Royal Albert Hall
BBCNOW, Bancroft, BBC Proms review – American music from across the spectrumMonday, 09 August 2021
In this most atypical Proms season this was actually an archetypal Proms programme: a world premiere: a neglected masterpiece and a good solid 19th-century symphony for those put off a bit by the first two. But this American-themed programme never... Read more... |
Benedetti, National Youth Orchestra, Heyward, BBC Proms review – stirring sounds of changeSunday, 08 August 2021
In a normal year, the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain descends mob-handed on the Royal Albert Hall for a Prom that complements the sheer quality of the young musicians’ work with joyful, raucous, roof-raising quantity. I recall a... Read more... |
CBSO, Gražinytė-Tyla, BBC Proms review - expectations teased, seldom fulfilledFriday, 06 August 2021
Nominally, this was a programme of three symphonies. The first, though, sounded like music re-cut and pasted from a very British film and the second was a suite, albeit impressively reworked, from an opera. The real deal, Brahms’s Third, is a very... Read more... |
Brauss, BBC Philharmonic, Gernon, BBC Proms review - surprises and miracles in storeWednesday, 04 August 2021
Two nights after the Scottish Chamber Orchestra had brought the first great E flat major symphony to the Proms – Mozart’s 39th – a serendipitous change of programme on Tuesday gave us the second: Haydn’s “Drumroll”. An equally serendipitous change... Read more... |
Johnston, BBCNOW, Bancroft, BBC Proms - laments and luminosityTuesday, 03 August 2021
The Proms are back, even if they don’t yet feel remotely normal. With audiences timid about mass events, and about a third of the arena roped off to protect a TV camera mounted on something vaguely resembling a diplodocus, yesterday’s seemed less of... Read more... |
First Night of the Proms, Hyde, BBCSO, Stasevska review - levitational ecstasiesSaturday, 31 July 2021
Did absence from Albert’s colosseum from early September 2019 until now and a roof-raising finale hoodwink many of us into thinking Dalia Stasevska’s interpretation of Sibelius’s Second Symphony among the greats? Having listened to it again on the... Read more... |
British Ballet Charity Gala, Royal Albert Hall review - a celebration of sortsSaturday, 12 June 2021
The Royal Albert Hall – 150 years old this year and with a commemorative £5 coin to prove it – is a great space for many kinds of spectacle but has done few favours for ballet. I make an exception for Derek Deane’s in-the-round Swan Lake, if... Read more... |
BBC Proms live online: Aurora Orchestra, Collon review - down memory laneFriday, 11 September 2020
The Aurora Orchestra’s trademark expertise in playing symphonies from memory arguably reached new heights this week as they tackled Beethoven’s Seventh, first in performances with a live audience and then, yesterday, in an empty Royal Albert Hall... Read more... |
BBC Proms live online: Grosvenor, Evans, Philharmonia, Järvi review – energy and sparkleThursday, 10 September 2020
Unlike the other two Proms I’ve reviewed this season, last night’s by the Philharmonia did not have any bells and whistles when it came to the staging, nor did it explore the edges of the repertoire. But the repertoire choices were good: progressing... Read more... |
BBC Proms live online: Anoushka Shankar/Laura Marling - scintillating sitar and fortified folkMonday, 07 September 2020
In what would have been the year her father, the legendary sitar player Ravi Shankar turned 100, sitarist and composer Anoushka Shankar pays tribute to him and builds on his legacy in this online Prom. The pre-recorded first half saw Shankar... Read more... |
BBC Proms live online: Benedetti, OAE, Cohen review – double helpings of Baroque zestFriday, 04 September 2020
In a year of absences and separations, here was another one we had to bear. Built around a programme of Baroque double concertos, last night’s Prom should have brought Nicola Benedetti and Alina Ibragimova together in a violin super-duo that... Read more... |
BBC Proms live online: London Sinfonietta, Paterson review – varied perspectives on city lifeWednesday, 02 September 2020
In reviewing Sunday night’s LSO Prom I was impressed by the innovative and exciting programming and that was also a hallmark of Tuesday’s Prom, although this was more true to form for the London Sinfonietta. Since its inception the Sinfonietta has... Read more... |
