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Post by julesd68 on Sept 15, 2014 17:59:09 GMT
Does anyone here make a point of watching the Last night of the Proms? And if you do, what do you enjoy about it?
As much as I enjoy the Proms as a whole and the variety of music on offer, it's not an event that I have ever really got into. Don't think I've ever watched one all the way through on telly and never thought of attending. I'm not bothered about Rule Brittania, Union Jack waving and all that mullarkey; it's just that generally none of the music they tend to play appeals to me! Still, whatever my preferences I can understand why people think it's an important tradition worth maintaining.
I understand Janine Jansen was playing this year though - she has a formidable reputation so I'd like to see how she performed as have never seen her, so will check it out on iplayer ...
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Post by MartinT on Sept 15, 2014 18:01:57 GMT
It's not my scene at all, Julian. Janine Jansen is wonderful (we saw her last year), but for me it's a shame that people associate the Proms only with the Last Night as that is not what it's all about.
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Post by julesd68 on Sept 15, 2014 18:12:55 GMT
Yes I would agree with you entirely Martin that if people only associate the whole season with the Last night, that's a problem that the marketeers need to work on.
However, to be fair to them, over the years they have tried to promote the season as a whole in as 'contemporary' a way as possible whilst remaining true to tradition. Also, I may be wrong but there seemed to be more orchestras and conductors from farther afield than ever before this year - Qatar, China etc - so it has gradually become much more of an international event over the years. But yes, Last Night remains Last Night, love it or hate it ...
Incidentally, what did you see Ms Jansen play last year?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2014 8:53:09 GMT
They did do different things - I by chance stumbled upon the Paloma Faith prom on BBC 4. Unfortunately I don't have a great interest in Classical music as is the case of most people. Last Night has to be more populist and may get some people to explore more. Unfortunately it is pretty much the same every year.
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Post by zippy on Sept 16, 2014 9:04:18 GMT
I thought this years 'last night' was one of the best lastnights for a long time, I even managed, with a bit of technical chicanery, to get a synchronized simultaneous picture (sky using live pause function) and sound (BBC3 internet).
The BBC3 sound (320 kbps WMA) is pretty good these days
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Post by MartinT on Sept 16, 2014 9:51:54 GMT
Why the complexity? The audio feed from Sky HD is superb when run through a DAC.
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Post by zippy on Sept 16, 2014 10:22:11 GMT
Why the complexity? The audio feed from Sky HD is superb when run through a DAC. I'm surprised you say that - on my system the audio from the Sky box is pretty dire (via optical link to my DAC) even though in theory it's 'DVD' standard. Definitely nowhere near as good as BBC radio 3 |
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Post by julesd68 on Sept 16, 2014 10:46:21 GMT
They did do different things - I by chance stumbled upon the Paloma Faith prom on BBC 4. Unfortunately I don't have a great interest in Classical music as is the case of most people. Last Night has to be more populist and may get some people to explore more. Unfortunately it is pretty much the same every year. The original aim of the Proms by impresario Robert Newman was indeed to reach a wider audience for classical music. He made a point of toning down formality, keeping ticket prices down and by offering some more populist programming. The approach has continued to this day. Personally, I think there is a limit to how far you push the programming without alienating your core audience and a careful balance has to be maintained. However, I understand the need to include some more 'populist' events to draw people in and encourage interest and I think the programmers are always thinking about this and have responded to that pretty well. The focus I believe should remain on offering a broad range of classical music to appeal to different tastes and to continue to introduce established and emerging artists and orchestras alike. There is still a huge interest in classical music in the UK - if you want a decent ticket for any of the major Proms you need to be online the minute tickets are released - they pretty much sell out on the day, and you should see the queues of people trying to get in on the day of the concerts. |
