Late Junction Prom

Late Junction Prom
Lantern Hall, Bristol Beacon

Listening back to highlights [if that's what we're calling it] of this Prom via its Radio 3 broadcast. The original show was performed at 9pm on Friday 22nd August.

It starts off with Angel Bat Dawid, and I think she's effectively 'tuning' the audience. She's playing single piano notes and encouraging a "ah / ee / oooh". Sounds pretty good - novel idea!

Next it's a musician called Sarahsson, and I'm afraid this is where the show loses me. Please don't misunderstand me: I'm all for the expression of 'femininity, transition and synaesthesia,' but from this piece I get very little, apart from a couple of nice bird tweets. And those don't last long.

I listen through for the purpose of completion of my 2025 Proms project. But, on the same plane with Yoko Ono's artistry [oh no!], I fear I may never reach a level of intelligence to appreciate this appalling cataclysm that we're calling music. Sorry!

Image: Pixabay.com

Under the Italian Sun (Bristol)

Under the Italian Sun
Bristol Beacon

The final Prom in Bristol for what has been a packed schedule this bank holiday weekend. I'm listening in my bedroom on my Bose speaker which I bought in John Lewis Liverpool with a voucher for 5 years service with work - 8 years ago! [recently relocated from the breakfast room because it was a bit too boomy for that space. The new IKEA Nattbad speaker stands there now, and they both sound great in their new spaces!].

I've travelled a fair bit through my youth, though Italy is a place I've yet to visit. It is high on the list, but I suppose part of me has thought I'd put it on the back burner until I find some authentic romance. At 36 though I may need to accept defeat and do this as a solo journey before too long.

First up it's William Tell - now there's a name from the past! I'm sure I played this on piano at school [state secondary modern so, when I say piano, what I actually mean is a Casio keyboard with permanent-marker drug symbols and penises sketched on it. It did have a built-in floppy disk drive for the purpose of recording/playing back MIDI, which at the time I thought was miraculous!] It must have been Year 8 or 9 (so circa 2001-2003), and it served as an introduction to playing notes staccato.

Second piece is Puccini which, as I've mentioned in previous blogs on this run, I'm familiar with through my times of watching opera performed at St George's Hall in Liverpool, having seen Suor Angelica and Tosca there. Hard to know what to say about this piece but it's got a great sound. Enjoying it very much.

Next up it's Berio, and I'm still treading carefully with my assessment of his music. But this piece is nice enough. Strong vocals.

During the interval we hear talk of a phenomenon known as 'The Grand Tour.' Apparently, this was a rite-of-passage ritual for noble and aristocratic young men of about 21 years of age, where they would go on an educational tour around Italy. Commonly they would bring trinkets back with them, and hence why we in England have a few nice pieces of Italian tat hanging around our stately homes. If I'm not mistaken I think I hear something about there being some artifacts on display at the Holburne museum in Bath - will look into that, out of interest.

After the interval it's Verdi, and there's some great rolls here. Glorious fanfare!

The mezzo soprano gets a rumptious ovation following Ottorino Respighi's Il tramonto.

Lastly, I've noted down a question mark. Elgar? Why is he on the running order? Surely he's the most 'British' of all composers? Not that I know much about him. I look him up on Wikipedia and it says this: 'Although Elgar is often regarded as a typically English composer, most of his musical influences were not from England but from continental Europe'. That makes some sense, then. Tell you what, it's a bit special! This could be the beginning of a new relationship. 

Sibelius, Mozart, Arvo Pärt and Gavin Higgins (Bristol)

Sibelius, Mozart, Arvo Pärt and Gavin Higgins

Bristol Beacon

This was an early evening Prom but I'm tuning in via BBC Sounds, a few hours after the live broadcast. In preparation, I've walked over to Irby village and bought myself a bottle of Ayinger from the Crafty Tavern [a specialist beer/ales shop], and a Twirl multi-pack from Irby Local. I do like a dark ale, with my current favourite being the Augustiner Dunkel. I'd say this Ayinger is a touch more hoppy/malty than the Augustiner, and it ain't half bad! Just what I'm in the mood for :)

The Sibelius starts off superbly. The strings are like silk, and this feeling is sustained throughout. A bit of peace and relaxation, finally - thanks BBC Sounds, glad I tuned in! 

