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Is it me, or did this not feel quite as much as a big event as recent years? I'm talking more about the Proms in the Park rather than the Albert Hall Prom itself, as I remember years ago we had lots more Proms in the Park (I know Wales was rained off tonight, but previously we have had several more concerts, including Liverpool and the Sage, Gateshead). Obviously this is the recession and the license-fee freeze taking effect, and there doesn't seem to be a sponsor this time around either (didn't Renault do Proms in the Park for a long time?). I'd far rather that the bulk of the RAH season continues to be as strong as possible than things being cut for Proms in the Park, but I just thought it was an interesting point. I remember when there were many concerts on Freeview, as there was 301 and 302 for Hyde Park and another, plus BBC Four would televise the Welsh concert. Nothing like that this time...
It was also noticeable how the Beeb were somewhat more conservative in their Park direction this year. I remember all the attempts to marry the parks up (the Meredith commission, the Young Composer fanfares etc.) and have a unifying work, but there was none of that this year. Obviously, they did have the songs all together at the end, but unless I am much mistaken, the audio broadcast was only that of the RAH itself, rather than any parks. Obviously there would be sync issues any other way (as demonstrated in the aforementioned works!) but the big choruses lacked the feeling of the parks singing. The sweeping wide shots just didn't quite do it for me, I'm afraid. Was there anybody watching the Hyde Park feed (or indeed one from NI) on the Red Button - did they switch to the RAH for the final songs, or were they broadcast from the Parks' perspective, as it were?
It was also interesting with the sound problems with Ed Gardner's microphone. The first one kept cutting out both in the hall and on the television feed (so presumably some kind of wireless signal problem?), and then a replacement was fine in the hall, but didn't get mixed up in the TV audio at all, so you had to strain to hear what he was saying through the arena mics. This was then replaced again, but still wasn't mixed up for TV until a few seconds later. Most unlike the BBC to have problems like that!
I also am not quite sure still about Katie Derham. She is far, far better than Titchmarsh or Anderson, but still is prone to saying some quite uninformed things, such as suggesting that Lang Lang might give an encore at the end of the first half. Perfectly possible, I suppose, but quite unlikely given that he was kicking off the second half too, and such an encore would come after that performance. Mind you, I'm sure that it is a very difficult occasion to present given the unpredictability of it, and she was perfectly competent (we're not talking Ortis standards here!!). I still miss Stephanie Hughes, though.
Sorry for that stream-of-consciousness post, but I'd be interested to hear the thoughts of anybody else - did the production seem slightly more conservatively produced than years gone by, or am I just getting more difficult to impress?!
It was also noticeable how the Beeb were somewhat more conservative in their Park direction this year. I remember all the attempts to marry the parks up (the Meredith commission, the Young Composer fanfares etc.) and have a unifying work, but there was none of that this year. Obviously, they did have the songs all together at the end, but unless I am much mistaken, the audio broadcast was only that of the RAH itself, rather than any parks. Obviously there would be sync issues any other way (as demonstrated in the aforementioned works!) but the big choruses lacked the feeling of the parks singing. The sweeping wide shots just didn't quite do it for me, I'm afraid. Was there anybody watching the Hyde Park feed (or indeed one from NI) on the Red Button - did they switch to the RAH for the final songs, or were they broadcast from the Parks' perspective, as it were?
It was also interesting with the sound problems with Ed Gardner's microphone. The first one kept cutting out both in the hall and on the television feed (so presumably some kind of wireless signal problem?), and then a replacement was fine in the hall, but didn't get mixed up in the TV audio at all, so you had to strain to hear what he was saying through the arena mics. This was then replaced again, but still wasn't mixed up for TV until a few seconds later. Most unlike the BBC to have problems like that!
I also am not quite sure still about Katie Derham. She is far, far better than Titchmarsh or Anderson, but still is prone to saying some quite uninformed things, such as suggesting that Lang Lang might give an encore at the end of the first half. Perfectly possible, I suppose, but quite unlikely given that he was kicking off the second half too, and such an encore would come after that performance. Mind you, I'm sure that it is a very difficult occasion to present given the unpredictability of it, and she was perfectly competent (we're not talking Ortis standards here!!). I still miss Stephanie Hughes, though.
Sorry for that stream-of-consciousness post, but I'd be interested to hear the thoughts of anybody else - did the production seem slightly more conservatively produced than years gone by, or am I just getting more difficult to impress?!