Royal Albert Hall
Prom 67, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Nelsons / Prom 68, Berlin Philharmonic, Petrenko review - frenzy and finesseMonday, 03 September 2018
Did the earth move for us? You bet. Sunday’s two Proms brought fabled visitors to the Royal Albert Hall – first the Boston Symphony Orchestra, then the Berlin Philharmonic for their second concert – but our august guests dispensed with all polite... Read more... |
Prom 66, Wang, Berlin Philharmonic, Petrenko review - intense perfectionSunday, 02 September 2018
Setting aside any reservations about a slight overall timidity in repertoire choices - no problems with that last night - this year's Proms have worked unexpectedly well, above all with their weekend strands. The trump card with the usual roster of... Read more... |
Prom 65, London Voices, BBCSO, Bychkov review - 20th century masterpieces hit homeSaturday, 01 September 2018
This Prom had three pieces from times of social crisis, although only one faces its crisis head on. Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring hides its pre-war angst behind a story of pagan Russia while Ravel’s post-war desolation is danced in decadent Viennese... Read more... |
Prom 63, Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier - Book 2, Schiff review - the universe withinThursday, 30 August 2018
It was the C major Prelude and Fugue from this second book of Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier, not its more familiar counterpart in Book One, which found itself tracked on a gold-plated disc inside Voyager I to reach whatever intelligent life there... Read more... |
Prom 57, On the Town, LSO, Wilson review - symphonic dances and sassy vocalsSunday, 26 August 2018
1944 was one hell of a year for Bernstein the composer, with a perfect ballet and a near-perfect musical sharing a general theme of three sailors loose in New York, but nothing else, in their boisterous originality. Perhaps their only equal among... Read more... |
Prom 55, Lisztes, Lendvai, Lendvay, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Fischer review - unity and strengthFriday, 24 August 2018
There seems no limit to the sheer creativity that fizzes from Iván Fischer and his Budapest Festival Orchestra. For their second night at the Proms, packed out this time, the theme was the meeting of classical and Gypsy musical traditions. And... Read more... |
Prom 54, Richter, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Fischer review - independent-minded Hungarians returnThursday, 23 August 2018
Two heartening facts first. Iván Fischer's much-loved crew remains one of the few world-class orchestras with an individual voice, centred on lean, athletic strings adaptable to Fischer's febrile focus (perfect for Enescu and Bartók, not quite so... Read more... |
Prom 45, Capuçon, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Nott - scintillating new era for Swiss magiciansFriday, 17 August 2018
Who is the greatest British conductor in charge of a major orchestra? It's subjective, but my answer is not what you might expect. Jonathan Nott has done all his major work so far on the continent. He left the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra in excellent... Read more... |
Prom 44, Gringytė, CBSO, Morlot review - eloquently sculpted Gallic richesThursday, 16 August 2018
This should have been the third much-anticipated Prom of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra's inspiring communicator-in-chief Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla. She's now on maternity leave. So those of us who hadn't experienced Ludovic Morlot live before... Read more... |
Prom 43, Batiashvili, West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, Barenboim review – from Russia with loveWednesday, 15 August 2018
The days are long gone when a Proms gig by Daniel Barenboim and his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra felt like a life-changing visitation by a major prophet. Expectations of the ensemble he and the scholar-writer Edward Said founded in 1999 to encourage... Read more... |
Prom 42, Buniatishvili, Estonian Festival Orchestra, Järvi review – bright lights from the NorthTuesday, 14 August 2018
Music-lovers who normally balk at the sight of national colours in a concert hall would surely have forgiven the little Estonian flags – in stripes of blue, black and white – that waved happily at the conclusion of this Prom. Under the baton of... Read more... |
Prom 40, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Bell review - tea-time treats with wit and dashMonday, 13 August 2018
When did this weird mix-tape fashion take root at the Proms? Just a couple of days after Antonio Pappano ran Haydn into Bernstein without pausing for breath, Joshua Bell and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields sought to splice the final yearning... Read more... |
