BBC Proms [2009]

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Last Night Of The Proms 2009

20091231

From the BBC Proms 2009 season, Petroc Trelawny presents the festivities of the Last Night of the Proms. In charge of proceedings in September was American principal guest conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra David Robertson.

The programme includes music by three of BBC Radio 3's Composers of the Year 2009: a concerto by Haydn, played by former New Generation Artist Alison Balsom, a famous lament by Purcell, sung by Sarah Connolly, and orchestral fireworks by Handel.

Oliver Knussen's opening Flourish with Fireworks is complemented by fanfares specially written by six young Proms Inspire composers. And there's fun and games in memory of Gerard Hoffnung with Malcom Arnold's uproarious piece which includes vacuum cleaners, floor polishers and rifles all played by guest celebrities.

Oliver Knussen: Flourish with Fireworks

Purcell, arr. Henry Wood: New Suite

Purcell: Thy hand, Belinda... When I am laid in earth (Dido's Lament); With drooping wings ye cupids come (Dido and Aeneas)

Haydn: Trumpet Concerto in E flat

Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen

Villa-Lobos: Choros No 10 (Rasga o Coracao)

Arnold: A Grand, Grand Overture

Ketelbey: In a Monastery Garden

Piazzolla: Libertango

Gershwin, arr. Barry Forgie: They can't take that away from me (Shall We Dance)

BBC Proms Inspire composers: Fireworks Fanfares

Handel: Music for the Royal Fireworks (excerpts)

Arne, arr. Sargent: Rule, Britannia!

Parry: Jerusalem

Elgar: Pomp and Circumstance March No 1

The National Anthem

Sarah Connolly (mezzo-soprano)

Alison Balsom (trumpet)

BBC Singers

BBC Symphony Chorus

David Robertson (conductor).

David Robertson conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra in the Last Night of the Proms 2009.

The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.

Part 2, Prom 46: Glanert, Rachmaninov, Shostakovich Inspire Young Composers' Competition 2009

20090819

From the Royal Albert Hall, London. Presented by Andrew McGregor.

The Prom concludes with renowned Shostakovich interpreter Semyon Bychkov conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra in the powerful and strikingly cinematic Symphony No 11, written in 1957. On the surface the work commemorates the failed anti-Tsarist uprising of 1905, but deep down it rages at the Soviet authorities.

Semyon Bychkov (conductor)

Shostakovich: Symphony No 11 (The Year 1905).

Semyon Bychkov conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Shostakovich's Symphony No 11.

The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.

Sara Mohr-Pietsch profiles the BBC Proms Inspire Young Composers' Competition 2009.

Prom 11: David Titterington

20090725

David Titterington takes to the Royal Albert Hall's Willis organ to perform Elgar's grand sonata composed in 1895 for Worcester Cathedral's new organist Hugh Blair to play for a group of visiting Americans.

The so-called Second Sonata is in fact a free transcription by Ivor Atkins, Blair's successor, of the Severn Suite, compiled from youthful sketches by the elderly Elgar in 1930.

The transatlantic connection is continued in Peter Dickinson's Blue Rose Variations, in which the British composer, born in the year of Elgar's death, takes a famous tune by Edward MacDowell and gives it a blues and ragtime spin.

David Titterington (organ)

Elgar, arr. Atkins: Organ Sonata No 2

Peter Dickinson: Blue Rose Variations

Elgar: Organ Sonata No 1 in G.

David Titterington (organ). Elgar: Organ Sonatas. Peter Dickinson: Blue Rose Variations.

The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.

Prom 17: Bach Motets

20090728

From the Royal Albert Hall, London.

Petroc Trelawny introduces John Eliot Gardiner and his hand-picked choir and ensemble performing a selection of Bach motets.

Monteverdi Choir

English Baroque Soloists

John Eliot Gardiner (conductor)

Bach; Komm, Jesu, Komm!, BWV229; Furchte dich nicht, BWV228; Jesu, meine Freude, BWV227; Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV225.

Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists conducted by John Eliot Gardiner in Bach motets

The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.

Prom 17: Bach Motets

20091221

Presented by Catherine Bott.

A late-night Prom from the 2009 season in which John Eliot Gardiner and his hand-picked choir and ensemble perform some of Bach's motets. While Bach's great Passions languished unheard for almost a century after his death, his motets continued to be sung by the Leipzig choirs for which they were written. The concert features four of them, including Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied (Sing to the Lord a new song), a work which had even Mozart exclaiming, 'Now, there's a piece one can learn from'.

