The London Proms (classical music)

[LONDONER]

Programme for Tuesday the 16th:

David Matthews: A Vision of the Sea (BBC commission: world premiere)

Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor

8.05pm Interval

8.25pm
Nielsen: Symphony No 4, 'Inextinguishable'

Nobuyuki Tsujii (piano)
BBC Philharmonic
Juanjo Mena (conductor)

Juanjo Mena conducts the world premiere of David Matthews' 'A Vision of the Sea', inspired by Shelley's poetry, the pull of the tide on the Kent coast and an evocation of sunrise. Nobuyuki Tsujii, who played to packed houses on his recent tour of Japan with the BBC Philharmonic, makes his proms debut in Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto before the orchestra performs Nielsen's irrepressible 'Inextinguishable' Fourth Symphony, music brimming with optimism and the sheer joy of living.

The Proms can be heard by anyone online at this site: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/on-air

[LONDONER]

Programme for Wednesday the 17th July:

Britten: Sinfonia da Requiem
Lutosławski: Cello Concerto

8.20pm Interval

8.40pm
Adès: Totentanz (world premiere)

Paul Watkins (cello)
Christianne Stotijn (mezzo-soprano)
Simon Keenlyside (baritone)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Thomas Adès (condcutor)

Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem opens a programme of testimony and remembrance. Former BBC SO Principal Cellist Paul Watkins is the soloist in Lutosławski's bleak and beautiful Cello Concerto, composed for and dedicated to Mstislav Rostropovich in a period of violent protest and political repression in Poland.

Thomas Adès conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra and soloists Christianne Stotijn and Simon Keenlyside in the world premiere of his Totentanz, a commission in memory of Lutosławski, which sets an anonymous 15th-century text that accompanied a frieze destroyed when Lübeck's Marienkirche was bombed in the Second World War.

The Proms can be heard by anyone online at this site: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/on-air

[LONDONER]

The programme for today, Thursday the 18th, is:

Stenhammar: Excelsior!
Szymanowski: Symphony No. 3, 'The Song of the Night'

If you're interested in knowing more about the gay Polish composer Szymanowski, look at this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karol_Szymanowski

7.50pm Interval

8.10pm
R Strauss: An Alpine Symphony

Michael Weinius (tenor)
BBC National Chorus of Wales
BBC Symphony Chorus
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Thomas Søndergård (conductor)

Evocations of Nordic forests, Persian gardens and snow-capped mountains feature in Thomas Søndergård's first Prom as Principal Conductor of the BBC NOW. Stenhammar's joyful Excelsior! is an upbeat to the opulent, exotic sound-world of Szymanowski's Symphony No. 3, 'The Song of the Night'. And Strauss's epic Alpine Symphony is as much a statement of the composer's personal philosophy as a description of the natural world at its most dramatic.

The Proms can be heard by anyone online at this site: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/on-air

[LONDONER]

The programme for this evening is interesting for one because the young Jan Lisiecki who I have mentioned previously, will be playing the Schumann concerto and two, because the Rachmaninov Symphony number 2 is a wonderfully lyrical symphony, perfect for anyone just coming in to classical music. The Prom starts at 20.30 CET.

Mozart: Symphony No. 35 in D major, K385 'Haffner'
Schumann: Piano Concerto in A minor

7.30pm Interval

7.50pm
Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2 in E minor

Jan Lisiecki (piano)
Orchestra of the Academy of Santa Cecilia, Rome
Antonio Pappano (conductor)

Sir Antonio Pappano conducts his Orchestra of the Academy of Santa Cecilia, Rome, in a programme featuring two major symphonies as bookends. First, Mozart's Symphony 35, 'Haffner', which started life as a serenade, and at the end, Rachmaninov's colossal Symphony No. 2. In the middle, Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor, a masterpiece of the romantic concerto, with young virtuoso Jan Lisiecki as soloist, making his Proms debut.

The Proms can be heard by anyone online at this site: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/on-air

[LONDONER]

Programme for Saturday the 20th:

Verdi arr. C Hermann: String Quartet (version for string orchestra)
Verdi: Ave Maria (1880)
Verdi: Requiem - Libera me (original version)

8.15pm Interval

8.35pm
Verdi: Four Sacred Pieces

Maria Agresta (soprano)
Orchestra and Chorus of the Academy of Santa Cecilia, Rome
Antonio Pappano (conductor)

The Orchestra and Chorus of the Academy of Santa Cecilia, Rome and Sir Antonio Pappano live at the BBC Proms, with an all-Verdi programme, featuring an arrangement for strings of his String Quartet followed by religious pieces, among them his 1880 Ave Maria; the original version of the Libera me from his dramatic Requiem, and his Four Sacred Pieces, with soprano Maria Agresta.

The Proms can be heard by anyone online at this site: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/on-air

[LONDONER]

The programme for Sunday the 21st July:

Should be a popular concert with Tchaikovski's very melodic violin concerto and Shoshtakovitch's dramatic and powerful 10th Symphony conducted by the charismatic Valery Giergiev.

Sean Shepherd: Magiya (BBC co-commission with Carnegie Hall: European premiere)
Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto

8.20pm Interval

8.40pm
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10 in E minor

Joshua Bell (violin)
National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America
Valery Gergiev (conductor)

Tonight's prom is the UK debut of the newly-formed National Youth Orchestra of the USA under conductor Valery Gergiev. The concert opens with the European premiere of American composer Sean Shepherd's Magiya, inspired by Russian musical traditions. Violinst Joshua Bell is soloist in Tchaikovsky's ever popular Violin Concerto, and the Prom ends with Shostakovich's mighty 10th Symphony.

