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The
French Connection - and a brief early history
So much a part
of the British musical scene the Proms have become, it is easy
to forget that they were modelled on the French 'Promenade Concerts'
(concerts where the audiences could literally walk or 'promenade'
whilst the music was going on), which began in 1833 in the Champs-Elysées,
Paris. Philippe Musard (1793-1859) was the driving force behind
these concerts, though rival sets of concerts were instigated,
including those by the more ostentatious impresario/conductor
Louis George Maurice Adolphe Roch Albert Abel Antonio Alexandre
Noé Jean Lucine Daniel Eugène Joseph-le-brun Joseph-Barême Thomas
Thomas Thomas-Thomas Pierre Arbon Pierre-Maurel Barthélemi Artus
Alphonse Betrand Dieudonné Emanuel Josué Vincent Luc Michel Jules-de-le-plane
Jules-Bazin César Jullien (1912-1860) - his
friends called him 'Louis' for short!
These concerts
led to his eventual bankruptcy and, dictated by circumstance,
Jullien fled to London and started his Promenade Concerts again
in Drury Lane in 1840, where he helped to break down the many
barriers which separated the audience from music. He also helped,
partly by his natural flamboyance, to establish the idolisation
of the conductor. One of his eccentricities was that, when conducting
Beethoven, he always used a jewelled baton which he received from
a silver salver, whilst wearing white gloves, which were changed
to black for the Funeral March of the Eroica. Although
other series of Promenade concerts sprang up and were enthusiastically
promoted, the most famous were those of Sir Henry Wood whose flair
for programming, in both light and 'serious' music, is the most
fondly remembered and has had the most lasting impact (his reign
was from 1895 until his death in 1944). Sir Henry Wood was known
as 'Timber', not because of his name, but because he was one of
the last conductors to use a really large stick. The orchestral
players claimed that the 'whooshing' noise it generated sweeping
through the air, not to mention his clattering cuff-links, combined
with the conductor's barracking to get them to play pianissimo,
usually drowned out the music! From 1927, the Proms have be run
by the BBC which, for better or worse, has reflected the musical
tastes of the reining Heads of Music. Since the Second World War
their main permanent home has been the Royal Albert Hall.
Chandos
at the Proms
This year's season
has a good sprinkling Chandos-related artists and repertoire.
Leonard Slatkin
as the BBC Symphony Orchestra's Principal Conductor naturally
is well represented at the Proms. His Chandos recordings of Stokowski's
Bach transcriptions (CHAN 9835),
Turnage orchestral works (CHAN
10018) and Bernstein Symphonies (CHAN
9889) are a tribute to this artist's mastery of large-scale,
highly-colourful orchestral scores.
Richard Hickox
is undoubtedly one of the world's greatest champions of British
music, and with his latest appointment as Principal Conductor
of the BBC National Symphony Orchestra of Wales, this shows no
sign of this abating. Two of the most successful projects he is
currently working on with Chandos are featured in the 5th September
Prom, namely his Frank Bridge cycle (where the wonderfully haunting
Oration for cello and orchestra is being played) and the
Berkeley Edition (Michael Berkeley's Secret Garden is being
performed at the Prom, along with Holst's The Planets).
The following day, Hickox performs Lennox Berkeley's superb Magnificat
(alongside Ravel's Mother Goose [ballet] and the Franck
Symphony). Not that Hickox only champions British music; on 23rd
July, he performs Mendelssohn's incidental music to Antigone
- a fascinating piece and a real rarity.
The BBC Philharmonic's
new Principle Conductor, Gianandrea Noseda, is already
making great waves in his new position, and has so far released
two highly acclaimed CDs on Chandos - the sparkling Rossini/Respighi
ballet La boutique fantasque (CHAN
10081), and Prokofiev's The Stone Flower (CHAN10058(2)),
the Suite of which can be heard at the Proms on 10th September.
Noseda was also the conductor in charge of the popular 'Blue Peter
Prom' (23 July), this year titled 'Magical Journeys' - a fantastic
way of introducing children to classical music. On the 24th July
Prom, Noseda gave the premiere performance of James MacMillan's
Third Symphony - a composer and conductor who has a recent but
important connection with Chandos, with the release of two very
exciting CDs (CHAN 9997
and CHAN 10092).
