BBC Proms '09

Forgive me if this is the wrong place to discuss this but in the absence of an 'Annual music festivals' sub-forum, 'Performance' seemed like the most appropriate place to post.

My intention is that we can discuss and review this year's festival in this thread. Obviously this is aimed mostly at the Brits on here but if you're outside the UK and can't get live BBC TV or iPlayer you can still listen to Radio 3 down the internet.

So, what did we think of the First Night? Personally I was rather disappointed, particularly with Clive Anderson's inarticulate, unhelpful and often downright rude presentation. Couldn't even pronounce the conductor's name correctly and he kept interrupting his guests because of confusion over when the music was going to start. Mind you, they didn't have much to say that was interesting or relevant to the music. Stephen Hough was however great at shooting down silly questions about what the concerto 'proved' about Tchaikovsky's death or the importance of recording complete cycles.

Stravinsky OK, but having an attention span of more than 30 seconds I could have done without the firework montages.

Chabrier was pretty enough, shame the female choir were lost by the pathetic TV sound. I couldn't help thinking that the soprano looked as if she was trying not to laugh with some of the faces she was pulling at times.

Tchaikovsky was rather forgettable, lacking melodically and in any kind of self-containment. It really sounded as if it was unfinished and I wonder if nobody thought to reconstruct the remaining movements. Stephen Hough not brilliantly expressive either.

I liked both the playing and the music in the Poulenc. Great mix of humour, orchestration, gamelan and film music and two identical solo instruments.

Elgar was a wonderful piece, but I kept feeling that Belohlavek didn't quite 'get' how to do the phrasing and ritardandi in it. There were some lovely moments when orchestral soloists were allowed to take over, particularly the principal clarinetist, but it felt rather too Slavic in tuttis. The style was exactly right for Dvorak or even Brahms, but in this case the elusive 'English' quality didn't always come through. Still well-played though.

Brahms OK, Alice Coote has a nice voice but there were some bad tunings in the chorus and it felt just a bit too sombre. Again the TV sound didn't help.

Bruckner was rather forgettable too, would have been much better as a piece for organ and singers and some parts of his word-setting were rather odd. It was a bit like the Strauss Festspiel Prelude we heard last year - big and noisy but not much else to it.