The London Proms (classical music)

[LONDONER]

Programme for Friday the 26th July:

An all Wagner programme this evening

Staatskapelle Berlin and Daniel Barenboim live at the BBC Proms with the third part of Wagner's Ring cycle, Siegfried

Live from the Royal Albert Hall, London
Presented by Tom Service

Wagner: Siegfried - Act 1 (concert performance; sung in German)

6.20pm Interval

6.50pm
Wagner: Siegfried - Act 2

8.15pm Interval

8.45pm
Wagner: Siegfried - Act 3

Siegfried ..... Lance Ryan (tenor)
Brünnhilde ..... Nina Stemme (soprano)
Wanderer ..... Terje Stensvold (bass-baritone)
Mime ..... Peter Bronder (tenor)
Alberich ..... Johannes Martin Kränzle (baritone)
Fafner ..... Eric Halfvarson (bass)
Woodbird ..... Rinnat Moriah (soprano)
Erda ..... Anna Larsson (contralto)
Staatskapelle Berlin
Daniel Barenboim (conductor)

Daniel Barenboim's Ring with the Staatskapelle Berlin - the first ever complete cycle at the BBC Proms - continues with the razored strings and yelping brass of a violent storm, the cloudburst of incestuous love, a bitter marital dispute and the first appearance of Wotan's rebel daughter, Brunnhilde, sung by a leading exponent of the role, Nina Stemme. The cunning dwarf, Mime, tries to manipulate Siegfried into stealing the magic ring from the dragon, Fafner, with the sword Nothung. But his plans go awry when Siegfried takes the ring for himself...

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

[LONDONER]

Programme for Saturday the 27th July:

For me, Wagner's most accessible opera. To make things easier, I've included a a brief summary at the end of this post.

Wagner: Tristan and Isolde (concert performance, sung in German)

Act 1

6.25pm Interval

7.00pm Act 2

8.20pm Interval8.55pm Act 3

Tristan .... Robert Dean Smith (tenor)
King Mark.... Kwangchul Youn (bass)
Isolde.... Violetta Urmana (soprano)
Kurwenal.... Boaz Daniel (baritone)
Melot.... David Wilson-Johnson (tenor)
Brangane.... Mihoko Fujimura (soprano)
Shepherd/Young Sailor.... Andrew Staples (tenor)
Steersman.... Edward Price (baritone)

BBC Singers (Men)
BBC Symphony Chorus (Men)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Semyon Bychkov (conductor)

The Wagner bicentenary celebration continues with the composer's boldest fusion of legend and harmonic innovation, Tristan and Isolde, which forced him to break off work on his Ring cycle - near this very juncture in the Proms Ring, during the composition of Siegfried and before the final instalment, Götterdämmerung.

Semyon Bychkov conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra and a cast led by Violeta Urmana and Robert Dean Smith in a drama where love and death become one.


Synopsis of Tristan and Isolde

Act I

A sailor sings about an Irish maid, and Isolde becomes angry, thinking he is referring to her. Isolde sends Brangaene to bring Tristan to her; his servant Kurnewal challenges and mocks her.

Brangaene returns to Isolde, who sadly relates the story of how Tristan killed her fiance, Morold. He came to her under the name Tantris and she nursed him back to health. When she discovered his true identity she tried to kill him, but could not. Tristan returned, however, to take her back to Cornwall as a bride for his uncle, King Marke.

In order to avoid the pain of a loveless marriage, Isolde asks Brangaene to prepare a death draught, planning to kill Tristan and then herself. Brangaene mistakenly gives her a love potion instead, and she and Tristan fall instantly in love as the ship approaches Cornwall.

Act II

Tristan and Isolde meet at night while King Marke is out hunting. Brangaene warns Isolde that Melot will betray them, but Isolde pays no heed. Tristan and Isolde express their love in metaphysical terms, observing that the day is false because their love can only be expressed in secret at night. Brangaene warns them twice that daylight is approaching, but they cannot leave each other.

Kurnewal enters suddenly to warn them of a betrayal. King Marke and Melot enter with the couriters and witness Isolde and Tristan's unfaithfulness. Melot and Tristan fight, and Tristan is severely wounded.

Act III

Tristan lays wounded at his castle in Brittany. His health is worsening, and Kurnewal has sent for Isolde. Delirious, Tristan believes he sees Isolde's ship. The arrival of the real ship is signaled by a shepherd's tune, and Tristan dies in Isolde's arms.

