Thunder and lightning Photo: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
Thunder, lightning and locusts at the Proms
This week there’s turbulence, magnificence and pestilence at the Proms with giant works by Brahms, Beethoven and Handel.
Brahms’ turbulent Piano Concerto No 1 was booed at its premiere in 1859, but this performance by on Monday by ‘wünder pianist’ Stephen Hough was called “Thunder and lightning at the keyboard” by The Guardian.
One of the most recognisable themes in classical music follows on Tuesday night with Beethoven’s Choral Symphony (Symphony No 9 in D). Beethoven’s magnificent work is in the hands of conductor Xian Zhang – who makes conducting history as the first woman to have a titled role with a BBC orchestra (she’s the BBC National Orchestra of Wales’ principal guest conductor). Kiwi tenor Simon O’Neill is part of the select group of singers in this performance.
On Wednesday night things get Biblical when it rains frogs, locusts, hailstones and rivers of blood. William Christie conducts the Choir and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (an ensemble dedicated to reviving baroque music) in Handel’s dramatic 1739 oratorio ‘Israel in Egypt’.
Monday 14 August 2017
7pm Music Alive
Stephen Hough. Photo: Sim Canetty-Clarke
BBC Proms 2017
Stephen Hough (piano), BBC Phil/Mark Wigglesworth
BRAHMS: Piano Concerto No 1 in D minor; SAWER: The Greatest Happiness Principle; HAYDN: Symphony No 99 in Eb (recorded by the BBC, Royal Albert Hall, London)
Tuesday 15 August 2017
7pm Music Alive
BBC Proms 2017
Erin Wall (soprano), Sonia Prina (mezzo), Iestyn Davies (countertenor), Simon O'Neill (tenor), Jacques Imbrailo (baritone), Alexander Vinogradov (bass), City of Birmingham SO Chorus, BBC National Orch of Wales/Xian Zhang
MACMILLAN: A European Requiem; BEETHOVEN: Symphony No 9 in D, Choral (recorded by the BBC, Royal Albert Hall, London)
Wednesday 16 August 2017
7pm Music Alive
BBC Proms 2017
The Plague of Locusts Photo: Holman, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
Anna Devin (soprano), Rowan Pierce (soprano), Christopher Lowrey (countertenor), Jeremy Budd (tenor), Dingle Yandel (bass-baritone), Callum Thorpe (bass), Chorus and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/William Christie
HANDEL: Israel in Egypt (recorded by the BBC, Royal Albert Hall, London)
Thursday 17 August 2017
10am BBC Proms 2017
Vilde Frang (violin), Lawrence Power (viola), German Chamber Phil, Bremen/Paavo Järvi
TUUR: Flamma; MOZART: Sinfonia Concertante in Eb K364; BRAHMS: Symphony No 2 in D Op 73 (recorded by the BBC, Royal Albert Hall, London)
Friday 18 August 2017
7pm Music Alive
BBC Proms 2017
Marianne Crebassa (mezzo), Philharmonia Voices, Philharmonia/Esa-Pekka Salonen
BACH arr Stravinsky: Canonic Variations on Vom Himmel hoch BWV769; RAVEL: Shéhérazade;
ADAMS: Naïve and Sentimental Music (recorded by the BBC, Royal Albert Hall, London)
Sunday 20 August
10.00 BBC Proms 2017
SCHUTZ: Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren SWV41; Nicht uns, Herr, sondern deinem Namen SWV43; Danket dem Herren, denn er ist SWV41; BACH: Cantata No 79, Gott der Herr ist Sonn und Schild; Cantata No 80, Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott
Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists/John Eliot Gardiner (recorded by the BBC, Royal Albert Hall, London)
6pm Opera on Sunday
BBC Proms 2017
MUSSORGSKY: Khovanshchina
Ante Jerkunica (Ivan Khovansky), Christopher Ventris (Andrey Khovansky), Vsevolod Grivnov (Golitsin), Elena Maximova (Marfa), Slovak Philharmonic Chorus, BBC Singers, BBC SO/Semyon Bychkov (recorded by the BBC, Royal Albert Hall, London)
Royal Albert Hall Photo: Supplied
