The Last Night of the Proms: Land of Hope and Glory

The Sir Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC are a series of daily orchestral classical music concerts performed every summer in central London. The Proms (as they are normally known) were founded in 1895, and have risen in size and popularity over the years to become the world's biggest classical music festival. They now consist of over 70 daily concerts in the Royal Albert Hall (Hyde Park), and 8 or more lunchtime chamber concerts performed in smaller venues around the city. The Last Night of the Proms is special, and it is broadcast live outside the hall and in major parks across the UK, as well as being televised around the world.

The name Promenade Concert came from the practice of walking around (promenading), as well as eating, smoking and drinking during the concert. However, these days Promming refers to the use of the standing areas, predominantly the arena and the gallery, for which ticket prices are much lower than the normally-reserved seats. Except for a few wildly popular items (and, of course, the Last Night) Promming tickets are available on the day of the concert. For popular items expect long queues (lines).

Robert Newman founded the first concert hoping that the cheap tickets and casual atmosphere would popularize the music. However, it is the first conductor, Sir Henry Joseph Wood, who was primarily responsible for expanding the venues and the repertoire. These days, a bust of Sir Henry attends every Albert Hall event, and is often actively involved in the Last Night festivities. The BBC took over running the concerts in 1927 and, except for a short break during WWII, they have done so ever since. (That was a break in the BBC running them. The concerts themselves continued unabated through the war.) All the concerts are broadcast on the radio, many are broadcast on BBC TV, and, as I already mentioned, the last concert is pretty much viewable worldwide.

The Last Night of the Proms which usually takes place on the second Saturday in September, is legendary as being one of the very few times that you can see us very reserved Brits letting our hair down. This is not simply a concert, believe me. The audience is very much part of the show. The concert is in two halves. The first half is a standard concert that features light music that often has some British flavor or connections. The second half is wildly patriotic, featuring Hubert Parry's Jerusalem (a hymn from a poem by William Blake), Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 (Land of Hope and Glory), Sir Henry Wood's Fantasia on British Sea Songs, and Thomas Arne’s Rule Britannia, among other things.

Unless you buy a season ticket to all the concerts, Last Night tickets are pretty much impossible to get. The number of people wishing to attend would fill the whole of Hyde Park never mind the usually ample Albert Hall. The tickets are only available via a postal lottery. Many will try, few will enter, enter the Albert Hall that is. Hordes more watch and listen on huge TV screens outside the hall and in most major parks in the UK. Virtually every TV in the nation is tuned to this concert.

If you thought that classical music lovers were prim, proper and silent, you are in for a big surprise. Those who are lucky enough to get in, dress up for the occasion in full evening garb, fancy dress, or wear something patriotic, silly or both. Most carry Union Jacks and wave them at key moments. During the parts that have become hymns, the audience sings along. Everyone knows the words. This is a very British moment and a pretty much unique display of normally-hidden patriotism and emotion. When it ends with the vast audience singing God Save the Queen and Auld Lang Syne, you can hear this sung in virtually every Bar, Club, Pub and street in the United Kingdom. After it ends, many find themselves weeping uncontrollably for no particular reason. I know I always do. It is an event.

There are a large number of DVDs available featuring the Last Night from various years. Since Epinions has not been specific, I have kept my review fairly general so far. However, the one pictured above is Last Night 2000. It is the final year that Sir Andrew Davis conducted the event, and his farewell speech is unusual and touching. The music is particularly notable for Hilary Hahn's performance of Mozart Violin Concerto no. 4 and Bach's Presto from Sonata no.1. This is literally riveting. In a jam packed hall of rowdy ready-to-party revelers, you could hear a pin drop while she played. Outstanding!

The rest is fabulous, fun, and silly. It is a must for Britophiles everywhere. Five stars if you are British, four stars for the rest of you.

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DVD:

I have been reviewing DVDs released by the BBC for some time now, and it is time to say something that has been long brewing. The BBC has not got into the spirit of DVDs in general. They simply dump their material onto the media, and hold out their hand for the cash. While the quality of the transfers is usually good, they rarely, if ever, present anything more than the most minimal additional material. They never take advantage of the media and its capability. If DVDs were food, this would be British Rail fare.

Here, this cheapskate mentality shows in two ways.

This performance is laced with interviews and special features. At first viewing this is excellent and adds to the fun. However, music is intended to be listened to multiple times. On subsequent playing these interruptions become annoying, irritating and boring. Would it really have broken the BBC's huge budget to have an alternate index to the material, playing just the music without the hype?

Secondly, they carelessly allowed the slight pause of the layer switch to occur in the climax of the Shostakovich's Jazz Suite. (Thanks to another reviewer, Ajax Thomas, for pointing this out. I had not noticed it myself.) It would have taken minimal effort to make sure this happened between pieces. They are either ignorant of the technology, or they simply don't care.

The BBC carries the flag for British TV worldwide. It is time for them to extract their corporate digit.

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