I thought Prog at the Proms where prog songs were arranged for an orchestra was excellent with the King Crimson medley with Guy Garvey and the Great Gig inthe Sky.
We shouldn’t really be surprised given progressive rock being often influenced by classical music. I thought critics were overly sniffy about it. Admittedly some of the vocals were a bit fragile but face it, did you ever think you’d hear Gentle Giant in this context? The most successful pieces were the most widescreen sweeping things like Crime Of The Century
Vanessa Haynes doing the Claire Torry bit on Great Gig In The Sky was a real tour de force. An incredible vocally gymnastic performance especially considering it’s just vowel sounds.
Peter Hammill did look like a wild old fella shouting at passing buses but the alto sax on Out-Bloody-Ragous by Soft Machine was superb. You can listen to Soft Machine’s 1970 performance at the Proms on Youtube.
I know it’s divisive but I’ve always loved rock being orchestrated going back to Deep Purple. At its best there’s something mighty and majestic about it. One of the finest I’ve heard is Metallica’s with the San Francisco symphony orchestra which I think improves on the originals and is more epic, almost filmic in its ambition
I find criticism to be confusing. If the songs are totally rearranged they complain they’ve altered the original but if they’re not, people complain the orchestration hasn't added anything. A lot of time. Especially with prog, it’s partially or completely orchestrated already or has a string section. I don't know what people expect? It’s an enhancement usually, not intended to be better or more definitive.
Given the demographics and that prog's golden era was the first half of the 70s, the Albert Hall audience profile was over 60 and older. So what was once radical and innovative has become middle-class and respectable but this wasn't the watering down of the original, just a different version and I welcome it.
