Glyndebourne's production of The Fairy Queen at The Proms

Editor's note: Radio 3's Composers of the Year blog has been running since the beginning of 2009. Its four expert authors (Rick Jones, Jessica Duchen, Denis McCaldin and Suzanne Aspden) have clocked up over 100 posts about Mendelssohn, Handel, Haydn and Purcell between them. We've now decided to merge the blog with the Radio 3 blog so, from now on, all four authors will post here. To get things started, we sent outspoken Purcell expert Rick Jones to see last week's semi-staged Fairy Queen at The Proms. Here's his review - SB.

Too little thought went into the presentation of Glyndebourne's touring production of Purcell's Fairy Queen last week. They tried to cram the whole production into four hours instead of five, but instead of cutting dialogue from the play, Shakepseare's Midsummer Night's Dream contained within the masque, they ditched the supper interval and made room for only one 20-minute pause in the whole four-hour evening so that I had to oblige my guest to wolf his picnic down.

The actors and singers were miked but not the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment which created an imbalance. The spoken word echoed horribly in the Royal Albert Hall and was indecipherable much of the time. They certainly didn't need so much of the Act I dialogue between the Athenian lovers and pompous gentry which tends to be tedious even when they can be heard. The rude mechanicals were as entertaining as they had been at the opera house (see Great Bottom), though Desmond Barritt was starting to sound a little hoarse.

Purcell's dancing score was still a thrill under William Christie's fluent baton and one longed for the relief the music brought, but by the time Carolyn Sampson sang The Plaint, even the cushioned swivel seats were starting to feel hard. Well done to the Prommers who locked their knees and stayed upright for the whole shooting match.

Rick Jones lectures in the history of music at Morley College.

• Morley College, where Rick lectures on the History of Music, has confirmed that it will stage a performance of The Fairy Queen this December to celebrate the 350th birthday of the composer and also 100 years since Gustav Holst gave the first modern performance there.
• Reviewers on the Proms web site were divided on the production. FraukeUhlenbruch said: "I don't think I've ever disliked something this passionately..." and Ken Patterson "This was a magical evening: an astonishing performance by dancers, musicians, singers and actors alike." We'd like you to review the Proms yourself: click the 'Your Proms Reviews' button on any Prom's web page.
• Watch the complete performance of Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream on the Radio 3 web site.
• The picture shows William Christie conducting Prom 7, Glyndebourne's production of The Fairy Queen.