King Marke and Melot arrive. Kurnewal kills Melot and then dies at his master's feet. Marke reveals that Brangaene told him about the love potion and that, knowing that Tristan did not betray him of his own free will, he wished to let Tristan and Isolde be together. Isolde dies of grief and is finally joined with Tristan in death.


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

[MisterLove]

One of London's greatest attractions.

[LONDONER]

Programme for Sunday the 28th July:

Wagner: Götterdämmerung

Prologue & Act 1 (concert performance, sung in German)

18.30 Interval

19.05 Act 2

20.10 Interval

20.45 Act 3

Brünnhilde .... Nina Stemme (soprano)
Siegfried .... Andreas Schager (tenor)
Hagen .... Mikhail Petrenko (bass)
Gunther .... Gerd Grochowski (bass-baritone)
Gutrune / Third Norn .... Anna Samuil (soprano)
Alberich .... Johannes Martin Kränzle (bass-baritone)
Waltraute / Second Norn .... Waltraud Meier (mezzo-soprano)
First Norn .... Margarita Nekrasova (contralto)
Woglinde .... Aga Mikolaj (soprano)
Wellgunde .... Maria Gortsevskaya (soprano)
Flosshilde .... Anna Lapkovskaja (mezzo-soprano)

Royal Opera Chorus
Staatskapelle Berlin
Daniel Barenboim (conductor)

Tom Service presents the final leg of Daniel Barenboim's Ring Cycle with the Staatskapelle Berlin - the first ever complete cycle at the BBC Proms. And it's not a happy ending: Götterdämmerung - The Twilight of the Gods - is the darkest of the four operas. The ecstatic love of Siegfried and Brünnhilde, celebrated at the end of the previous opera, is under threat from the plotting of the cunning Hagen. As the son of Alberich who created the all-powerful golden Ring, Hagen's single purpose is to regain the Ring at all costs. Soon Siegfried's fate is sealed: can Brünnhilde save the world?

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

[LONDONER]

Programme for Monday the 29th July:

"Turning Point is a completelñy new work that I can't comment on. The rest of the programme comprises Prokofiev's wonderful 2nd violin concerto and Shoshtakovich's way over the top, not particularly subtle but immensly entertaining 11th symphony. If you have a good audio system turn up the volume for the last movement (without disturbing your neighbours) and hope that in this version the conductors allows the bells to ring out and then fade. If you don't already know the symphony, you'll see what I mean.


The BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Thomas Søndergård live at the BBC Proms with Russian masterpeices by Prokofiev and Shostakovich plus a UK premiere by Colin Matthews

Colin Matthews: Turning Point (UK premiere)
Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor

7.50pm Interval

8.10pm
Shostakovich Symphony No. 11, 'The Year 1905'

Daniel Hope (violin)
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Thomas Søndergård (conductor)

The BBC National Orchestra of Wales reutrns to the BBC Proms with Principal Conductor Thomas Søndergård to give the UK premiere of Colin Matthews's mercurial Turning Point. First performed in 2007 by the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, it's a work the composer wrestled with over several years. The fast opening section came into being in 2003, but Matthews couldn't immediately find the way forward, and when he did a year later, the continuation was even faster, a whirling, scherzo-like episode. Once again, the composer ground to a halt, unable to continue. The 'turning point' came with a complete change of direction, music that was very slow and intense though based entirely on the same material that was heard earlier. The overall impression is, as Matthews puts it "of complex momentum countered by expressive simplicity".

British violinist Daniel Hope has toured the world as a virtuoso soloist for many years. Acclaimed by critics as adventurous and brilliant, of probing intellect and commanding style, he's also been described as "the most exciting British string player since Jacqueline du Pré" by the Observer. Prokofiev's Second Violin Concerto was a landmark in his search for a new simplicity and a directness of expression. The flinty beauty of the concerto stands in sharp contrast to the granite heft of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 11, 'The Year 1905' written four years after the death of Joseph Stalin and studded through with revolutionary songs.

This Prom will be repeated on Tuesday 30th July at 2pm.

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

[LONDONER]

I forgot to mention the late night Prom at 22.15. Maybe of interest to those who like something a little out of the ordinary.:

Prom 22: Naturally 7

Duration: 1 hour, 30 minutes

A cappella vocal group Naturally 7 live at the BBC Proms. With a soundworld that ranges from scratching and drums to brass and electric guitar all produced with just the human voice.

