Tonight is the last night of Daylight Savings Time, 2007. So naturally, this SNLC has absolutely nothing to do with that. Regular readers of SNLC 2.0 know that self goes on (and on) about music of the classical variety. This edition fits that pattern perfectly, to excess, as the longest and most self-indulgent SNLC to date. You may wish, however, to keep in mind this quote from William Blake, of whom more briefly anon, where, in some instances (exceptions to the idea for later discussion):
"The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom."
In any case, this SNLC expands on the last part of SNLC 70, the bit about Jiří Bělohlávek, Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) and the Last Night of the Proms, 2007. (Remember: the loser is the diarist, not the subject.) Expands to what? Well....
For background about the Proms and the Last Night in particular, you can read here (offical version) and here (less official version). The BBC SO plays the most concerts of any one orchestra at the Proms, and thus is the Proms' flagship ensemble. One reference for note later is the name of Nicholas Kenyon, a former music journalist who was the Controller of the BBC Proms for 12 years until this year, when he left to become Managing Director of the Barbican Centre, London.
At the Last Night of the Proms, its second half turns into basically the classical equivalent of a mosh pit. Given the central arena where Prommers (Proms concertgoers) stand, orchestra level, that's not an exaggeration. One guy apparently brings a foghorn every year, to toot at suitable (?) moments. At least one other person brings car horns. In principle, the mosh-pit atmosphere could happen at any Proms concert. At the Last Night, it's a given.
In brief, the Last Night is a huge musical spectacle of British patriotism which causes never-ending embarassment among the UK highbrow/ever-so-slightly PC crowd, for the perceived jingoism of the music and the words in selections like "Rule Britannia" (example here). More highbrowedly, there's also criticism that not enough new music is included (example here). I'd never heard the Last Night on the radio, or on record, so I thought I'd try it this year. The concert was accessible on webcast for a week after the actual concert, and I listened to it.
To be honest, I sort of see the point, intellectually, of the embarassment. Less intellectually, however, I don't actually see any major harm to the patriotic sentiments. For musical patriotism, even if the words are kind of jingoistic, as music, any one note of Land of Hope and Glory beats the whole of "God Bless the USA" anytime, anywhere. Maybe it's partly because of what I heard of the second half of the Last Night, and saw from videos off YouTube:
(a) Joshua Bell selection
(b) Anna Netrebko selection (more here and here - watch her as she goes through the cello section)
(c) Land of Hope and Glory
(d) Jerusalem (for brownie loser points, name the Monty Python sketch that uses it in the comments)
Part of my reaction derived from how quiet the audience was during the more "serious" moments. During the lighter portions, like during Julius Fučík's "Entrance of the Gladiators" (the music you associate with the circus big top), they clap along with total enthusiasm.
Overall, I got the feeling that the Last Night is a tremendous celebration, UK-style, of community, in the best and most constructive way. You can see that with people singing along and swaying to the vocal selections, both in the Royal Albert Hall and in the five cities with the related Proms in the Park presentations:
(1) Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland/Ulster (Carrickfergus Castle)
(2) Glasgow, Scotland (Glasgow Green)
(3) London, England (Hyde Park)
(4) Swansea, Wales (Singleton Park)
(5) Middlesbrough, England (Tees Valley, Centre Square)
If the videos didn't make it clear, you can see that the Last Night is one big party. Given that we Westerners are lucky to have the kind of creature comfort civilization that we do have (for now), a party like that is welcome. And since SNLC is one of DK's community diary series....well, you get the idea.
Besides the music, I had an interest in hearing what Bělohlávek would do with the traditional speech. Usually, from what I've seen, having not heard any Last Night speeches prior to this one, the conductor gets to banter with the audience, indulge in puns bad or otherwise, note the donations raised over the season for the charities of choice, and such. On occasion, such as with Mark Elder (look at the answer to the "living person" question) in 2006, the conductor can make a larger social statement (bonus: Elder leads "Jerusalem" here).
In the case of Bělohlávek, the speech was of interest partly because he is the first Last Night conductor who is not a native English speaker, as noted here. However, one bit from that article gives you an idea about him:
"When Jirí Belohlávek made his Proms debut in the mid-1990s, the podium squeaked and he said nothing. The following year, on discovering it still squeaked, he felt sufficiently at home to tell the Prommers that if it wasn’t replaced in time for his next engagement, he would pay for a new podium himself. The ice was broken, everyone laughed."
You can read reviews of the 2007 Last Night at:
(A) The Guardian, Tim Ashley
(B) Evening Standard, Fiona Maddocks
(C) The Independent, Edward Seckerson (the answer to his question about the one sentence is below)
(D) Telegraph, Geoffrey Norris
(E) The Times, Hugh Canning (only the last paragraph)
On the whole, Bělohlávek seems like a guy with his head on pretty straight, as indicated a quote from this article, looking back at the early 1990's near-trainwreck in his career:
"Up to that point my career had gone so smoothly - everything was fine and everyone was praising me. It's too easy and life shouldn't be so - it is never so easy. Only with some problems can man get better and stronger."
