“Klasika” offered many of the 76 concerts of the festival live from its studio in Dom Square, but Anna Marta Burve attended the final concert in person, enjoying not only the magical atmosphere in the hall, but also getting to know a number of unusual technical things. All in all, the manager of “Klasikas” programs returned from London excited and full of inspiration, reminding that the recording of the final concert of “BBC Promenade” in the “Klasikas” archive can be listened to only until October 2, according to the license of Euroradio.
Inta Zegner: First of all, I want to ask you about the features and symbols of London from your point of view. What’s your London like?
I remember the very, very first time I came there – it was the most vivid event in my life when I got there then: I must have been around fourteen years old. I get off at one of the stations and see how very different the world is… (..) I’ve often heard that London is a real mess in a negative sense, that the English don’t have their own culture and the like. I totally disagree with that! Because this so-called rasol is also what makes up English culture – there is diversity, color, there are many and various impressions from very different cultures.
What is your favorite place in London?
I visit Covent Garden most often, because there is not only the opera, which is close to me as a musician, but also my favorite burger joint “Shake Shack” – I really like its buns and burgers! (laughs) And the other is the great thoroughfare of Oxford, with its ornate, historic buildings, which, though always bustling with people, is mysteriously clean. You can definitely enjoy it one hundred percent. These two places are also the closest to me in London.
This time, your favorite place had to be the Royal Albert Hall, where the final concert of “BBC Promenade” or “Last Night” took place. Tickets for it are always sold out, the audience shows theirs and goes to the hall. What does a journalist like you do?
First, the journalist is easily disturbed because he wakes up in the morning in the hotel and realizes that he overslept. (laughs) He has to be at the Royal Albert Hall at eleven in the morning, and it’s already half past ten… But when you get directly to the Royal Albert Hall, of course you have to go through a different entrance than the listeners and spectators do. At that moment, I met my colleagues from other European countries, who were also conducting the live broadcast. It was Philip from Germany, Abraham from the Netherlands and also our neighbor Johanna from Estonia. And so we all stood at the 11th door, got to know our coordinator, and I was really surprised how very, very seriously this event is held from a purely technical point of view: while we stood in line for an accreditation card and a wristband, then several times our cards had to be scanned to see if we were really the right people, then we were taken to our booth from which we conducted the live broadcast. Everything is very serious there: if we entered through the 11th door, we could only get out through the 11th door – not through any other. People – with very big, wide smiles, welcomed us sweetly, sweetly and were very, very interested. It could already be said that the British often say “Thank You” too much, like five times at least after asking something, but really – very open people who were ready to help at any time.
Anna Marta Burve (second from the right) with foreign colleagues at the closing concert of “BBC Promenade” at the Royal Albert Hall in London
Photo: from the personal archive of Anna Marta Burves
Did you also have rehearsal experience, or was it a direct start with a live show?
It was live right away. Of course, we contacted the cameramen and sound directors beforehand, checking the channels to make sure everything would sound good. But yes – the moment when, sitting in the Royal Albert Hall, I heard our “Classic” Euroradio signal, my heart trembled – that was the first time the button was pressed.
However, you spoke in a calm voice, one would think that there was no excitement.
It must be my hidden talent as an actress, because there was excitement! (laughs) There was also a great commotion around. But probably the concentration at the moment when I had to speak was so great that at that moment I did not feel it as much as now when I listen to the recording.
Does the noise help? Because everything in these final concerts is in a great festive mood, everyone is in festive clothes, there are balloons, bow ties, whistles. Does it hinder or help?
Help. Because, of course, many live broadcasts are conducted from our “Klasikas” studio, which is extremely dear to me, but here everything is very quiet: I am alone with the cameraman. Therefore, it is more difficult to perceive the atmosphere in the hall. But when I was there…
My friends and family were listening to this live and one person wrote back – you sound extremely “excited”. So excited, excited. As such a small child, I had big and shining eyes at every tiniest ray of light, tiniest sound and change of light, and I could also describe it all to the audience. It’s also wonderful in radio that we can go to concert halls and convey to listeners the feeling we enjoy ourselves.
Of course, in the Albert hall, balloons burst, confetti burst and bottles also broke… But everything was so wonderful that it seems that if we were to conduct this live broadcast remotely, it would not be so easy to understand what was happening there.
The closing concert of “BBC Promenade” in London’s Royal Albert Hall
Photo: Anna Marta Burve / Latvian Radio
What exactly did the audience participate in this whole performance?
