Some rambling thoughts with no conclusion....Like John, I'm not a proms expert having only followed the seasons closely for the last ten years. But is it in crisis ? Admittedly I've been underwhelmed by this season as a whole with the odd exception but that is just one opinion and even if it is a generally shared one that things have been lack lustre so far, that isn't enough to denote a crisis in the institution. So, what is the aim of the proms ? Is it just to sell out each concert ? That's unrealistic surely, I think a promoter would struggle to fill the Albert Hall for over 70 successive rock concerts for instance, assuming that there had to be a different performer every night. Anyway, what pulls the crowd ? Is it repertoire or the artists ? I think the Vienna Phil doing Szymanowski might outdraw the BBCNOW doing Beethoven.

I have some problems with the proms certainly. The fact that it is 90% symphonic orchestral music ( not counting the lunchtime and matinee ghettoes ) can cause a certain sameness but that is partly driven by the venue. So do they need more / different venues ? Well, one of the things that is invariably parroted in interviews is that what is special about the proms is the audience and if that is really true, it is because of the standing arena and the fiver or whatever it is ticket cost.

Does there have to be a concert EVERY night for the full seven weeks ? Does quality control suffer because of this ? Do we need the contrivance of themes and anniversary celebrations which can hamstring repertoire selection ?

Then there's the question of the tokenism of the "jazz" prom, the "world music" prom, the "light music" prom, the "multi media" prom. None of these harm the notion of the proms but they often don't do much to promote it either. And especially in the field of jazz and non western music they could be a lot more adventurous in their programming and selection of artists too. Putting on classical court music from Iran, China, Japan wouldn't put bums on seats or feet in arena but maybe it is something the proms should be doing. And I'm sure we would all agree that the commissioning of new works must continue even if the reception isn't always warm. Which is back to the question of are the proms just about producing sell out concerts. Hey, maybe there's even a case for staging that mythical Bax, Brian, Moeran, Finzi concert that there is an annual clamour for at TOP ? If only to show if those doing the clamouring would show up for it.

For me, I think I would like a bit more variety in terms of early music, chamber ensembles, even a repeat of the Kissin solo concert but not with Kissin. But the proms have to remain predominantly a "classical" music festival or they just become a series of gigs. Will they ever write that the Reading Rock festival must change or die ? Ok, it always sells out but could it for 70 nights in a row instead of three ?     

The interval discussions tonight involved the future of the Proms and their evolution into the 21st century.  By popular demand there should be a wider selection of contemporary music and Steve Martland bemoaned the fact that the audience was predominantly white. 

I can see it being an annual Mixing It and Late Junction in the future.  It would appear that the traditional Proms are - allegedly - dated and need a whole new format.  We are all invited to give our opinions by text or email as to what we would do if we were in charge of the future Proms.

I shan't be bothering to give my opinion to Woger Wight because I like the Proms as they are and he never listens to anyone else anyway.  Apparently wanting things to stay the same is the "comfort zone" according to the experts.

Ah well.

That's sorted out the new popular pwesenter for the future then. Who else but Jonathan Woss? 

What?! The Pwoms are bwoadcast mainly on Wadio Thwee; Jonathan Woss's monthly salawy is alweady equivalent to about half of that channel's annual budget, so that idea would, with wespect, be pwetty pweposterous and widiculously impwactical...

Best,

Alistair

One poster on another board said he ws surprised at how half/near empty a lot of these concerts were.

I shouldn't really comment too much as I'm mostly interested in the music that isn't played much on it, but I happened to catch that segment on last night's BBC4 broadcast devoted to discussing the future of this event and now I'm looking at this.

"Personally, and remember I'm not the best person to say anything about this, personally I think that if the proms expands it's repertoire even more then audiences in the Albert Hall will dwindle even more."

But has an all new music programme ever been tried for a few evenings to be spread over the course of a season?! After all, by how much further can this already tiny audience dwindle?

Also I despise this concept of world music but if anything is going to be put on there needs to be a sense of commitment.

Someone said (the same talked about on the Prom 56 thread) there should be electronic music late-nights, a couple of which I've attended post-RFH concerts. There ws a v tiny but quite enthusiastic crowd; beside the fact that I'm a bit sceptical of experiencing electronic music in a sit down venue with seemingly little interaction with anyone or thing (I remember a comment by Kagel, when talking about early electronic music concerts, at how the audience were almost willing musicians to break out from the loudspeakers) I wonder whether the Albert hall would be up to the challenge of staging either electronic music or any compositions that feature an electric guitar.

The sort of music you've described there would be ideally suited to the Barbican, but there's something about the RAH and the traditional classical Proms that goes together IMHO.  I don't know why - I've never liked the acoustics    - but somehow the setting and the beautiful building and the red plus seats, all contribute to the general feeling. 

In life nothing stays the same.  Everything changes sooner or later, but not always for the better in my view.  I've no doubt the Proms will go down the pan just like R3.  It probably won't take very long either. 

Yes, the RAH itself is a bit of a problem, acoustically. I don't really care about the British Empire associations: apart from the Last Night (and maybe the usual excess of Elgar pieces...) that's not what it's about to most people, I think. Despite the acoustic problems, the sheer size and form of the place always makes me feel a sense of occasion.

The best thing about the Proms, IMO, is its audience - there's a real sense of commitment and positivity, and a feeling of everyone willing a performance to be great, and exceed their expectations, that I've rarely experienced anywhere else.

I wonder how relevant it is to worry about the hall being half-full, too. It is, after all, a monster of a hall (about 5500 people full, although apparently without current health and safety restrictions, it could hold, and has held, over 8000). Half-full means nearly 3000 people, and when there is a concert every day, and sometimes two, for 6 weeks, that's a pretty good turn-out in my book.