Monteverdi Choir

English Baroque Soloists

John Eliot Gardiner (conductor)

Bach: Komm, Jesu, Komm!, BWV229; Furchte dich nicht, BWV228; Jesu, meine Freude, BWV227; Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV225

Followed by two solo performances from the 2009 Proms New Generation Artist weekend. Violinist Alina Ibragimova plays Bach's Partita No 3 in E, BWV1006, while Maxim Rysanov performs Bach's Suite No 4 in E flat, BWV1010, in an arrangement for the viola.

The Monteverdi Choir under John Eliot Gardiner perform four Bach motets.

The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.

Prom 22, Mgm Musicals

20090801

From the Royal Albert Hall, London. Presented by Petroc Trelawny.

John Wilson and his hand-picked Orchestra celebrate the MGM musical with songs from unforgettable movie classics, including The Wizard of Oz, Meet Me in St Louis, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, High Society, Gigi and Singin' in the Rain.

Remarkably, although the original orchestral parts were lost when the studio destroyed its music library to make way for a car park, Wilson has succeeded in reconstructing the scores by painstakingly transcribing each soundtrack by ear. He is joined by starry singers from the classical and musical theatre worlds, as well as by the elite Maida Vale Singers

Kim Criswell (singer)

Sarah Fox (soprano)

Thomas Allen (baritone)

Curtis Stigers (singer)

Seth MacFarlane (singer)

The John Wilson Orchestra

John Wilson (conductor).

John Wilson and his Orchestra celebrate MGM film musicals with songs from movie classics.

The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.

Prom 27, Harrison Birtwistle Celebration

20090804

From the Royal Albert Hall, London. Presented by Verity Sharp.

The London Sinfonietta and Harrison Birtwistle have formed a close bond over the last four decades. Under the baton of their co-founder David Atherton, Sinfonietta revisit three of the composer's early works - all of which the ensemble originally premiered. One of the themes of this year's season is 1934, England at the Crossroads, the year Birtwistle was born, and a turning point for British music in the 20th century.

Verses for Ensemble showcases the virtuosity of the ensemble with brass, wind and percussion all vying for the listener's attention. In Silbury Air and Carmen arcadiae mechanicae perpetuum, Birtwistle explores the mysterious and the mechanical with imaginary landscapes and colliding musical ideas.

David Atherton (conductor)

Harrison Birtwistle: Carmen arcadiae mechanicae perpetuum; Silbury Air; Verses for Ensembles.

The London Sinfonietta celebrates Harrison Birtwistle's music with three virtuosic works.

The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.

Prom 27: Harrison Birtwistle 75th Birthday Prom

20091229

From the BBC Proms 2009 season, Petroc Trelawny presents a late-night Prom marking the 75th birthday of composer Sir Harrison Birtwistle given at the Royal Albert Hall in August.

The London Sinfonietta and Birtwistle have formed a close bond over the past four decades, and under the baton of their co-founder David Atherton, they revisit three of the composer's early works - all of which the ensemble originally premiered.

Harrison Birtwistle: Carmen arcadiae mechanicae perpetuum; Silbury Air; Verses for Ensembles

David Atherton (conductor).

Petroc Trelawny presents a Prom marking the 75th birthday of Sir Harrison Birtwistle.

The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.

Prom 3: Stan Tracey

20091224

Catherine Bott presents a late-night jazz Prom from the opening weekend of the 2009 season, in which the great pianist and composer Stan Tracey - known to his fans as the Godfather of British Jazz - recreates the biblical version of the Big Bang as a big band suite.

Stan Tracey and his Orchestra

Stan Tracey: Genesis.

The great pianist Stan Tracey and his orchestra perform his jazz masterpiece Genesis.

The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.

Prom 37, Philip Glass

20090812

From the Royal Albert Hall, London. Presented by Verity Sharp.

In the first Prom devoted exclusively to the music of American minimalist composer Philip Glass, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and BBC Symphony Chorus are joined by violinist Gidon Kremer and conductor Dennis Russell Davies, both long-term advocates of Glass' music.

Harmonic, pulsing and with constant repetition of small figures or phrases, minimalism blossomed from a small underground movement on the west coast of the United States in the 1960s, becoming one of the most popular forms of late 20th century music. Philip Glass, one of its early pioneers, is one of the most prolific, influential and instantly identifiable composers of our age.