Live from the Royal Albert Hall, London

Presented by Louise Fryer

Who needs instruments when you have seven voices and seven bodies? Building on the heritage of gospel with a style described as 'vocal play', the group performs its own material alongside arrangements of classics including George Harrison's 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' and Phil Collins's 'In the Air Tonight' which incorporate a range of sounds from scratching and drums to brass and electric guitar all produced with just the human voice.

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

[LONDONER]

Programme for Tuesday the 30th July:

Paul Lewis, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Daniel Harding live at the BBC Proms with one of Mozart's most elegant piano concertos and Sibelius's final one-movement symphony

Mozart: Masonic Funeral Music, K477
Schumann: Symphony No. 2 in C major

8.15pm Interval

8.40pm
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major, K503
Sibelius: Symphony No. 7 in C major

Paul Lewis (piano)
Mahler Chamber Orchestra
Daniel Harding (conductor)

Daniel Harding returns to the Proms after 10 years, directing the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, with which he has a long association, in a programme exploring the subtly different properties of the keys of C major and C minor. Paul Lewis is the soloist in Mozart's majestic C major Piano Concerto No 25, which contrasts with the composer's austerely beautiful Masonic Funeral Music. Two great symphonies acutely expressive of light and shade, Schumann's Second and Sibelius's Seventh, complete an imaginative and stimulating sequence of works.

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

[LONDONER]

Programme for Wednesday the 31st July:

Almost as an antidote to the concerts of Wagner that we have had, this Prom features light music by British composers.

Live from the Royal Albert Hall, London

Presented by Petroc Trelawny and Ken Bruce

Bantock: Pierrot of the Minute
Elgar: Nursery Suite
Arnold: Concerto for two pianos (three hands)

7.50pm Interval (including Proms Plus Intro

8.15pm
Walton: Crown Imperial
Coates: The Three Elizabeths
Arnold: Four English Dances, Set 1, Op. 27
Langford: Medley 'Say it with Music'

Noriko Ogawa (piano)
Kathryn Stott (piano)
BBC Concert Orchestra
Barry Wordsworth (conductor)

The BBC Concert Orchestra and their Conductor Laureate Barry Wordsworth demonstrate their versatility in a mixed programme celebrating British music of different styles, including pieces written by Walton and Coates used to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II 60 years ago, and Elgar's Nursery Suite, dedicated in 1931 to the Princesses Margaret and Elizabeth and their mother Elizabeth. The orchestra are joined by pianists Noriko Ogawa and Kathryn Stott in Malcolm Arnold's unashamedly attractive concerto and the programme ends with a celebration of old BBC radio signature tunes woven together in a medley by master arranger Gordon Langford.

[LONDONER]

Programme for Tursday the 1st August:

The BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Oliver Knussen live at the BBC Proms in music by Henze, Stravinsky and Tippett.

Henze: Barcarola
Stravinsky: Concerto for piano and wind instruments

8.10pm Interval

8.35pm
Stravinsky: Movements
Tippett: Symphony No. 2

Peter Serkin (piano)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Oliver Knussen (conductor)

Composer-conductor Oliver Knussen directs the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Tippett's Symphony No. 2, inspired by the rhythmic energy of a Vivaldi bassline and the first in a series of works by Tippett to be featured at the 2013 BBC Proms in parallel with the Britten centenary.

The celebrated American pianist Peter Serkin makes his Proms debut in Stravinsky's neo-Classical Concerto for piano and winds and compact serialist conceit Movements. Written in memory of his friend Paul Dessau, the late Hans Werner Henze's 1979 Barcarola opens this programme of 20th-century masterpieces.


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

[LONDONER]

Programme for Friday the 2nd August:

This Prom contains my favourite Rachmaninov pianto concerto. I always think that anyone who takles this enormously difficult concerto in front of an audience has got to have[I] balls![/I]

Live from the Royal Albert Hall, London
Presented by Clemency Burton-Hill

Sohal: The Cosmic Dance (BBC commission: world premiere)

8.15pm Interval

8.35pm
Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor

9.25pm Interval

9.50pm
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E minor

Nikolai Lugansky (piano)
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Peter Oundjian (conductor)

The Proms Tchaikovsky symphony cycle continues with a performance of the melancholy Fifth Symphony. The Royal Scottish National Orchestra is conducted by Peter Oundjian who makes his Proms debut. The concert begins with a commission by Punjabi-born British composer Naresh Sohal in a work which examines the idea of creation: The Cosmic Dance. The second part of the concert is devoted to Rachmaninov's hugely demanding Third Piano Concerto, its haunting opening melody based on an old traditional Russian chant. Russian pianist Nikolai Lugansky is the soloist.

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