JDF at the Proms
It is many years (at least 15) since I have actually attended a Proms concert but they were hugely influential in my musical education and I still follow them on the radio and television.
The extraordinary venue is the Royal Albert Hall. And ‘extraordinary’ is indeed the word to describe this gigantic eccentric piece of Victoriana. The auditorium is vast (accommodating I believe some 6,000 people – 1,400 of them standing as ‘prommers’). The acoustics are weird, rather more like a cathedral than a concert hall and the facilities almost non-existent. There is no sign of air-conditioning.
So it was that I chose one of the hottest nights of the year to take one of the hottest tickets of the season: the Proms debut of Juan Diego Florez, whom I am not ashamed to nominate as the Greatest Singer in the World.
The first half of the concert consisted of JDF singing three bel canto blockbusters; in the second he sang four Latin-American songs. These were interleaved with orchestral pieces on a Spanish theme.
Apart from one awful bum note in “Una Furtiva Lagrima”, the Great Man was on fine form and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself. He resisted the temptation to force his voice in this giant arena and even displayed some beautiful soft singing. The tempi of some items had been slowed considerably to cope with the acoustic, and he seemed to relish the reverberations of that acoustic, pausing at times like some Grand Gregorian Chant Divo until the echoes had subsided so he could launch off again, singing into silence.
Of course the voice does not have the impact that it does in an opera house seating a third of this audience. And the Proms are a curious phenomenon: they are so geared to those who are truly ‘promming’ that even sitting in the stalls I felt something of a spectator at someone else’s event.
The Latin-American Songs were performed in very elaborate and sentimental arrangements that reminded me of some of the work that Douglas Gamley did for Dame Joan. So elaborate were they that JDF had some electronic assistance for this part of the concert.
That, combined, with the venue and the heat, made this less than a five star event. Am I being mean in this? Those nine top Cs from “Fille du Regiment” still rang out to make the hairs on the back of my neck (soaked in perspiration as they were) stand on end.
A recording of the concert will be on the BBC Proms website for the next week or so. Follow the link for ‘listen again’ and then ‘Prom 15’ at http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms
The extraordinary venue is the Royal Albert Hall. And ‘extraordinary’ is indeed the word to describe this gigantic eccentric piece of Victoriana. The auditorium is vast (accommodating I believe some 6,000 people – 1,400 of them standing as ‘prommers’). The acoustics are weird, rather more like a cathedral than a concert hall and the facilities almost non-existent. There is no sign of air-conditioning.
So it was that I chose one of the hottest nights of the year to take one of the hottest tickets of the season: the Proms debut of Juan Diego Florez, whom I am not ashamed to nominate as the Greatest Singer in the World.
The first half of the concert consisted of JDF singing three bel canto blockbusters; in the second he sang four Latin-American songs. These were interleaved with orchestral pieces on a Spanish theme.
Apart from one awful bum note in “Una Furtiva Lagrima”, the Great Man was on fine form and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself. He resisted the temptation to force his voice in this giant arena and even displayed some beautiful soft singing. The tempi of some items had been slowed considerably to cope with the acoustic, and he seemed to relish the reverberations of that acoustic, pausing at times like some Grand Gregorian Chant Divo until the echoes had subsided so he could launch off again, singing into silence.
Of course the voice does not have the impact that it does in an opera house seating a third of this audience. And the Proms are a curious phenomenon: they are so geared to those who are truly ‘promming’ that even sitting in the stalls I felt something of a spectator at someone else’s event.
The Latin-American Songs were performed in very elaborate and sentimental arrangements that reminded me of some of the work that Douglas Gamley did for Dame Joan. So elaborate were they that JDF had some electronic assistance for this part of the concert.
That, combined, with the venue and the heat, made this less than a five star event. Am I being mean in this? Those nine top Cs from “Fille du Regiment” still rang out to make the hairs on the back of my neck (soaked in perspiration as they were) stand on end.
A recording of the concert will be on the BBC Proms website for the next week or so. Follow the link for ‘listen again’ and then ‘Prom 15’ at http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms
posted by Alnwickian at 1:16 pm
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