BBC Henry Wood Promenade Concerts

1934 – Delius, Elgar & Holst (2)
The weekend’s final concert of music commemorating the triptych of British composers who died in 1934 once again combined the popular with the unfamiliar. The Royal Albert Hall’s high occupancy...
Family Prom
The opportunity of a “free family prom” attracted many first-timers to a classical music concert; indeed of the two-thirds-full Royal Albert Hall many were children. Producing a suitable concert for...
1934 – Delius, Elgar & Holst (1)
Continuing the weekend marking the threecomposers represented in this concert who died in 1934, judicious programme planningfound two 'popular' works framing a rarity.Elgar's picture-portrait (perhaps an idealised one) of London...
Elgar’s Organ Sonata(s) – David Titterington
It seemed a bit odd to begin this weekend focussing on the year 1934 – in which occurred the deaths of Elgar, Delius and Holst – with a decidedly second-rate...
Orchestre National de Lyon
One of the strangest Proms programmes in a long while, this three-part concert attempted to trace musical and cultural connections between East and West and between France and Spain. The...
Moeran, Finzi & Elgar
This memorable Prom, one of several manifesting Roger Wright’s determination to find room for indigenous rarities, was dedicated to the memory of Sir Edward and Lady Downes. It was preceded...
800th-Anniversary of the University of Cambridge
Celebrating 800 years of any educational establishment would normally offer a reasonable pool of material to draw from. When that establishment is Cambridge University you can be sure that the...
The Fairy Queen
The “Glyndebourne Prom” is always an event, allowing the Sussex Opera Festival to showcase one of its usually new productions in the huge space of the Royal Albert Hall. This...
Seven Last Words [Haydn & MacMillan]
Those who stayed on at the Royal Albert Hall for the late-night Prom which followed Bernard Haitink’s monumental Mahler 9 were rewarded with as complementary and enriching a musical experience...
LSO/Haitink Mahler 9
A wonderful occasion, one enhanced by no applause between movements and an appreciative silence at the end of the work before a very enthusiastic reception broke out. Bernard Haitink, recently...
The Cardinall’s Musick
The 500th-anniversary of the coronation of King Henry VIII probably does not figure too highly in the memory when set against the crop of births and deaths of the major...
Partenope
This is a tale of a warrior-queen with three suitors, written around the voices of Anna Strada and Antonio Bernacchi, and only recently given a fascinating production by English National...
Stan Tracey Orchestra – Genesis
Some 23 years since writing his acclaimed suite for big band, Genesis, Stan Tracey made his Proms debut (a late-night gig) at the age of 82. Stan isn’t as sprightly...
The Creation
The libretto of Haydn’s oratorio “The Creation” has a fascinating story attached to it, one that continues even to this Proms performance. The was the first choral work to be...
The First Night
Fireworks, an ode and a hymn of praise were just three of seven pieces chosen to raise the curtain on the 115th BBC Proms season. Rather than programme a single...
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