BBC Henry Wood Promenade Concerts

Proms Chamber Music No.7 (1 September)
A nicely-balanced recital from Steven Isserlis and Kirill Gerstein – the latter’s buoyant and perceptive pianism indicative of a major new talent. Prokofiev’s Cello Sonata is often referred to in...
Prom 56 – Berlin Diary
For his second Prom with the now Berliner Philharmoniker, Sir Simon Rattle again chose to enclose a contemporary piece within two acknowledged classics. This time, those classics went back to...
Prom 55 – Berlin Rite
In what was always going to be one of the musical events of 2003, Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic presented a typically astute programme, one that also managed...
Prom 54 – Mariss, Mendelssohn & Mahler
After a breathtaking Tchaikovsky Fourth the previous evening, expectations were running high. The biggest block-busting orchestral weekend of the Proms this season (the Berlin Phil follow the Pittsburghers). On its...
Prom 53 – A Mingled Chime
Friday night, an absolutely full house, and the Pittsburgh Symphony is a wonderful orchestra. Mariss Jansons is an excellent and much-loved conductor taking his leave of the PSO as Music...
Prom 52 – Manfred Symphony
A relatively standard Prom this season from Sakari Oramo and the CBSO, though Nielsen’s Pan and Syrinx is a masterly tone poem difficult to programme and consequently undervalued. It’s also...
Prom 51 – Woolrich’s Winning Mercurial Musical Metamorphoses
After perhaps the longest break of Late Night Proms I have ever known (almost two full weeks), the tradition burst brilliantly back to life with this wonderfully themed concert, regrettably...
Prom 50 – Spirit Survives The Slips
Coming from the dizzy heights of four of the most spectacular Proms of the season (Saul, the two-part Trojans, and Haitink’s Mahler 6), there was always a danger that the...
Prom 49: European Mahler
Thankfully, in contrast to some of this year’s Proms, the only colourful visual element came from the flags of the European Union decked on the platform and from the attire...
Proms Chamber Music No.6 (25 August)
Another Monday lunchtime and another nicely balanced programme at the V & A’s Lecture Theatre, introduced, as ever, by Christopher Cook. He entertained the packed audience pre-broadcast with some thoughts...
Proms 47 & 48 – Trojans-tastic!
After the performances of The Trojans in the LSO’s Berlioz Odyssey with principal conductor Sir Colin Davis three years ago (so memorably enshrined in the award-winning, multi-selling LSO Live CD...
Prom 46 – Scoreless Saul Scores Stupendous Success
An almost-full Royal Albert Hall attended Paul McCreesh’s peerless performance of Saul, Handel’s first great success in English oratorio (following Deborah and Athalia), with hushed silence and rapt concentration, with...
Prom 45 – Romeo & Juliet
As Leonard Slatkin reached the podium to start the concert, the members of the BBC Symphony Orchestra stood up for him, demonstrating their respect for his musicianship. The concert itself...
Prom 44 – West-Eastern Divan Orchestra
Music is supposedly the food of love. It is, unfortunately, not likely to be a panacea for the settling of conflict. Music can, of course, be wonderful in its healing...
Prom 43 – Warzone
The Rotterdam Philharmonic is Valery Gergiev’s ’other’ orchestra, a fine one requiring no string pulling. Gergiev seems less of a showman when working with it. In Ravel, there was much...