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Post by MartinT on Sept 16, 2014 11:05:40 GMT
I'm surprised you say that - on my system the audio from the Sky box is pretty dire (via optical link to my DAC) even though in theory it's 'DVD' standard. Definitely nowhere near as good as BBC radio 3 Interesting! I love the SQ from Sky HD. Some broadcasts (such as Sky Arts programming) are truly excellent. I feed optical into a Caiman-II. Yours is an HD box? |
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Post by danielquinn on Sept 16, 2014 11:10:47 GMT
I used to want to plant bombs
At the last night of the proms
But now you'll find me with the baby in the bathroom
With that big shell listening for the sound of the sea
The baby and me -
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Post by MartinT on Sept 16, 2014 15:07:35 GMT
Keep on with the crayons, DQ  |
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Post by zippy on Sept 16, 2014 15:20:07 GMT
I'm surprised you say that - on my system the audio from the Sky box is pretty dire (via optical link to my DAC) even though in theory it's 'DVD' standard. Definitely nowhere near as good as BBC radio 3 Interesting! I love the SQ from Sky HD. Some broadcasts (such as Sky Arts programming) are truly excellent. I feed optical into a Caiman-II. Yours is an HD box? It's an HD box, but a pretty old one. I connected to DAC by the coax cable. I also noted in the settings that there's an option for 'optical output' to set it for Dolby or 'Normal' (mine is set to normal as my previous DAC couldn't handle a Dolby signal) There's no such setting specifically for the co-ax output. Maybe I just need a new Sky box. Actually I'm not that bothered as the Proms are pretty much the only thing I feed to the hifi... |
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Post by MartinT on Sept 16, 2014 15:25:45 GMT
My box is a replacement Samsung HD box, but not the very latest model (no Wi-Fi, which I don't need). It replaced an old Thomson HD that suffered from the dreaded power supply dry capacitor problem (Chinese CapXon caps). I have the optical output set to 'normal' and use a Kimber optical cable. I feed all TV sound into the system, haven't used the TV speakers since I bought it.
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Post by julesd68 on Sept 16, 2014 19:46:08 GMT
Gents, these comments have made me think about hooking up a cheap DAC to the 2 channel amp I'm using with my TV. Ideally I would connect my freeview box and blu-ray player straight to the DAC but this gives me a problem - no remote control sound. The amp has a dodgy volume pot and no remote facility.
If I leave the box and blu-ray connected as they are via HDMI to my TV, is there any benefit in taking the optical out from the TV to a DAC? I am currently using a mini-jack to RCA from TV headphone socket to amp. I can control the sound level fed to the amp via the TV remote this way.
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Post by MartinT on Sept 16, 2014 21:53:02 GMT
There are digital losses, especially at low volumes, by doing it that way. However, if it gives you what you need then great!
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Post by zippy on Sept 17, 2014 13:09:49 GMT
Gents, these comments have made me think about hooking up a cheap DAC to the 2 channel amp I'm using with my TV. Ideally I would connect my freeview box and blu-ray player straight to the DAC but this gives me a problem - no remote control sound. The amp has a dodgy volume pot and no remote facility. If I leave the box and blu-ray connected as they are via HDMI to my TV, is there any benefit in taking the optical out from the TV to a DAC? I am currently using a mini-jack to RCA from TV headphone socket to amp. I can control the sound level fed to the amp via the TV remote this way. Indeed I did try that at one stage to replay the DVD sound to a DAC via the TV. It worked fine although I believe the sound was not quite as good as connecting the DVD direct to the DAC. |
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Post by danielquinn on Sept 17, 2014 13:32:20 GMT
Keep on with the crayons, DQ Alas , i nicked this verse verbatim from Billy Bragg |
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Post by MartinT on Sept 17, 2014 13:36:04 GMT
I never did like Bragg much  |
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Post by danielquinn on Sept 17, 2014 13:38:28 GMT
I never did like Bragg much That be a shame . roll on my album review month |
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Post by MartinT on Sept 17, 2014 13:59:27 GMT
That be a shame . roll on my album review month Good-o, it'll make me listen to him which I haven't done in a long time. |
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