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The Radio 3 Boards > Admin Boards > Viewable archives > Proms 2007 > Announcers' gaffes
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Author Topic: Announcers' gaffes  (Read 782 times)
ahinton
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« on: 21:24:00, 26-08-2007 »
I hope that no one will be able to cite any worse than the two following examples(from this and yesterday evenings respectively), but I open the challenge nevertheless.

Tonight, we have been told that Owen Wingrave was Britten's last opera.

Last night, we were enlightened by the description of the Prelude and Liebestod as "the Readers' Digest version" of Tristan und Isolde.

I would ask "What next?", were it not for the facts that (a) I don't think I really want to know and (b) that is itself, of course, the title of an opera.

Should I just shut up and be merciful that at least they spared us reference to the utterly wonderful BBCSO/Runnicles Götterdämmerung as Wagner's "Twilight Zone"?...

Best,

Alstair
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time_is_now
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« Reply #1 on: 21:34:04, 26-08-2007 »
Quote from: ahinton on 21:24:00, 26-08-2007
that is itself, of course, the title of an opera
... except for the small matter of an apostrophe and a letter (not a six-letter letter, though!).

As for giraffes, the venerealable Mr Hewett can generally be relied upon to be an unreliable guide through the thickets and thorns of titles, composers' ages, ascriptions (Richard Barrett's Terrain, anyone?), as well as the admittedly less definable faults of poor judgment and poorer prose. Which is not to say that some of his colleagues don't run him close. Wink
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ahinton
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« Reply #2 on: 21:39:29, 26-08-2007 »
Quote from: time_is_now on 21:34:04, 26-08-2007
Quote from: ahinton on 21:24:00, 26-08-2007
that is itself, of course, the title of an opera
... except for the small matter of an apostrophe
Er - why? Have I missed something?

Quote from: time_is_now on 21:34:04, 26-08-2007
and a letter (not a six-letter letter, though!).
Neatly put, sir!

Quote from: time_is_now on 21:34:04, 26-08-2007
As for giraffes, the venerealable Mr Hewett
Ivan the who did you say? (sorry - I'm abit deaf; must be my t-i-nnitus)...

Quote from: time_is_now on 21:34:04, 26-08-2007
can generally be relied upon to be an unreliable guide through the thickets and thorns of titles, composers' ages, ascriptions (Richard Barrett's Terrain, anyone?),
Terrain always falls in south Wales (Edith S.'s Still Falls the Rain being said to have been inspired there); I know it's true because I read it in The Daily Telegraph (I mean I heard it said by a BBC Proms announcer, don't I?). The Telegraph reference, by the way, for those who have not previously encoungtered it, is from the genuinely venerable Richard Ingrams, whos pronouncements I once observed were always measured - in grams...

Quote from: time_is_now on 21:34:04, 26-08-2007
as well as the admittedly less definable faults of poor judgment and poorer prose. Which is not to say that some of his colleagues don't run him close. Wink
Even more neatly put, if I may say so - but I'll leave it to others to comment.

Anyway - any more Proms preposterities, anyone?...

Best,

Alistair
« Last Edit: 21:46:12, 26-08-2007 by ahinton » Logged
Chafing Dish
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« Reply #3 on: 21:42:39, 26-08-2007 »
The opera's entitled "What's next?"

I'm starving!!
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ahinton
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« Reply #4 on: 21:46:50, 26-08-2007 »
Quote from: Chafing Dish on 21:42:39, 26-08-2007
The opera's entitled "What's next?"

I'm starving!!
Not on my CD of it, it ain't!

Best,

Alistair
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HtoHe
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« Reply #5 on: 22:00:06, 26-08-2007 »
I think some of the drivel spouted by C Hazlewood from the podium last year takes a bit of beating.  Not content with telling us about the Rise and Fall of the City of Mahogany (almost expected Diana Ross to put in a guest appearance) he also, iirc, informed us that the Ballad of Mack the Knife contained a litany of Mackie's sexual conquests - sending me scampering to my different versions of Die Dreigroschenoper - and then to the internet search engines - to see if I could find one with a verse I'd previously overlooked.  I'm still looking - but not too hard!
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ahinton
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« Reply #6 on: 22:11:41, 26-08-2007 »
Quote from: HtoHe on 22:00:06, 26-08-2007
I think some of the drivel spouted by C Hazlewood from the podium last year takes a bit of beating.  Not content with telling us about the Rise and Fall of the City of Mahogany (almost expected Diana Ross to put in a guest appearance) he also, iirc, informed us that the Ballad of Mack the Knife contained a litany of Mackie's sexual conquests - sending me scampering to my different versions of Die Dreigroschenoper - and then to the internet search engines - to see if I could find one with a verse I'd previously overlooked.  I'm still looking - but not too hard!
Hazlewood - HenryWood - whatsch the differensch? (as in?)...

