BBC Henry Wood Promenade Concerts

Proms Chamber Music – 3 (NYO Sinfonietta)
While not attracting a full house (although one that included the National Youth Orchestra’s new chairman and editor of “The Guardian”, Alan Rusbridger), the NYO Sinfonietta’s concert as part of...
Romeo & Juliet
Berlioz's aptly titled 'dramatic symphony' is not at all easy to categorise, being a strange mix of cantata and opera alongside the purely symphonic. Neither is it a straightforward work...
Violins!! – Part 3
In this culminating event of “Violins!!”, a folk-tradition that stems back almost to Bach’s time. Two ensembles occupied the platform: “Blazin' Fiddles” – Scottish fiddles – and the Roby Lakatos...
Violins!! – Part 2
Never has there been such an example of what the BBCSO should concentrate its undoubted talent on and equally what it should avoid. As a nation we spawn gifted sight-reading...
Violins!! – Part 1
In a world of ‘bite-sized’ portions it is a shame that classical music has found a niche in the ‘sound-bite’ world. Excerpts and selections present an incomplete picture of composers’...
Sergey Khachatryan
The BBC Philharmonic, possibly Britain's most underrated orchestra, usually responds well to Vassily Sinaisky in core Russian repertoire. Having a Gergiev protégé, Gianandrea Noseda, in charge as overall Chief shouldn’t...
The Red Violin
Dramatic scenes, or scenarios, was the thread underlying the works given at this concert; and there was a further link in the first half in that both the Adams and...
Manchester Camerata
Despite the foul weather, a fair crowd turned up for this late-night concert, the Manchester Camerata's Prom debut. They were rewarded with music-making of distinctly variable quality. The Manchester Camerata’s...
Pictures at an Exhibition
The ghost of Maurice Ravel hovered – benignly, of course – over this concert. Literally so in the opening and closing items, and figuratively in the new work by Dutilleux...
Theatrum Bestiarum
This Prom – as enterprising as it was and, regrettably, poorly attended – brought one of the season's most significant commissions. Now established among the most important German composers of...
The Vision of St Augustine
The interval in this Prom separated a work whose theme is the relationship between the individual and the infinite and a work that articulates the relationship between the individual and...
Proms Chamber Music – 2 (Leila Josefowicz)
For the second Proms Chamber Music concert, the soloist from the Royal Albert Hall’s Saturday night sell-out returned, again in her shimmering turquoise skirt and sky-blue top (perhaps apt for...
The Dream of Gerontius
The start did not auger well, with unison phrases at the commencement of the Prelude being less than unanimous, but this performance gained in stature and finally ensured one's appreciation...
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic
A sea-centred Prom – one that brought the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Gerard Schwarz in a programme such as might have hailed from the Sargent era. The Hebrides was...
Blue Peter
So how do you get a group of youngsters into the Albert Hall on a Saturday morning without promising them Christina Aguilera? Serve up a feast of favourite classics and...
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