feeling listless

TV The First Interval of the Proms and the coverage seems have turned into a clone of The One Show with Charles Hazlewood and Suzy Klien interviewing Deborah Meaden about Dragon's Den, complete with a clip. Now there's a trailer for a reality tv series in which the likes of Jane Asher, Bradley Walsh and Goldie are going to be conducting. This seems to be a very Classic FM approach to the music, in which to an extent the music is beside the point. Which is unfair of course, because of the wonderful moment when Hazlewood and Klien essentially gave Meaden a lecture about Mozart, she sitting slightly stunned and unable to contribute and because the music, the Strauss and Mozart were so exquisite and exquisitely played that they don't necessarily need an explanation.

Roger Woods is on now talk about his first season and Christine Brewer -- that returns some of the balance and Brewer's always good value -- especially tonight since she's a last minute replacement and apparently flew in from Chicago last night. I don't like that set though; it divorces the viewer away from the atmosphere of the hall at vital moments, it loses some of the sense of the time between pieces when all the promenaders can do is stand and stare. I've been flicking into the Radio 3 coverage where oddly, your imagination can fill in the blanks -- I imagine the presenters are huddled around a microphone near the stage. But here I am again. My heart stopped during the title music and through the opening Strauss. I'm looking again through the Prom programme and wondering why I wouldn't listen to most of. I hope the second half will be as good as the first.