BBC Henry Wood Promenade Concerts

Staatskapelle Dresden
The Dresden State Orchestra has appointed Rebecca Saunders as its composer-in-residence from the 2009-10 season, a surprising move, maybe, given this ensemble’s association with tradition and Saunders’s challenging musical thinking...
Slonimsky’s Earbox … Symphonia Domestica
Whatever the starting-point of Richard Strauss’s Domestic Symphony, a day in the life of the Strauss family, any such programme can be easily forgotten given the sheer quality and brilliance...
Michael Nyman
This was Michael Nyman's first appearance at the BBC Proms and looked at his musical relationships with two of this year's featured composers, Purcell and Haydn, providing an effective stylistic...
Joyce DiDonato & Roger Norrington
It is three decades since Sir Roger Norrington first shot to international fame (some would say notoriety) for his pioneering and uncompromising approach to the Baroque and Classical canon. As...
Nagasaki & Shostakovich 8 [LSO/Gergiev]
The UK premiere of Alfred Schnittke’s student cantata “Nagasaki” (1958) was certainly the attraction of this Prom. “Nagasaki” is a recent discovery for Valery Gergiev (although a recording of it...
Joshua Bell, Steven Isserlis & Dénes Várjon
Steven Isserlis mentioned that Schumann's diaries give Mendelssohn's First Piano Trio as a direct catalyst for the composition of his Fantastiestücke, poetic utterances that were here given vividly pictorial performances...
Joshua Bell & Osmo Vänskä
Two joyful works in D major flanked a very fine performance of Szymanowski’s “Stabat mater” in this BBC Symphony Orchestra (and Chorus) Prom under Osmo Vänskä. There seemed to be...
West-Eastern Divan Orchestra – 3 [Fidelio]
Following two concerts the previous evening, Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra might have welcomed the afternoon off, especially with “Fidelio” looming. Instead, nine members of the orchestra and...
West-Eastern Divan Orchestra – 2 [Mendelssohn & Berg]
This late-night BBC Prom and second offering of the evening from members of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra brought together two contrasting masterpieces, separated by almost exactly a hundred years.Mendelssohn’s Octet...
West-Eastern Divan Orchestra – 1 [Liszt, Wagner & Berlioz]
The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra (named after Goethe’s cycle or diwan of lyric poems modelled on the Persian poet Hafiz) is celebrating its 10th-anniversary since being founded by Daniel Barenboim and...
Samson
The marking of the 250th-anniversary of Handel's death continue, though it was disappointing to see large areas at the back of the Arena vacant. Handel-the-English-oratorio composer was on show. Composed...
Shoreless River … Paganini Rhapsody … The Year 1905
Even some of Shostakovich’s greatest admirers seem to have problems with Symphony 11; a curious situation given that it is one of his most fascinating works. If there is a...
Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain
In what must be the busiest late-night BBC Prom in years, the eight players/singers/presenters of the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain found themselves before a sea of eager faces in...
Budapest Festival Orchestra
Last year Gramophone magazine ranked the Budapest Festival Orchestra as the ninth best (the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra topped the poll, and the top-placed British one was the London Symphony Orchestra,...
El amor brujo … The Hague Hacking … Mother Goose … Boléro
Dutchman Louis Andriessen, seventy this year, was interviewed before the UK premiere of his new work, and revealed an impish sense of humour. The Hague Hacking was played by the...
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