From Dark Till Dawn: All Night Prom
It's Friday night: I have just finished listening to the two previous proms from today, and in the morning I am due to board a National Express coach to take me from Liverpool One Bus Station to London. Not the most convenient time to throw in an all-night prom at the Royal Albert Hall, spreading thru the hours of 11pm to 7am. I will need to break this down into digestible chunks.
That is exactly what I do, opting to tune in for the first hour from my bedroom radio. It's fitting, I feel, that this prom opens with a organ-centered, Transylvanian haunted house feel. As someone who has tasted the pleasure of shift work in the past, my opinion is that anyone staying up all night - whether on the radio or at the venue - needs their head testing. But despite my repulsion at the idea of staying up all night, I cannot deny that I struggle to switch the radio off after the first hour. The Pirates of the Caribbean organ music takes me back to St George's Hall, pre-covid, listening to Professor Ian Tracey reciting Bach and others on the pipes. [Side note: I was once told that Liverpool hosts the first and third largest organs in the country (Anglican Cathedral and St George's Hall, respectively), with the second being the Royal Albert Hall!].
There follows a Spanish Ale House session that I'm really enjoying, and, as mentioned, I find myself reluctant to turn off the radio, But turn off I must, because the morrow brings my coach to the capital.
When I awake the next morning, I'm amused and disturbed by the fact that the music is still running at the Albert Hall. I grab a shower and get in my car to drive to Liverpool. By this time the broadcast is available on BBC Sounds, so I pick up where I left off the night before, and catch another thirty minutes worth of listening. There are Slovakian ale house songs which sound a bit Celtic, and this is followed by some more meditative music (maybe part of the first interval, I can't remember). Next there is some Irish music and this is a tour de force. We party like it's 1699, and, according to the announcers there is a 'bar fight' on stage, which I was sorry not to have seen with mine own eyes.
On the final leg of my coach journey (Milton Keynes to London Victoria), I manage to catch another hour.
Later that day I pick it up again in my hotel room, on the bluetooth speaker I have just purchased (a convenient coincidence) from IKEA on Oxford Street. [Side note: I bought it for £2.07 with the aid of a TopCashback voucher. Had my eye on it for a while and it will match the decor in my back room perfectly. I am made up with it!]
This prom is so long that I also need to catch up on other sessions the next day, including about two hours sitting in Norfolk Square, and finally about 90 minutes on my return bus ride.
Some personal highlights across the entire duration of this prom include (but are not limited to):
- The choral rendition of Bob Dylan's Make You Feel My Love
- Saint Saens Danse Macabre played on the piano [you having a laugh?! that's the second time it's been played this season and neither time was I there - Grrrr!]
- A bit of Bach (never a bad thing).
- The smooth Eastern tones heard towards the end of the programme.
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To sum up, it was a very exciting and varied running order. Fair play to Anna Lapwood for organising. Some really great music, and the spirit and atmosphere of everyone there was likewise great.
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