BBC Henry Wood Promenade Concerts

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Cantus arcticus … The Whale
As a celebration of its 40th-anniversary year the London Sinfonietta revisited its very first concert, which included the world premiere of John Tavener’s “The Whale”, conducted by David Atherton.Atherton was...
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Seven … The Lark Ascending … Daphnis et Chloé
Whether through unforeseen illness or merely fatigue (he is conducting his new opera “Love and Other Demons” at Glyndebourne throughout August), Peter Eötvös had to pull out from this Prom...
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Ralph Vaughan Williams
Musically speaking the climax of Ralph Vaughan Williams’s anniversary year came in June with Richard Hickox’s revival of “The Pilgrim’s Progress” … or more precisely Roderick Williams’s sensational performance in...
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Romeo and Juliet … Tchaikovsky 5
Fêted abroad and under-funded at home, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra’s carefully rationed appearances in the capital’s bigger halls have often been devoted to standard repertoire. If that might be thought...
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Les Talens Lyriques
In this day and age, when we often told that “classical music is dying”, it was good to see a nearly full Cadogan Hall, especially as it was lunchtime on...
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Bach Day – 3: Cello Suites/Jian Wang
The best music-making of “Bach Day” was heard at this third and final instalment: a late-night recital featuring the first three of Johann Sebastian Bach’s (six) Suites for unaccompanied cello,...
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Bach Day – 2: St John Passion
The main event of “Bach Day” was this performance of the “St John Passion”. John Eliot Gardiner’s idiosyncratic direction did not always best serve the score; but this is one...
Bach Day – 1: Simon Preston Organ Recital
The three-Prom “Bach Day” celebrating the genius of Johann Sebastian Bach, each concert dedicated to a different area of his extensive output, began with an organ recital by veteran Bach...
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National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain
On its traditional mid-Prom-season Saturday evening and (also traditionally) shown on BBC2 Television (at a later time, so why this concert actually had to start at 6.30 p.m. was a...
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Gürzenich Orchestra – Mahler 5 … Punkte … Leonore No.3
You can’t accuse Markus Stenz and his Gürzenich Orchestra of short-changing the audience. A programme lasting just under three-and-a-half hours (including two intervals) of music-making of the highest quality is...
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Slavonic Dances … Osud
The effective sabotaging of one's career in the wake of major success is discernible throughout the arts in all eras: one of the most striking modern instances is that of...
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The Sleeping Beauty
Although concert performances of opera are an established fixture at the Proms, those of ballet are a comparative novelty; how else to explain that The Sleeping Beauty is only now...
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Tombeau de Messiaen … Speakings … Déserts
Jonathan Harvey’s three-year tenure as composer-in-association with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra has gradually yielded a trilogy of orchestral works based on what the composer calls “the Buddhist purification of...
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Soundings … Pastoral Symphony
A most-stimulating Prom, that had as its curtain-raiser a first UK performance.Elliott Carter’s Soundings was written in 2005 to mark Daniel Barenboim’s departure from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra music directorship,...
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Jordi Savall & Rolf Lislevand
A real rarity on these shores, Jordi Savall made his Proms debut, with fellow Hespèrion XXI player Rolf Lislevand, with a perfect gem of a lunchtime recital that traversed not...