For those who live in the Philadelphia, St. Louis, Detroit or Dallas areas, and want to show Belohlávek or your orchestra some appreciation, he will be visiting your neighborhood this month as a guest conductor:
(i) Philadelphia Orchestra: 11/6/07 (he's conducting there tonight as well)
(ii) St. Louis Symphony: 11/9/07, 11/10/07 (includes Mozart's "Exultate, jubilate" and Mahler's 4th Symphony)
(iii) Detroit Symphony: 11/15/07, also given on 11/16/07, 11/17/07 (includes Dvořák's "New World" Symphony)
(iv) Dallas Symphony: 11/29/07, 11/30/07 (Casual Friday), 12/1/07, 12/2/07 (includes Beethoven's 9th Symphony)
Kossack meet-up ideas, anyone?
Ultimately, and the final payoff and reason for writing all this: I transcribed Belohlávek's Last Night speech, with help on one sentence (no prizes for guessing). It is posted for your reading pleasure (or skipping over) to close out this SNLC. The sentiments may not be earth-shattering, but they're sincere, all the more so for the slightly broken English, which I left in not for any snarky reasons, but because I think it lends extra charm that a grammatically cleaned-up rendering would not have done. While he had a few shaky moments, you can easily pick out the moment when he totally wins the audience over.
(I am not sure, however, if there are copyright issues here. I wrote to the BBC, but haven't had a response yet, asking whether it was OK for me to transcribe the speech, slightly edited. If any legal types here who know about copyright law have any feedback that I need to edit it, please post in the comments.)
OK, if you've gotten this far, you know what to do in the comments....
2007 Last Night of the Proms speech, Jiří Bělohlávek, September 8, 2007
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. [rise from audience]
Good evening, everybody here in Royal Albert Hall, in five parks around nations of the United Kingdom, in London, in Glasgow, Swansea, Carrick....Carrickfendrück [sic] (sorry!) [further rise from audience] in Ulster, and for the first time this year, also in Middlesbrough. [cheers]
Good morn... [hesitation, then laughter] ... good evening for everybody who is listening and watching this event at the Big Screens in the city squares, across of the United Kingdom, or watching the TV, listening to the radio, or even using the Internet, all around the world. [fresh audience rise]
Speciální pozdrav všem mým drahým v Čechách na Moravě a Slovensku. ("Special greetings to our dear Czech, Moravian and Slovak listeners.") [audience rise] That was my small Czech contribution. [light audience laughter]
Last 13 month since I took up the position of the chief conductor of BBC Symphony Orchestra, I lived with a constant question coming to me from all directions. The question was:
What do you think about Last Night?
Would you conduct Last Night?
Would you have the speech?
Do you prepare your speech?
And so on and so on.
I have to admit that I was on the beginning, puzzled with this curiosity, which was bordering sometimes at the, at the....um....no....was, was very, very intense, I would say, this curiosity [light audience laughter]. But I did understand later that all that fuss around this, is coming from - profound and passionate love, which British people harbor in their hearts towards this wonderful event...
[huge audience cheer]
This spectacular celebration of the world's largest and most democratic musical festival. [cheers]
I am very proud to be part of it, and I am very proud to be at the helm of our wonderful BBC Symphony Orchestra, whom I would like to congratulate to their exceptional achievements in this Proms season. Bravo to you.
[more and generous cheers]
The founder of the Proms, Sir Henry Wood, would be probably surprised, but I think that, surely pleased and delighted at how much his festival has expanded and developed. I think also that his idea of bringing new audience to the concert houses has been flourishing. [Background: "Hear, hear."] So, let's please join me to, in 3 cheers to Sir Henry. So:
Hip, hip: [crowd] HOORAY!!!
Hip, hip: [crowd] HOORAY!!!
Hip, hip: [crowd] HOORAY!!!
To organize such a festival requires very hard work behind the scenes throughout the year. And I think this is the right moment when we would like to express our gratitude and our thanks to the whole Proms team, and especially to the man who devoted his last 12 years, especially to the Proms, and thanks to his wisdom, knowledge, courage, and creativity, we have got such a wonderful variety of programs. Mr. Nicholas Kenyon. [Big audience cheer. Kenyon says "thank you" in the background.]
And finally I would like to thank to the most vibrant audience I can imagine, the Prommers, for your ... [cheers] ... thank you for your great attention to the concerts and to your constant support. I have to announce with the pleasure that Prommers this year have raised 64,000 of £ towards the charities for music, for musicians, which we are very thankful for. Bravo. [cheers]
And now let me express the hope that we can meet here again, in, um, some time [audience laughter], on 18th July when we will be starting the First Night of Proms 2008. Thank you very much and good night."