The BBC Philharmonic,
very much a Chandos orchestra, is conducted by another Chandos
stalwart, Vassily Sinaisky in a Russian program of Tchaikovsky
and Prokofiev on August 2nd - just the sort of colourful scores
he does so well as we know from his glittering Chandos CDs of
Arensky, Glière, Glinka, Kabalevsky, Lyadov, and many others.
The French conductor
Yan Pascal Tortelier's BBC Philharmonic recordings always
receive unanimous critical acclaim. His many fans will be pleased
to know that he is appearing at the Proms on 9th August (Prokofiev's
Fifth Symphony and Berlioz's Harold in Italy, with the
National Youth Orchestra), and this October, he is releasing a
stunning new recording of Fauré's Requiem, intriguingly
coupled with some rare and highly attractive works for chorus
and orchestra.
Rumon Gamba's
recordings for Chandos' Film Music Series are already regarded
as classics of their kind, and the series goes from strength to
strength. On 16th August, film music fans music are in for a treat
with an entire Prom devoted to classic film scores written around
the time of the Second World War, including those by Arnold, Bax,
Bliss, Rawsthorne, Rodney Bennett and many others, included in
the Chandos series. (Incidentally, a super disc of Gordon Langford's
wonderfully tuneful music is being released this September, with
the BBC Concert Orchestra, but that takes us away from the Proms.)
Chandos
connections at the Proms
Sir Charles
Mackerras, not an exclusive Chandos artist by any means, nevertheless
has several distinguished recording on Chandos, notably those
of Janácek - a composer with whom his name is synonymous. He has
just recorded a new recording of Jenufa as part of our
Opera in English Series, which is eagerly awaited. His 'All-Richard
Strauss' opera Prom is on 5th August.
Mariss Jansons's
Tchaikovsky cycle on Chandos (CHAN
8672 7CDs) with the Oslo Philharmonic with undoubtedly a classic
of the early digital age and has always been one of our best sellers.
You can hear him performing Tchaikovsky Fourth Symphony on 29th
August (with Beethoven's Second) and on the following a day, Mahler's
First Symphony and Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto.
Martyn Brabbins
has made four enterprising discs of British music on Chandos:
a disc of Bax (CHAN 9879)
and two discs of music by Hubert Clifford and Edgar Bainton (CHAN
9757 and CHAN 10019),
all highly acclaimed; and the just-to-be-released Edward Gregson
(CHAN 10105). He is performing
other British works at the Proms on 6th August, including Elgar's
Second Symphony, and the London premiere of Sally Beamish's Trumpet
Concerto.
Kenneth Silito
directs the famous Academy of St Martin in the Fields on 11th
August, but you can hear him on Chandos too in a recent recording
of Schubert's 'Trout' Quintet (CHAN
10021) and a CD of Brahms Sextets (CHAN
9151), which is frequently voted top choice in this repertoire.
Alexander Lazarev
performs Prokofiev's First Piano Concerto and Shostakovich Seventh
Symphony on 8th September, but remember he is also the conductor
on Terence Judd's electrifying accounts of Tchaikovsky's First
Piano Concerto and Prokofiev's Third (CHAN
9913). This is simply a 'must own' CD - a fine tribute to
a pianist who died, tragically, so young.
Sir Simon Rattle
is not a name especially associated with Chandos, but don't forget
his early recordings of Stravinsky (CHAN
6535) and Schoenberg and Webern (CHAN
6534) on our label, and we are delighted to release his classic
Covent Garden performance of Janacek's Cunning Little Vixen,
with a star-studied cast (including Thomas Allen, Robert Tear,
Gillian Knight, Elizabeth Bainbridge, etc.) this September, as
part of our Opera in English series.
Finally, for all
those composers whose works are receiving their premiere recording,
I quote Beecham famous remark concerning the acoustic of the Royal
Albert Hall: 'British composers should all endeavour to
have their works performed in Albert Hall; they will thus be assured
of at least two performances'.
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