BBC Henry Wood Promenade Concerts

Prom 71: Music First and Last
Almost at the end of this year’s Proms, and what could be more welcome than a coupling of two symphonic classicists, directed by the most classical – that is, interpretatively...
Prom 70: September 11 – A Year On
A prom for September 11 might have seemed like a poisoned chalice, but Sakari Oramo and the CBSO grasped the nettle with this programme of bold contrasts.With a title drawn...
My First Last Night – Leonard Slatkin
It was supposed to be a concert like no other. It was supposed to be special. It was supposed to break with tradition.It did, but not like anyone could have...
Prom 69: Unsettling C major
The opening of Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto immediately compels attention – quiet chords on the piano, building in intensity and leading to arpeggios which herald the arrival of the first...
Prom 67: Dohnányi at Play
The final week of the Proms, which affords a snap shot of the state of four of the five London Symphony Orchestras (a week, unusually, without international visitors), opened with...
Prom 64: Tantalising Tango
I thought of the headline waiting for a tube at Paddington, an indication that I was going to this concert optimistically and unbiased. Now, I’m angling for a complementary case...
Prom 63: Post-modern Tchaikovsky
Older listeners may continue to think of him as an accomplished pianist and younger viewers will notice the resemblance to Patrick Stewart late of the Starship Enterprise, but tonight’s conductor...
Prom 62: Goode Mozart
Richard Goode is a pianist capable of moulding together extremes – humour and high seriousness, attention to detail and an unbroken melodic line, intellect and emotion; a very classical modernity,...
Prom 61: Late-night Chant
A fine concert celebrating two centenaries – Walton and Duruflé – and a half-century: Simon Bainbridge was 50 a few weeks ago.The Twelve is a late work (1965) not heard...
Prom 60: Fast, Loud and Not All There
The idea of a concerto can be difficult to pin down accurately. Leonard Bernstein introduced his famous – infamous? – performance of Brahms’s First Piano Concerto with Glenn Gould with...
Prom 59: Toscanini or Celibidache?
Celibidache branded Toscanini a “non-musician”. James Levine reveres Toscanini. Celibidache conducted the Munich Philharmonic from 1979 to his death in 1996. Levine is Celibidache’s successor.The astonishing if controversial results that...
Prom 58: Drones of Death
Almost a counterpart to Prom 51 in its diverse treatment of the season’s Hispanic theme. Julian Anderson’s Alhambra Fantasy (2000) has made a fair impact in performances from the London...
Prom 57: Ives and Mahler Parallels
What a smart piece of programming! Ives and Mahler took what the world has to offer and put it in their music. Both these pieces gestated for some time having...
Prom 56: Exemplary Elijah
“Never was there a more complete triumph – never a more thorough and speedy recognition of a great work of art”. So reported “The Times” following Elijah’s first performance at...
Prom 55: Old-fashioned Beethoven
This was an interesting piece of programming – Shostakovich’s ode to October and Lenin, and Beethoven’s Ode to Joy can surely never have been coupled together before.However peculiar the pairing,...
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