I Came across this last night. Prom 8 on the BBBC iplayer and available for 79 days. Sorry it’s not a full revue partly because although I know Nick Drakes music I don’t feel I’m really qualified to give too much insight more than to say I think there’s a few on here that will really enjoy this. I certainly did and The Unthanks feature too. Find yourself a comfortable seat and enjoy at your leisure. Link in comments below –
Prom 8: Nick Drake – An Orchestral Celebration
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00214k0
At first the orchestration seemed a bit overblown to me, but I realised later it was the weak performances of BC Camplight and particularly Marika Hackman that were the problem. This became apparent with Scott Matthews and Olivia Chaney’s renditions of their songs. The balance between orchestration, song and performance was just so much better. The first and third instrumental pieces were not of great interest. Loved “Sunday” though. I suppose as a scene-setter”Intro” did what it was supposed to do. Probably better when heard/seen in the hall than on the Sounds stream.
The presentation was pretty untogether, which seems to be a problem with some of the less conventional Prom concerts. Talking head/concert instigator John Wilson was a bit dull in the interval. Nice to hear Nick’s sister Gabrielle’s input and her performance of mother Molly’s poetry alongside The Unthanks was strong. The Unthanks didn’t project terribly well on “What A Song Can Do To You” but fared better on “Set Me Free”.
Olivia Chaney and Scott Matthews were again very good in the second half of the concert and BC Camplight and Marika Hackman were again not really right on the closing numbers. The orchestrated “Horn” instrumental was a bit jarring but I suppose if you have a 70-piece orchestra in the concert hall, a big finale is pretty much a given.
6/10 is my rating, overall.
Would have been significantly higher if Camplight and Hackman had not been used. They just were not good enough, particularly Hackman. I’m sure Olivia Chaney and Scott Matthews could probably have done justice to those songs as well as the ones they did get to perform.
I was there in real life. I agree about Camplight but am very surprised Marika Hackman didn’t come across well – for me and my friend she was the absolute highlight (and we’d never heard of her before). Olivia Chaney was the other standout singer for me.
I went along reasonably interested but can’t back having been reminded what a wonderful songwriter he was, and of the magnificence of Robert Kirby’s arrangements.
Thanks – will certainly give this a watch.
It’s not a great watch, but a very good listen.
Now I have clicked, I understand why the watch is less than stellar.
Why didn’t the proms do this sort of Thing forty years ago? Have they finally caught up?
Probably, in the seventies they’d have been playing music from the thirties.
That’s the tragedy… they’ll never be ahead of the curve.
At my school, the lads who had the least idea about pop music, ended up in classical music, and the lads who were least trustworthy, ended up in the police.
‘part from that, triffic!
You went to school with Gordon Sumner?
@rigid-digit I know this was a reply to deram) but my GLW was at teacher training college with String.
Did she ever request not to stay in close proximity.
Mr String will be his name from this day forth …
I think String was from the NME originally.
@Rigid-DIgit
It was probably a Sumner School
Mind you, Soft Machine played at the Proms in 1970 – there’s a recording…
Is it as good as Joe Boyd’s “Way To Blue” concert that was filmed at the London Barbican in 2010 and then toured to a few other venues?
That was superb.
It may well not be but it’s how I got to hear this so happy days.
I saw Danny playing with John Martyn a few times but once at Glastonbury main stage around 85/6 I think was my favourite.
As a Nick Drake fanatic I found it rather dull and a bit too precious for my liking. Mind you I have recently just finished the mammoth ‘A Life’ biog so maybe I’m just Draked out.
Most of the orchestral arrangements were quite faithful to the original scores but the larger ensemble lacked some of the grace and subtlety of those recordings.. The various contributors did an ok job but overall in answer to @Mike_H above the answer is definitely a No (IMHO)
Thanks all for your comments. I shall play again and listen tuned in to your critiques.