, sometimes this very beautiful piece can be made to lose its way. Not with this lot. Beautifully shaped, and the choir making a perfect end.

Did I get the impression that the audience had enjoyed it ?? I rather think so - sounded that way, anyway, once the applause began.

Here's a review  - and another, here, from two other commentators which agrees that it was a rather good performance of The Planets! And for another opinion of the Korngold, see here

Prom 17

Thursday 25 July

Phoarrrr!

This review says it all, and rightly gives a 5 star review. What an evening!

The shot below is just one of the encores...



 

Mezzo-soprano Clara Mouriz was making her Proms debut; tucked away in the midst of the orchestra, it can't have been too nerve-racking: all eyes were on the Antonio Marquez Company of dancers! No Shades of Grey here, but swirling colours, which dazzled the eye as the temperature rose, peaking in a sinuous, sexy Bolero. 

The first half was normal enough: a John McCabe BBC Commission world première, which was relatively innocuous. It would be interesting to see some statistics of how many times such commissions are ever played again - and how must it costs the BBC.

To a fellow Prommer who commented after that the brass sounded 'off' in LvB's 7th, this might explain it... though it sounded OK to me & others around me. This is my favourite LvB symphony, with wonderful images of a religious procession as it nears, then passes from view. Meanwhile, a query - was the music ever used for a television show on show-jumping? Or anything similar?

But the second half was the truly riveting experience! It's being shown on August 2nd, and DO watch it. Wonderful company, all with legs of steel. Phoarr!

Wagner....

Proms 14 & 15

Some people can't get enough - and others don't want to go there..

I admit it straight away: I am not a Barenboim fan. The adulation given him just because he was once married to a most excellent cellist is insufficient  for me. He's not my favourite conductor, nor my favourite pianist. There's too much 'Barenboim' between the man and the music. So - just when I finished taking on board a superb Die Walkure on Tuesday evening - I was disappointed to read this 
...especially after reading this:
Clemency Burton-Hill ‏@clemencybh 23 Jul

Ten minutes before @bbcproms curtain up, only @DBarenboim wd be hanging out outside smoking a cigar! #legend pic.twitter.com/cPb6AHTD4q

I'd gone to Das Rheingold the previous evening, but lasted only 45 minutes, thanks to the heat and crowds about the rail..there are LOT of people who bought weekly season tickets ONLY for the Wagner. They are mostly men.

The singing is excellent; the orchestra is utterly superlative.

Semyon Bychkov - one of my favourite conductors - is probably having to work harder because of the loss of his Tristan

I will listen in the comfort of my own home to some of the others - apart from Siegried, who is a boring numpty...

It's a great pity that we didn't have more Verdi....