BBC Henry Wood Promenade Concerts

Orchestre de Paris
The theme of this concert was ‘valediction’. At the time of writing these works, both composers knew their own deaths were imminent. Berio, an atheist, set texts that probe men’s...
Voigt and Gatti
This was a high-risk programme even if it didn’t look like one. After conducting the Eroica with the RPO in Florida this February, Daniele Gatti berated the audience for applauding...
Glyndebourne Double Bill
For its annual Proms showcase Glyndebourne unveiled semi-staged versions of two short operas concerned with greed and the disposal of accumulated wealth on death. This interesting double-bill in a visually...
Sāvitri
Judging by the crowds streaming out of the Albert Hall upon my arrival to this late-night Prom there was a more than a respectable size of audience to hear the...
Lausanne Chamber Orchestra
It’s an unwise man that thinks the only cultural product of Switzerland is the cuckoo clock. While perhaps a little bereft of composers (claim half a point if you said...
St Petersburg Philharmonic 2
In gratifyingly neutral light, a near capacity audience assembled to witness this enjoyable if unadventurous programme. Yuri Temirkanov has had Evgeny Mravinsky’s old orchestra at his disposal for some time...
Swedish Chamber Orchestra
Thomas Dausgaard is formidable. Under his direction the Swedish Chamber Orchestra is tightly drilled and yet plays willingly, exultantly, with panache and bravura. It won my respect for every piece...
St Petersburg Philharmonic 1
A near-capacity crowd gathered at the Royal Albert Hall to hear some authentic Russian music-making by Yuri Temirkanov and his St Petersburg forces.Glinka’s melancholic Valse-Fantaisie was originally for the piano...
Chamber Music No.6
As summer dies and autumn was already making itself felt on this rain-drenched Monday, it was perhaps fitting that this Chamber Prom should be such a sombre affair. Not that...
John Adams
Three distinct 'flavours' permeated this most interesting Prom, starting with a slice of this year’s 'East meets West' theme. La vallée des cloches is the last movement of Ravel's Miroirs,...
Late-night Choral
One of the pleasures of late-night Proms is hearing a miscellany of works whose stylistic divergence throws up unforeseen connections and similarities. Thus it was this here, with Stephen Jackson...
The English Concert
This Prom, thoughtfully composed by Andrew Manze, comprised Handel’s most luxuriantly Coronation Anthem, written for King George II, three virtuoso arias from Thomas Arne’s opera Artaxerxes, Bach’s essay in affective...
Hänsel und Gretel
Whether by accident or design, it was an apt bit of scheduling to place Engelbert Humperdinck's fairy-tale opera on the evening following a performance of Wagner's Das Rheingold. To hear,...
Das Rheingold
This was, apparently, the first performance in modern times of a complete Wagner opera using 'period' instruments, and the beginning of a four-season Proms Ring cycle to be performed by...
Henze 10
A relative lack of new commissions in main-evening Proms this year has thrown greater emphasis on recent works brought to the Albert Hall by visiting artists. The UK premiere of...
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