Proms and such
Tuesday night’s Prom concert, by the BBC Philharmonic, conducted by John Storgårds, included, as part of a commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s coronation, Edmund Rubbra’s Ode to…
The Proms: Cage et al, Ligeti, Berio, Xenakis, Andriessen, Harvey, and Vaughan Williams
Maybe the BBC didn’t pull out all the stops to celebrate the John Cage centennial, but they did pull out quite a lot of them. August 17 was Cage day at…
At the Proms: Neuwirth, Villa-Lobos, Ginastera
On August 13 the violist Lawrence Power and the Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Susanna Mälkki, presented the first UK performance of Olga Neuwirth’s Remnants of Songs… an Amphigory. The title…
The Proms: British Pride (Finnissy, Ferneyhough, Birtwistle, Elias, et al.)
One of the most appealing and satisfying things about the Proms is the way that they support and showcase British composers. There are a number of commissions each year (a…
My First Slice of This Year’s Proms
The BBC Proms is massive and rich festival with lots of moving parts. What one makes of any one season largely depends on which slice of it one happens to…
The Proms: Volans, Larcher, Dutilleux, and Stravinsky
On August 22, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Barry Douglas, conducted by Thomas Dausgaard, presented the first performance of Kevin Volans’s Piano Concerto No. 3, which was a BBC Commission.…
The Proms: Colin Matthews’s No Man’s Land
On the August 21 Prom concert The City of London Sinfonia, with Ian Bostridge, tenor, and Roderick Williams, baritone, conducted by Stephen Layton, presented he first performance of Colin Matthews’s…
The Proms: Davies, Aperghis, Britwistle, Bennett, Dutilleux, Maconchy
On Four Saturdays in August and September, the BBC Proms has been presenting Saturday matinee concerts in Cadogan Hall in Sloane Square. On August 20, The London Sinfonietta, the BBC…
The Proms–Copland, Barber, Bax, Britten and some more
The logic according to which the Copland Fanfare for the Common Man and the Barber Adagio for Strings make good companion pieces on a concert for Arnold Bax’s Second Symphony…
Reich, Holt, Bridge and Holst at the Proms
On Wednesday August 10, the Proms celebrated the upcoming 75th birthday of Steve Reich with a late night concert of his music performed by Ensemble Modern, Synergy Vocals, Mats Bergström,…