By comparison to some of the above, Malcolm Sargent's remark on (I think) the final Last Night that he actually conducted that he would like to thank the BBC Symphony Orchestra, without which his conducting would have looked rather silly, seems almost like a beacon of common sense, n'est-ce pas?...

Bst,

Alistair
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Milly Jones
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« Reply #7 on: 22:14:29, 26-08-2007 »
Quote from: HtoHe on 22:00:06, 26-08-2007
I think some of the drivel spouted by C Hazlewood from the podium last year takes a bit of beating. 

Well I don't agree and I miss him.  I think he's been driven out of town by a posse of message boarders and it just aint fair!  Angry
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ahinton
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« Reply #8 on: 22:27:42, 26-08-2007 »
Quote from: Milly Jones on 22:14:29, 26-08-2007
Quote from: HtoHe on 22:00:06, 26-08-2007
I think some of the drivel spouted by C Hazlewood from the podium last year takes a bit of beating. 

Well I don't agree and I miss him.  I think he's been driven out of town by a posse of message boarders and it just aint fair!  Angry

Witch hazel would wid us of this turbulent pweist?...

Best,

Alistair
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Milly Jones
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« Reply #9 on: 22:28:39, 26-08-2007 »
Weave him awone! I wike him vewwy much!  Tongue
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HtoHe
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« Reply #10 on: 22:35:46, 26-08-2007 »
Quote from: Milly Jones on 22:14:29, 26-08-2007
Quote from: HtoHe on 22:00:06, 26-08-2007
I think some of the drivel spouted by C Hazlewood from the podium last year takes a bit of beating. 

Well I don't agree and I miss him.  I think he's been driven out of town by a posse of message boarders and it just aint fair!  Angry

Sorry, Milly, that speech last year was embarrassingly bad.  Of all the things one could say about Die Morität von Mackie Messer he has to invent a part of the song that doesn't exist; unless you can tell me where to find it.  I wasn't joking when I said I looked for it via internet search engines; I do know that Brecht wrote lots of 'apocryphal' verses to many of his songs in line with various agitprop requirements but I was unable to find even an obscure verse with a litany of Mackie's sexual conquests.  It's certainly not in any recording I've ever heard or any production I've ever seen. 

The really insidious thing is that my musical education is very sketchy and I found a lot of Hazlewood's 'Discovering Music' programmes very informative.  Then I discover he doesn't much care whether or not what he says is accurate.  You see my problem?
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Milly Jones
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« Reply #11 on: 22:42:46, 26-08-2007 »
Even the most seasoned presenters make mistakes.  They're only human.  I didn't hear the episode you're referring to, but I'm sure that it wouldn't be that he "didn't care" whether he was accurate or not - I'm sure he would have thought he was correct at the time.  He is most of the time very knowledgeable and is a musician himself.  I prefer to see him than Alan Titchmarsh or other "celebrity" presenters.   
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Ruth Elleson
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« Reply #12 on: 22:45:07, 26-08-2007 »
At last Saturday's Proms Saturday Matinee concert, the radio presenter (whose name escapes me!) referred to the orchestra very occasionally as the English Concert (which is their name) but more often as the English Consort (which isn't).  When he interviewed Laurence Cummings I half expected Cummings to correct him!
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HtoHe
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« Reply #13 on: 22:58:40, 26-08-2007 »
Quote from: Milly Jones on 22:42:46, 26-08-2007
Even the most seasoned presenters make mistakes.  They're only human.  I didn't hear the episode you're referring to, but I'm sure that it wouldn't be that he "didn't care" whether he was accurate or not - I'm sure he would have thought he was correct at the time.  He is most of the time very knowledgeable and is a musician himself.  I prefer to see him than Alan Titchmarsh or other "celebrity" presenters.   


He wasn't presenting, Milly.  This was the Prom he conducted last year. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whatson/2808.shtml

He gave a speech from the podium beforehand.  'Mack the Knife' was on the programme - which means his gaffe wasn't down to his making a throwaway comment about a work with which he was unfamiliar.  I came away with the definite impression that he was far more concerned with being 'edgy' than with doing the music justice.
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Milly Jones
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« Reply #14 on: 23:02:13, 26-08-2007 »
Ooohhh!  I missed that remark.  All the same my gut feeling would be that he would have done a lot of research for that, especially being the debut, and he must have got the idea from somewhere.  What a pity he can't let us know what he meant at the time.

C'est la vie.
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