I want to be a Prommer

July 25, 2009 12:24 AM

I've never been to any of the BBC Proms. Recommendations / general advice?

I really want to go to one or more of the BBC Proms this year, both for the experience and as a starting point for learning more about classical music, which I'm pretty ignorant about. If I were to pick one though, it would be no more of a conscious decision than just throwing a dart at the schedule and seeing where it lands. Can anyone recommend something good and accessible for a first timer?

The programme is here.

Also, general Prom tips please. eg. Best vs cheapest tickets? I don't know if I'll want to stand for over an hour..

Thank you Prommers!

posted by rose selavy to Media & Arts (11 answers total)

Best answer: If you want to be a true Prommer, then standing is the way to go! I guess you could sit, though :)

I picked this one (Prom 29) because it has a good mix of music - vocal excerpts from an opera, a 200-year-old symphony, a newish piece and a big impressive barn-storming orchestral piece. Really though, just pick a day you can go, and accept the luck of the draw.

I used to go to a lot of Proms and I would always stand, because it only costs £5, I could turn up on the day, and it's a good way to experience the music - it sounds great from down there. If you want to sit, though, you should probably book in advance. The concert I recommended has seats available in the choir for £16 which isn't too bad. From there you get a great view of the orchestra and conductor. Most other seats that are that near are more expensive. The Albert Hall is a huge place and if you're too far away you risk feeling quite disconnected from what's going on on stage.

If you want to stand, you need to turn up early-ish and join the right queue. There are four queues, two each for the Arena (you want to be here) and the Gallery (this is many miles from the stage and you don't want to be here). Join the "day ticket" queue rather than the "season ticket" queue - the latter is for those nutters who have booked a ticket for every single concert. How early you'll need to turn up depends on how popular the concert is. For some of the more obscure ones, you can turn up 30 minutes before it starts and go straight in without queuing, but for the more popular concerts, which are usually at weekends, it's not unusual for people to queue all afternoon - go with a friend or two and take a picnic, and chat to the other people in the queue. It's a nice way to spend a lazy afternoon.

I have gone on for long enough now - hope this is helpful! The Proms are one of the best things about the summer, in my opinion.

One last tip - for added atmosphere, go see a foreign orchestra - they generally love coming to the Proms and give it a bit extra. The British orchestras are great but the Proms are very much part of their routine.
posted by altolinguistic at 3:28 AM on July 25, 2009 [1 favorite]

I found this a few days ago actually

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8160543.stm
posted by glenno86 at 5:39 AM on July 25, 2009

2nding #29. #38 is another possibility.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 5:42 AM on July 25, 2009

Haha, as a churlish American I was very confused at first glance (The Beeb manages all the proms in Britain? Wuh?), but looking at the More Inside I'm excited! I may well be in London around the right time. It would probably be ridiculous to dress up in American prom attire and go to one of these things, right? The website did say something like "come as you are," but is traditional concert attire a safe assumption?
posted by Devika at 7:14 AM on July 25, 2009

The Proms have nothing to do with a Prom in the sense of a ball to celebrate the end of something - they're Promenade Concerts (so-called because the audience can stroll around). Dress up if you like but it's just a concert - and if you are standing, you'll very much regret wearing clothes that aren't cool and comfortable.

I'll bite my tongue and not say anything about the fact that Brit Metafilter users don't stroll into every US-centric thread loudly expressing their bemusement at every US-specific cultural reference...
posted by altolinguistic at 7:24 AM on July 25, 2009 [3 favorites]

Sorry, Devika, I was unkind; in answer to your question, I'm not sure what you mean by "traditional concert attire" but at the Proms you'll see everything from jeans and sundresses to smarter evening wear. More of the former than the latter, apart from on the Last Night, but your average prommer won't be going to the Last Night.

oh, and: ignore everything in the article glenno86 found. That's the kind of snobbery that gets classical music a bad name. Clap if you feel like clapping, and just generally absorb the atmosphere of what's going on around you.
posted by altolinguistic at 7:34 AM on July 25, 2009

Best answer: Personally I'm more a fan of the "romantic" era composers... Bach and Handel are pretty and all but too much of them kind of lulls me to sleep.

Anyway - I like the program of Prom 48. I don't know the Liszt piece but I'm sure it's fine. The Wagner is one of my all-time favorites, I recommend it highly (although, they don't list a singer for the "Liebestod" - it would really be sad to hear that without a soloist. It would still be great, I suppose, but not as transcendent as it can be).

As for Prom 65, well - I really don't like Ligeti and Schoenberg, however ANY chance to hear Strauss's "Also Sprach Zarathustra" live should really be taken if you can. (I'm assuming Albert Hall has an actual pipe organ? It's one of the best parts of the piece..) Everyone knows the opening from "2001: A Space Odyssey" but it's SO much different and better heard in person when the pipe organ makes the floor and walls around you vibrate!
posted by dnash at 8:41 AM on July 25, 2009

Best answer: I'd recommend going, if you can, to hear Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. I heard them at the Proms last year and they were magnificent (and very well received by the Prommers, who are always very supportive of youth orchestras). Take your pick from Proms 48 (Liszt, Wagner, Berlioz), 49 (Mendelssohn, Berg), and 50 (Beethoven's Fidelio), which should all be pretty accessible to a Proms first-timer.
posted by verstegan at 9:15 AM on July 25, 2009

Despite having grown up listening to various "Last Night at the Proms" albums that my parents had, I somehow never had any idea that they were a whole series of concerts. (I also had no idea that there was a reason they were called Proms—I always assumed it was one of those things that had just been called that forever and the reasoning was now lost to the mists of time.) How delightful!
posted by ocherdraco at 10:21 AM on July 25, 2009

Gallery (this is many miles from the stage and you don't want to be here)

I wouldn't dismiss the gallery out of hand. Being in the arena certainly puts you closest to the performers, and is the 'traditional' promming experience. But although standing near the front of the arena for a performance of Tippett's A Child of Our Time was one of the most invigorating live music experiences I've ever had, my back was killing me by the end of it.

The sound from the gallery is fine (to my ears at least), you get an expansive view of the whole orchestra (and the hall), and it's usually less crowded than the arena, so if you want to wander to the back and sit down against the wall instead of standing for a whole two hours, you can.
posted by chrismear at 5:31 AM on July 27, 2009

No worries altolinguistic, I was just loudly expressing my bemusement because I thought UK (and perhaps US) MeFites would get a laugh out of it. At every classical concert I've attended in North America, "smarter evening wear" has been the norm. I wouldn't have dreamed of wearing jeans to a concert before reading your comment, so thanks for the clarification.
posted by Devika at 4:57 PM on July 28, 2009