Next up it's Tabula Rasa by Arvo Pärt. If I was worried it was going to break away from the feel of the Sibelius, then I needn't have. The strings gel together on multiple levels, and it follows the mood of the previous piece we heard. It' a bit melancholic, mind. It's the sort of music that would play out in a film scene where a character is having a reflective moment about the episodes and events that have made up their life so far. Perfect background music for a beer and some chocolate. I vowed I wouldn't use the word 'sublime' this weekend, but it's hard not to in the face of something so... sublime! I'm becoming slightly inebriated from the drink as this piece goes on, and the music only adds to what becomes an opioid level of relaxation. Indeed, I haven't felt this good since the Fentanyl/Midazolam cocktail I was given before my colonoscopy at Arrowe Park hospital last year.

Rough Voices by Gavin Higgins offers something of a sobering-up. The opening is like a bucket of cold water. Not that pleasant at all after the previous music. It does settle down, but with a dark undercurrent. 

Mozart finishes us off. Feels a bit pompous in places, but isn't that what Mozart is all about?!

One Fine Prom!

Danish National Vocal Ensemble (Bristol)

Danish National Vocal Ensemble

Bristol

This Saturday afternoon I caught up with an old friend for a cake-and-coffee in Hoylake. We last got together about seven or eight years ago (funnily enough, at the exact same venue and at the same time of year if memory serves) but we picked things up like it was yesterday. [For posterity: the venue was Barbetta's (formerly 'Toast') on Market St, and I had a latte and a slice of carrot cake].

So it is that I'm listening to rest of today's packed Proms schedule a few hours behind, with thanks to BBC Sounds.

This Prom, as the title suggests, is to be largely choral stuff. For me, this is something of a struggle to put into words, because I'm much more at home with instrumentation. It's the Danish National Vocal Ensemble, and I believe these are the same peeps that so successfully contributed to Beethoven's Ninth at the Albert Hall the other night.

This afternoon in Bristol, however, we start with Bach to set us in the mood. The presenter notes that this piece is thought to be something to do with funerals [I'm sure she puts it more eloquently than that, but I can't remember her exact words]. It's Bach, so it certainly sounds heavenly. 

Second piece is by Ethyl Smyth. Apparently she spent a spell in gaol, and that's something she has in common with Bach! Did not know that - must look it up.

Absolutely clueless as to what to comment as the running order contiunues, except to say that most of it is pleasant, and some of it reminds me of a Christmas choral work I've recently come across and enjoyed, namely Lully, Lulla, Lullay.

Images created with ChatGPT.

Paraorchestra and The Breath (Bristol)

Paraorchestra and The Breath
Bristol Beacon

Bristol is a city I have only become familiar with in the last four years, with my first visit being in September 2021. I've since been back a few times, and I never pass up on an opportunity to return. The word 'bohemian' often comes up, and I totally agree. I love the contemporary Brisolian in-your-face multi-culturalism, and take satisfaction in knowing that those 'controversial philanthropist' shithouses, like Edward Colston, would turn in their graves if they could see this peaceful and happily-mixed city today.

And it's the Bristol Beacon, formerly known as Colston Hall, that hosts tonight's Prom. When I'm in town I always like to see a show if there's something on, and in the past I've visited the Bristol Old Vic and The Bristol Hippodrome. But, alas, not yet the Bristol Beacon. So I don't know much about the venue itself. I have a look online at some interior pictures, and it reminds me of The Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, or even our own Philharmonic Hall in Liverpool.

In my ignorance, for some reason I thought the Paraorchestra was something to do with parachutes. I think it's because there's an annual hot air balloon parade in Bristol, isn't there? But no, the Paraorchestra is in fact an orchestra formed of members with disabilities. I didn't know such a thing existed, but why shouldn't it?

Tonight it is a duo called The Breath, and they're being accompanied by the Paraorchestra, led by Charles Hazelwood. 

The music starts and, to me, it sounds folky. With a name like The Breath, that now makes sense. It's like an EPIC folk music. Hard to put my finger on it, but a bit like singing around a campfire, on a large scale. There's some interesting instrumentation. Is that a low Irish tin whistle? And I think I hear some uillean pipes? I think it's Ríoghnach Connolly (that makes sense), who talks during a break in the music, and she's both witty and human. She mentions Belgian colonial hand-chopping when talking about the song Antwerp, and I note that as a shrewdly overserved quip.

Some of the inflections remind me of the music of Jose Gonzales, and I'm a fan of his. [One of the best concerts I ever saw was him at the Royal Festival Hall, backed by the String Theory orchestra, in 

2017].

A Prom that offers me something new is always welcome, and I see that The Breath have a gig coming up at the Davenham Players theatre in Northwich, on Thursday 25th September. It's about a 25 mins drive away from my house, so I may well pop along to that.

Image: Pixabay.com