With which only the listeners did not participate! (laughs)
A Fantasy of British Sea Songs was played, written by Henry Wood, who is actually the father of the “BBC Promenade”, and it is already a tradition to play this piece every year. When it sounds, the audience claps, squats, there is a whole choreography! The most interesting thing is that people sing along. You probably can’t really hear it on the record, but… I admire them. The “BBC Promenade” festival is a festival of British songs.
By the way, on September 9, when this concert took place, people were ready to go to the Royal Albert Hall in plus thirty degrees, which is full of people, the air was also breathed, but they stood in that arena – all three hours, and at the end of the concert actively danced, shook hands and sang along! It is really such devotion to music, traditions. You could feel that it is as important to them as it is to us, Latvians, the Song Festival.
BBC Symphony Orchestra, singer Lisa Davidson and conductor Mary Alsop at the closing concert of “BBC Promenade” at the Royal Albert Hall, London
Photo: Anna Marta Burve / Latvian Radio
What did Merina Alsop say to the audience at this concert?
As you can already hear in the recording, it didn’t really sound together, it wasn’t really clean. And Merina Alsop said: “Let’s do it – a little higher, a little faster and definitely – together!” It was actually wonderful how the conductor communicated with the audience. I also had the opportunity to participate in her rehearsals – she is a woman full of humor, her sense of humor is wonderful! Merina had to rehearse the speech she gave at the end of the concert and it was done with such sarcasm… Truly a wonderful conductor! By the way, she also noted that this evening marks ten years since she became the first female conductor to conduct the Last Night of the “BBC Promenade”.
Anna Marta Burve together with her London colleagues in the live broadcast of the closing concert of “BBC Promenade”
Photo: from the personal archive of Anna Marta Burves
You said you were taken to the booth from entrance 11 of the Royal Albert Hall. What does this beep mean? What is the soundproofing there?
Maybe “little house” is not the most accurate designation, because in reality it was already a lodge. It seemed “huge” to us, colleagues, because that box is really small and with all the equipment and five other people in this small box, it really felt like we were squeezed in… But we had special microphones so that we wouldn’t disturb each other, and with we had a very “intimate” relationship with these microphones during the live broadcast, as this oblong microphone had to be placed on the very upper lip in order to better hear our voice. As a radio host, it was my first such experience.
Sheik Cane-Masons at the closing concert of “BBC Promenade”.
Photo: Anna Marta Burve / Latvian Radio
During the trip to London, he also met his associates and musicians, including Latvian Sylvestras Juri Kalniņš, who currently lives in Great Britain and has just obtained a master’s degree at the Royal College of Music. I met him myself a year ago. In your interview, it sounds like everything is not as smooth as you might think – the conversation also sounded some alarming notes regarding the situation of musicians in Great Britain, especially regarding the English National Opera, which is also one of Sylvester Jura Kalniņš’s workplaces.
Inta Zēgnere: Silvestrs Juris emphasizes that a decision has been made that the English National Opera should move to another city in which to operate.
The situation in the field of music in Great Britain is dramatic: we have also heard a lot about the fact that the BBC is cutting funding, and in fact there should even be a separate program here to fully understand the extent of what is happening in Great Britain at the moment. It’s disturbing to think that nowadays it’s so easy to say – no, we don’t need all that, we’ll cut something. It’s not that crazy in Latvia, but I think that more and more we need to start thinking and taking seriously the importance of art in human life, because the moment it is turned off, we only degrade ourselves. I am very sad to hear that music is being harmed in this great metropolis…
Yes, and the London Coliseum, where the opera is held – it is such a special, British place: it has a British feel. It cannot be transferred to another city! However, the British Arts Council has announced that it will give English National Opera £24m between April 2024 and March 2026, as well as extending the deadline for the opera to complete its search for a new site. This means that the Colosseum will no longer be their home. Opera singer Bryn Tervel is very advocating for it and has collected signatures to keep this opera where it is now. (..) But I’m glad about Silvestra Juri Kalniņu – he is in demand, and our Latvian musicians have really been able to prove themselves in the British environment. I liked how Silvestrs Juris said at the end of the interview – that he still wants to end on an optimistic note, that everything will work out, and this is evidently also evidenced by “BBC Promenade”, because it has very strong supporters – an audience that proves that music for them is needed.
Absolutely! And speaking to many BBC presenters, they admitted that to believe the magic that happens here, you have to be there.
Sounds like you still want to go back to “BBC Promenade”?
Every year, every year! (laughs)
2023-09-14 10:34:58
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