Vienna Philharmonic Plays Mozart and Tchaikovsky

Vienna Philharmonic Plays Mozart and Tchaikovsky
Royal Albert Hall

It is my second Prom of the day, thanks to being a day late with 'Vienna Philharmonic Plays Bruckner’s Ninth'. And there's even more bad news, because tonight there is also going to be another one of those 'late night' Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. This means that - like Sunday just gone - I am once again facing a day with no less than three Proms to listen to and consider.

My notes on Berg and  Bruckner from yesterday evening's Prom were not complimentary, but I am wondering if I may have had a different opinion on these pieces had I heard them on the first week of the Proms, as opposed to the last. Without a doubt, I am in need of resuscitation in music form. Mozart and Tchaikovsky are surely going to deliver on this?

Mozart's Symphony No. 38, has been nicknamed the 'Prague' symphony. Apparently the city adored his Marriage of Figaro, awarding it more success at the time than Vienna did. To date I have not visited Prague, save for this June just gone, when I was caught in traffic on the outskirts of the city, on the way to Pilsen with a couple of friends. This was where I was to first encounter the delight of the Pilsner Urquell brewery and its fresh tank beer. [Hoping to intersect the Czech capital sometime next year, or in the near future.]

It is not until about thirty minutes into the music that I (finally) get the instrumental flavours I am in such desperate need of. It's Mozart who, as I have already remarked, to me does tend to convey some tasteful pomp. It offers something of a jump start for me, which will now hopefully see me through to Saturday [the Last Night of the Proms].

Right now I am not capable of a running commentary on a nearly hour-long symphony like Tchaikovsky's number six, except to say that I recognise the style as his. It offers all the elegance of fine dining, and I am not left wanting a bag of chips on the way home.

Photo by me [Edinburgh city].

Khatia Buniatishvili Plays Tchaikovsky

Khatia Buniatishvili Plays Tchaikovsky

Royal Albert Hall

For me, it's been another proud Friday afternoon of running. Managed a 10k in 01:06:51 to be precise. The route was perfect. Started at my house, along the Bridgewater canal to Walton Hall and Gardens, then through Warrington towards Warrington Bank Quay train station. All of this was bang on ten kilometers in distance, and I was overjoyed. Got the train back, one stop.

The first piece of music at the Royal Albert Hall tonight is Haunted Hills, by Margaret Sutherland. The opening is ostentatious and a trifle kitsch. Not to say unpleasant - the underlying strings are definitely giving it a good old 'haunted house' feel. It's not so much haunted in a modern American way, but rather I would place it in a film accidentally stumbled across on Talking Pictures TV on a Sunday afternoon. Introduced to the music is, what to me at first, sounds like someone playing the part of a ghost or ghoul. There's some incoherent kerfuffle, and I wonder is this part of the act? [this is culture, after all]. No - it seems there is something of an indiscretion at the Royal Albert Hall. The presenter Ian Skelly [I'm getting to know the Radio 3 presenters now] declares it a 'coordinated situation', keeping his consummate cool and eloquence.

We get played a peaceful Brahms, Chopin, and Bach to settle us, censoring the disturbance for those of us hooked up on the wireless. We are informed that the concert is going to start again from the beginning. Also, the Dvořák is going to be played before the Tchaikovsky, in a change to the running order, as the soloist is a little shaken up by the disturbance in the hall. 

With it being the BBC Proms, it's not rocket science to work out what the 'disturbance' is in aid of. I have a quick look at Twitter [X, if we must], and see there are 'unconfirmed reports' - guesswork, basically. I look up the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and it seems they've got themselves into some political hot water over the last couple of years. However, I am not going to offer my own thoughts on the matter, simply because I don't understand it enough to provide a meaningful opinion. Whenever I try to read up on it, all I'm faced with is noise. [Politically, the far-right and the far-left dislike the BBC in equal measure, so it only takes a simple mathematical equation to tell us that, in actual fact, it tries to float somewhere around the centre.] One thing I do know is that there is nothing noble in frightening someone. And as with all 'protests' of this nature, the subject of their protestation is the same thing they literally funded on the way in. Such is the idiocy of these people.

Just been thinking back to some other times when I've witnessed unsettling disruptions during a performance. One of them was actually at the Royal Albert Hall, back in 2013, when I went to see Eric Clapton perform there. It's documented on YouTube somewhere. Near the end of the show, a 'fan' jumped onto the stage and (if memory serves) tried to grab EC's leg, probably so he could boast about it to his mates. Fortunately, security at the RAH was on to it like a flash. EC, to his credit, managed to virtually ignore what was going on, and continue playing the song (it was either the encore, or the final song of the main set). Something very similar happened when I saw Sterophonics at the Liverpool arena in 2022, to which Kelly Jones quipped: 'you've got to pay extra for that.' Classy comeback!

Back to tonight's schedule at the Proms, and the second piece is Dvořák's Symphony No. 6. I wouldn't call it relaxing, but there's a beautiful energy to it, and it's very pleasing to the ear.

During the interval there's some chat about what it means to be a 'assistant conductor' - I didn't know this was a thing, but I suppose it makes sense!