The Proms can be heard by anyone online at this site: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/on-air

[LONDONER]

Programme for Monday the 22nd July:

Wagner: Das Rheingold (concert performance, sung in German)

Wotan ..... Iain Paterson (bass-baritone)
Loge ..... Stephan Rügamer (tenor)
Donner ..... Jan Buchwald (bass-baritone)
Froh ..... Marius Vlad (tenor)
Fricka ..... Ekaterina Gubanova (mezzo-soprano)
Freia ..... Anna Samuil (soprano)
Erda ..... Anna Larsson (contralto)
Alberich ..... Johannes Martin Kränzle (baritone)
Mime ..... Peter Bronder (tenor)
Fasolt ..... Stephen Milling (bass)
Fafner ..... Eric Halfvarson (bass)
Woglinde ..... Aga Mikolaj (soprano)
Wellgunde ..... Maria Gortsevskaya (mezzo-soprano)
Flosshilde ..... Anna Lapkovskaja (mezzo-soprano)
Staatskapelle Berlin
Daniel Barenboim (conductor)

The first opera in Wagner's Ring cycle, Das Rheingold, introduces us to mythical stories of sword-wielding heroes, castles, magic potions and scheming dwarves, and the central corrupting influence of the all-powerful ring, guarded by the cruel water-sprites, otherwise known as the Rhinemaidens. A lecherous Nibelung dwarf called Alberich seizes the gold and heads to Nibelheim where he builds an empire based on fear and slave labour. We also meet Wotan the chief god in his castle Valhalla, and who when he hears of the all-powerful ring, decides he wants it for himself. Das Rheingold is performed by Staatskapelle Berlin and a stellar cast from both Barenboim's Berlin and Milan ring cycles. This is the first ever performance of Wagner's four Ring cycle operas in a single Proms Festival.

The Proms can be heard by anyone online at this site: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/on-air

[LONDONER]

Programme for Tuesday the 23rd July:

Wagner
Die Walküre (225 mins)
(concert performance; sung in German)

Bryn Terfel bass-baritone (Wotan)
Eric Halfvarson bass (Hunding)
Simon O'Neill tenor (Siegmund)
Anja Kampe soprano, Proms debut artist (Sieglinde)
Nina Stemme soprano (Brünnhilde)
Ekaterina Gubanova mezzo-soprano (Fricka)
Sonja Mühleck soprano (Gerhilde)
Carola Höhn soprano, Proms debut artist (Ortlinde)
Ivonne Fuchs mezzo-soprano, Proms debut artist (Waltraute)
Anaïk Morel mezzo-soprano, Proms debut artist (Schwertleite)
Susan Foster soprano, Proms debut artist (Helmwige)
Leann Sandel-Pantaleo mezzo-soprano, Proms debut artist (Siegrune)
Anna Lapkovskaja mezzo-soprano, Proms debut artist (Grimgerde)
Simone Schröder mezzo-soprano, Proms debut artist (Rossweisse)

Staatskapelle Berlin

Daniel Barenboim conductor

The Proms can be heard by anyone online at this site: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/on-air

[LONDONER]

Programme for Wednesday the 24th July:

Well, a bit of relief after two nights of solid Wagner! For anyone who doesn't know it, Walton's "Touch her soft lips" is probably one of the most affecting pieces of British string music ever written. Tchaikovsky's 4th is full of melodies. Well worth a listen.

Elgar: Falstaff
Bantock: Sapphic Poem

8.20pm Interval

8.40pm
Walton: Henry V - Touch Her Soft Lips and Part; Death of Falstaff
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 in F minor

Raphael Wallfisch (cello)
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Jac van Steen (conductor)

The baleful fanfare of Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony heralds the BBC Proms complete cycle of his symphonies. For conductor Jac van Steen, it's a realisation of extreme opposites, and overcoming the contrasts: "The first movement is born out of the chaos that is an inevitable part of this process, it is concerned with darkness and fate, leading to a euphoric finale, where the energy turns to light and joy". Celebrating his 60th birthday this year, Raphael Wallfisch is the soloist in the Proms premiere of Granville Bantock's Sapphic Poem, launching the Proms focus on the composer this summer. Rich, lyrical and lushly orchestrated, it is framed by two very different portraits of Sir John Falstaff by Edward Elgar and William Walton.

The Proms can be heard by anyone online at this site: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/on-air

[LONDONER]

Programme for today, Thursday the 25th July:

For those not "in" to classical music, the second half of this concert is really accessible. "The Three Cornered Hat" is a wonderfully joyous, sunlit piece and appropriately enough, it's conducted by the Spanish conductor Juanjo Mena. The concert ends with Ravel's "Bolero" that even if you don'tknow the name, you will recognise as soon as you hear it.

John McCabe: Joybox (BBC commission: world premiere)
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A major

8.20pm Interval

8.40pm
Falla: The Three-Cornered Hat (complete)
Ravel: Boléro

Clara Mouriz (mezzo-soprano)
Compañía Antonio Márquez (dance company)
BBC Philharmonic
Juanjo Mena (conductor)

The world premiere of John McCabe's 'Joybox' opens a concert of music inspired by or written for dance, from the Bohemian stamp and whirl of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony to the slow-burn crescendo of Ravel's 'Boléro'. Mezzo-soprano Clara Mouriz and the Compañía Antonio Marquéz join conductor Juanjo Mena and the BBC Philharmonic in Falla's colourful Ballets Russes commission 'The Three-Cornered Hat', a tale of intrigue and jealousy shot through with the spirit of Spanish folk dances.