Anyone been to any of this season's promenade concerts at the Royal Albert Hall? My elder daughter went to one of the early events, and I hope to make it to London myself in mid to late August.
I saw most of the opening concert on television (Elgar's Cello concerto and Beethoven's 9th) and have just finished watching 'Stabat Mater' by Rossini. Wonderful. If you can get to London, go. These are wonderful events for the music fan and a superb introduction to the classical arena as such. I didn't know the Stabat Mater: but I'm just about to order it on-line, if only for that wonderful second movement. Today's been quite demanding. What ever would I do without music?

Yes. I was at the first night. I thought the the performances were OK but not particularly inspiring. Next up for me is August 11th at 6.30 and I have about another half dozen booked as well as the Last Night.The atmosphere is what marks out the Proms. The audience really loves its music. The Prommers are not alone in their enthusiasm either, though patently they are a touch more committed (or crazy? ) than the rest of us, as they stand there in mid-hall or up in the gods for the whole of the proceedings.
My one suggestion would be that the organisers kept back more seat tickets for sale an hour before the performance, rather than just some promenade tickets. Not everyone can plan their lives to suit Prom programmes and, on the other hand, some find themselves suddenly free and would like to chance a seat queue for whatever concert is on.

Yes, I'm all in favour of being able to queue for tickets on the actual day. Mind you, last night's prom was far from full, with acres of space up behind the orchestra and choir that they couldn't help showing on camera as there was such a lot of singing. I've just had a quick look too at the BBC Proms site and I could have had four of the best seats for tonight without a problem. On paper, it's a les attractive propspect this evening than, say, August 16th. Still, even there I could still have got four seats together by opting for my third-choice category - though the appeal of an orchestra from Bergen doing Grieg's Piano Concerto obviously appeals to many far more than this evening's programme, and there won't be a spare seat in the house come the actual night, of that I'm sure.
Lucky you to have several concerts lined up already, Fred; but others reading this shouldn't think they've no chance of getting in now that the season's actually started, and even if it's a work you don't know, read the excellent programme notes and give it a go and you may discover something new. Like me with the Stabat Mater yesterday! And as Fred wrote:

"The atmosphere is what marks out the Proms. The audience really loves its music."

Absolutely, Fred.

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Originally posted by Colin, Paris, France:
acres of space up behind the orchestra and choir that they couldn't help showing on camera as there was such a lot of singing.

Wonder if that's to do with acoustics? Years ago I thought I'd done brilliantly by getting a pair of seats right behind the performers at the Royal Festival Hall, about where a choir would stand.It was a performance of pieces for cello and piano. Imagine my surprise at having to strain to hear properly. At points the performers were almost inaudible. The reason was that the hall had been built so that most of the sound was thrown forwards and almost any sound going back was dampened.The seats were cheap and on offer to students: perhaps I should have guessed why.

The Albert Hall just might be set that way.The set up was modernised because the acoustics there were something special, long ago. Who could fail to miss the famous echo? In some parts of the upper auditorium you could hear each performance twice, once on the first note and again on its echo

quote:

Originally posted by FredPuli:The Albert Hall just might be set that way.The set up was modernised because the acoustics there were something special, long ago. Who could fail to miss the famous echo? In some parts of the upper auditorium you could hear each performance twice, once on the first note and again on its echo

In the 60's when I was a student at the Royal College of music, Ruth Dyson used to give lectures to us about old keyboard instruments.

I still remember with great amusement her saying this: "You may be a young composer who has written a brand new work, and are lucky enough to be having it premièred somewhere. However, you cannot sure whether it will be deemed fit to be given a second performance, maybe only posterity will be able to judge its true value clearly. If you want to guarantee that it will be heard twice, have the première given across the road at the Royal Albert Hall."

Having written the above made me reminisce somewhat, and I decided to see if I could find anything on Ruth Dyson. For anyone interested here is an article from over 30 years ago about her work.