Royal Albert Hall
BBC Proms: National Youth Orchestra, Jurowski/ Nigel KennedySunday, 07 August 2011
Youth was everywhere to be seen at the Proms last night. Whether in the massed ranks of Britain’s National Youth Orchestra, soloist Ben Grosvenor (even younger than the precocious Benjamin Britten when he debuted his own Piano Concerto in 1938),... Read more... |
BBC Proms: Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, DudamelSaturday, 06 August 2011
Marley & Me: that’s the film about living with a neurotic dog, out now on DVD. And Mahler & Me? It could be the Gustavo Dudamel story. Conducting Mahler was what first brought everyone’s favourite Venezuelan to world attention, when he won... Read more... |
BBC Proms: Martinpelto, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Runnicles/ Tallis ScholarsFriday, 05 August 2011
Leonard Tanner, my old choirmaster, used to say that Brahms was a composer with his feet in three different camps: the Baroque period, the Classical period, and the Romantic. Possibly he had a fourth leg too, poking into the music of the future.... Read more... |
BBC Proms: Little, BBCSO, Davis/ Late Night GraingerWednesday, 03 August 2011
They came in their thousands again last night, most – I’m guessing – for “the Elgar”. Lacking faith that Tasmin Little could fill the enormous soul of that most elusive of violin concertos – a prejudice, alas, fulfilled - I put my money on the... Read more... |
BBC Proms: Les Talens Lyriques/ BBC Philharmonic, NosedaMonday, 01 August 2011
According to Classic FM’s managing director Darren Henley there are many people who find the term “chamber music” offputting, if not downright intimidating. Perhaps the best explanation of the genre comes from a musicologist who has termed it “the... Read more... |
BBC Proms Gallery: Horrible HistoriesSaturday, 30 July 2011
After two Proms devoted to Doctor Who, this year's children's Prom ceded the floor today to the hugely popular CBBC television series Horrible Histories. The series is based, in case you don't know your Horrible Histories history, on the books... Read more... |
BBC Proms: Booth, BBC Symphony Orchestra, KnussenSaturday, 30 July 2011
All aboard the chrome locomotive for composer-conductor Oliver Knussen’s annual magical mystery tour. You may notice rather few fellow passengers in the Albert Hall; that’s a given with this event (though the Proms could have thrown in and... Read more... |
BBC Proms: Arditti Quartet, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, FischerThursday, 28 July 2011
One of the weirdest things about the Proms's "weird concerto" theme is that the concertos so far haven't been all that weird. Piano. Violin. Cello and violin. Cello, piano and violin. Pretty familiar stuff. Finally last night we got something bona... Read more... |
BBC Proms: Bavouzet, London Philharmonic Orchestra, JurowskiWednesday, 27 July 2011
The world tour that the Proms offer this year touches down in no more fascinating musical country than Hungary, with three of its great composers, Liszt, Bartók and Kodály brought into the Albert Hall last night by the ever-stimulating Vladimir... Read more... |
BBC Proms: Mahler 9, Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, NorringtonTuesday, 26 July 2011
Well, that's a first. With the final upbeat of the rustic second movement, Sir Roger Norrington Bugs Bunnied the audience. He turned to us with cheek in his eyes, a "That's-all-folks!" smile plastered on his face, brandishing his baton for a carrot... Read more... |
BBC Proms: Verdi's Requiem, BBCSO, BychkovSunday, 24 July 2011
You can't say this about many works but Verdi's Requiem really is as snug as a bug in a rug in the Royal Albert Hall. In which other space could the three moon-like bass drums orbiting the back of the orchestra not look ridiculous? Last night's... Read more... |
BBC Proms: Osborne, BBC Philharmonic, MenaSaturday, 23 July 2011
If much of the Austro-German repertoire is about hiking to a spiritual peak, the Franco-Spanish is about diving down to the orchestral depths. The music of Ravel, Debussy and Falla has beefy shoulders and powerful legs. But the vast watery expanse... Read more... |
