BBC Henry Wood Promenade Concerts

Prom 54: West Coast Calculation
After the blood and guts playing of Gergiev’s Kirov forces and the luminescence of Abbado’s youthful troupe, there was always a risk that Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic would...
Prom 53: Prophecies
A complete Prom conducted by Thomas Adès was never likely to be routine, and in its programme and ordering, the present concert was indeed an engrossing if at times frustrating...
Prom 52: Musical Mahler Emotionally Underwhelming
What is it with Mahler 3? It seems to have a cruel effect on conductors. Some 19 years ago, Michael Tilson Thomas’s indisposition with the Philharmonia led to a young...
Prom 51: Spain Again
The Hispanic theme made an imaginative entry into this late-evening Prom. Obliquely in the case of Last Round – Osvaldo Golijov’s 1996 recollection of the soul of Argentinean tango, as...
Prom 50: Hey, Rome’s that Way!
With the proviso that Sinaisky and the RCO may be new to each other and some rehearsal time lost: Riccardo Chailly was missed! Stravinsky is one of Chailly’s strengths and...
Prom 49: COE & Schiff in Harmony
The Chamber Orchestra of Europe must be one of the finest bodies of its kind in the world. It boasts splendid players who respond in true chamber-music fashion to one...
Prom 48: Gergiev in Symphonic Triumph – At Last!
The Kirov Orchestra’s weekend Proms residency ended with this apposite coupling of works from the two leading Soviet composers: a concerto written in the heyday of Prokofiev’s émigré years, and...
Prom 47: Passion and Resurrection
A small but ’committed’ audience was present for one of the highlights of this year’s Proms, the UK premiere of Sofia Gubaidulina’s Passion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ according to...
Prom 45: The Roar of the Lyon
Although he appeared with it – in an oddly-assorted but enjoyable programme – at the Barbican Hall last year, this was David Robertson’s first Proms appearance with the Lyon Orchestra....
Prom 44: Youthful Sophistication
After the rigours of Parsifal at the Edinburgh Festival, this concert looked small beer for Claudio Abbado and the orchestra he founded in 1986 to help bring together young musicians...
Prom 43: Non-vibrato Magic? D major Overdose?
Nicely timed to coincide with the Sony CD release, Sir Roger Norrington, Joshua Bell and Camerata Salzburg reunited – this time before a packed Royal Albert Hall audience. Norrington has...
Prom 40: Transcriptions and Concertos
If the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s first appearance at the Proms last week found them technically unfazed by the English pastoral tradition, their emphatic, virile style of delivery seemed slightly beside...
Prom 39: An Odd Mix
What a peculiar programme! Where the original Proms prospectus promised us a first half of “Spanish postcards”, the programme booklet came up with the more plausible explanation of a gypsy...
Prom 37: Richard Rodgers – & Hammerstein
In the centenary year of the birth of Richard Rodgers, this Prom is one of many celebratory concerts and recordings. Perhaps in a macabre way, the timing is right for...
Prom 36: Spanish (K)nights and American Days
Although providing a fine evening at the Royal Albert Hall, given the day – the 25th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley – the Proms missed a trick at...
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