Review: Prom No. 14 at the Royal Albert

[fox_c]

I left our Proms tickets this year up to raayat and this was one of his picks. We arrived just in the nick of time with the tuning note sounding literally as our bums hit our seats. In our rush, we missed getting a programme, which meant that I didn't have a chance to review the text of the first piece, Holst's First Choral Symphony using the poetry of

Comments

[lushfemke]

which orchestra was it?

[fox_c]

It was the BBC National Orchestra of Wales

[atticus_frog]

RAH acoustics are really dire. I'd love to attend more of the Proms but when I remember the muffled sound, I resist.

I listened to the Holst. Meh. It must be a terribly difficult piece to perform -- all those words and long phrases. Still, poetry is music without melody, I think. Therefore, most attempts to add the melody often feel forced and unnecessary to me. Plus, Holst destroyed the rhythm in the Apollo poems.

[fox_c]

I agree with your observations on the Holst, very contrived. There must be something about writing for speaking and writing for singing that is fundamentally different.

[atticus_frog]

Contrived is the perfect word.

Some poems have been set to music successfully (wasn't some of the Purcell we heard at the Wigmore poetry to music?). So, in this case, it's either the poet (blasphemy!) or the composer. I know where I locate the flaw. =)