And finally, the Tchaikovsky. God, it's glorious. I think Ian Skelly is right to compare its famous opening to Beethoven's Fifth - because it really does make for a worthy competitor. As I mentioned when Tchaikovsky's 2nd was played earlier in the run, I was first introduced to his 1st when I watched the 1990 film Misery: and I often visualise a romantic version of myself typing away furiously at my laptop keyboard, trying to keep up with all these Proms blogs - as Thchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 plays in the background.

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CBeebies Prom: A Magical Bedtime Story

CBeebies Prom: A Magical Bedtime Story

Royal Albert Hall

It's been a hot and sunny bank holiday Monday, though I have been working from home today, covering the fort. Not too stressful, with reduced hours of 10am-3pm, and it stays pretty cool in my old house. I haven't been running for a few days, so I do a 6k afterwards.

After all this, I am sitting comfortably in my tub chair, so I press play on BBC Sounds and today's Prom begins [a couple of hours behind the live schedule]. The Story Fairy is late and, not for the first time in my life, I'm wondering what I'm doing here [this is Taylor Swift all over again]. I think the story is that the story itself is lost, and we are on a quest to find it.

I giggle to myself, because the incidental music is actually reminding me of the Anglo-Amalgamated Carry On films. The orchestral music on those films was top notch as a matter of fact, but further to that I think we'll draw a discreet veil over the topic.

While I'm sure there's a captive audience at the Royal Albert Hall, somehow I'm struggling to imagine preschoolers being glued to Radio 3 at home. Maybe there's a catchment for those children who are being fed a deliberate diet of P.L. Travers, Michael Bond, and Beatrix Potter; as opposed to those on a more relaxed regimen of Cartoon Network and YouTube.

It's not long before I hear the beautiful opening of Grieg's Peer Gynt. I just love it: it's the epitome of springtime beauty expressed in music, and I think it's a great choice for introducing kids to classical music - well done whoever organised, I don't blame you for throwing that in! [This may well have been the first piece of classical music I ever became familiar with myself. I remember my parents had a CD of it, with a lilac flower on the front cover - might still have it somewhere.]

There follows a glorious roster including Pizzicato Polka by Strauss, Here Comes the Sun by George Harrison, and Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker. Christ, the kids are getting better music than we adults are! But why not? In my humble opinion, the best way to get children engaged in classical music is to make it accessible in the first instance. Just play them the good stuff, and they'll enjoy it. One or two might even be sparked into learning more for themselves.

Personally, I would have paid good money to be there.

Bruce Liu Plays Tchaikovsky

Bruce Liu Plays Tchaikovsky

Royal Albert Hall

I'm half an hour late to this evening's Prom, but not without good reason. My parent's were in the area and we dined out at the Ring O' Bells pub in Frodsham. Good reviews apparently, and it did not disappoint. For my part I enjoyed a '14 Hour Braised Beef and Ale Pie', washed down with a pint of J.W. Lee's Manchester Pale Ale. Finished it off with a raspberry bakewell with custard, and an Irish coffee. A feast fit for a hero.

I arrive back to mine in a daze of happiness and, thanks to the wizardry of BBC Sounds, I'm able to listen to tonight's Prom from the start. And talking of wizardry, it's Bruce Liu at the keys this evening. I have no need to wash any dishes etcetera tonight, so I plump for the living room HiFi to enjoy tonight's programme.

The first piece is Antrópolis by Gabriela Ortiz, which apparently is a homage to urban nightlife in Mexico City. Bodes for a full-flavoured piece, and, not for the first time this evening, I'm pleasantly satisfied. It's a heavily percussive broth, with a soupçon of the flamenco. Very tasty!

Next up it's Tchaikovsky's Second Piano Concerto in full. I'm a fan of Tchaikovsky's music, first encountering it, I think, from the 1990 film Misery. One of the many powerful scenes in that film features Tchaikovsky's piano concerto number one. So... I'm very familiar with his first, but what of his second? It's perhaps not as intense as the first, but it's Tchaikovsky all right - all the hallmarks are there. Softly floating bubbles of piano, kept airborne by smooth strings throughout.

The encore to the first half is a corker - we're treated to a rousing rendition of Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag, with the percussion joining in the fun being led by the piano. Any aspiring pianist will tell you that this (along with The Entertainer) is a must-learn piece, but it's incredibly demanding to play. I hear a bit of a chuckle from the audience when it starts. And why not? It brings us all back to life after the unabridged Tchaikovsky. One fine rag!

The interval plays and I draw the curtains - this is happening noticeably earlier than last week.

I'm very happy with how things are going so far, but have no clue of what to expect from the final piece, which is Pictures at an Exhibition by Modest Mussorgsky. It kicks off and, Oh My GOD!, it's the theme tune to the The New Statesman! Rik Mayall's number one fan right here, but that's something I'll have to fill another blog with sometime.

The presenter Ian Skelly muses that the capacity crowd will be heading home, 'walking on air.' I know I would be. Unexpectedly, one of my favourite of the 2025 Proms so far. I'm pleasantly stuffed tonight, in every possible way :)