This concert showcases two of his most important works for full orchestra: his first major orchestral score - the Violin Concerto of 1987 - and the Toltec Symphony of 2004, which takes its title from the ancient pre-Columbian culture that reigned in Mesoamerica long before the coming of the Europeans.

Gidon Kremer (violin)

Dennis Russell Davies (conductor)

Philip Glass: Violin Concerto; Symphony No 7 (A Toltec Symphony - UK premiere).

A Prom devoted to Philip Glass' music. Glass: Violin Concerto; Symphony No 7 (UK premiere)

The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.

Prom 37: Philip Glass

20091228

From the BBC Proms 2009 season, Petroc Trelawny presents a concert devoted exclusively to the music of American minimalist composer Philip Glass. The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and BBC Symphony Chorus are joined by violinist Gidon Kremer and conductor Dennis Russell Davies, both long-term advocates of Glass's music.

Harmonic, pulsing and with constant repetition of small figures or phrases, minimalism blossomed from a small underground movement on the west coast of the United States in the 1960s to becoming one of the most popular forms of late 20th-century music. Philip Glass, one of its early pioneers, is one of the most prolific, influential and instantly identifiable composers of our age.

This Prom showcases two of his most important works for full orchestra: his first major orchestral score - the Violin Concerto of 1987 - and the Toltec Symphony of 2004, which takes its title from the ancient pre-Columbian culture that reigned in Mesoamerica long before the coming of the Europeans.

Philip Glass: Violin Concerto; Symphony No 7 (A Toltec Symphony)

Gidon Kremer (violin)

Dennis Russell Davies (conductor).

Petroc Trelawny presents a concert devoted to works by minimalist composer Philip Glass.

The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.

Prom 45, Ukelele Orchestra Of Great Britain

20090818

From the Royal Albert Hall, London. Presented by Verity Sharp.

The all-singing, all strumming players of the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain make their Proms debut with a specially-devised programme including a rendition of the Last Night favourite, Jerusalem, by Parry, plus Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries and the March from The Dambusters. During Ode to Joy from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, they invite ukulele playing members of the audience at the Royal Albert Hall and at home to join in.

Listeners can prepare for this by playing along with the tutorials at BBC.co.uk/proms.

Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain.

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain make their Proms debut.

The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.

Prom 45: Ukulele Orchestra Of Great Britain

20091230

From the BBC Proms 2009 season, Petroc Trelawny presents the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain in a specially devised programme including the Last Night favourite Jerusalem, Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries, popular songs and the Dambusters March. Plus the massed rendition of Beethoven's Ode to Joy given by the orchestra and around 1,000 audience members in the Royal Albert Hall.

Petroc Trelawny presents the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain in a special programme.

The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.

Prom 49, West-eastern Divan Orchestra

20090821

From the Royal Albert Hall, London. Presented by Sara Mohr-Pietsch.

Members of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra play Mendelssohn's Octet and Berg's musical monument to friendship. The ensemble includes Daniel Baremboim's violinist son Michael and his pianist protege Karim Said, a relative of the orchestra's co-founder, the late Edward Said.

Michael Barenboim (violin)

Karim Said (piano)

Daniel Barenboim (conductor)

Mendelssohn: Octet

Berg: Chamber Concerto.

Members of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra perform music by Mendelssohn and Berg.

The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.

Prom 54, Michael Nyman

20090825

From the Royal Albert Hall, London. Presented by Fiona Talkington.

Now best known for his soundtracks to such movies as The Piano, Gattaca and Wonderland, Michael Nyman started out as a musicologist, editing scores by Handel and Purcell. Nyman makes his Proms debut with his band performing selections from some of his best-known scores and the world premiere of a piece specially commissioned by the BBC for this concert.

Anu Komsi (soprano)

Michael Nyman Band

Michael Nyman (director/piano)

Michael Nyman: The Draughtsman's Contract (excerpts); The Musicologist Scores (BBC commission: world premiere); Blume; Psalm (Six Celan Songs); Memorial (The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover).

Michael Nyman and his band perform excerpts from his film soundtracks and a world premiere

The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.

Prom 58, Andriessen, Martland, De Bondt

20090828

From the Royal Albert Hall, London. Presented by Tom Service.

A high-intensity Prom featuring some of the world's best wind players, including the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, who celebrates the music of iconoclastic Dutch composer Louis Andriessen's with his minimalist masterpiece De Staat (The State). It is preceded by a work from Andriessen's English pupil Steve Martland, written for the last big Purcell anniversary in 1995.

The concert ends with Doors Closed, a belated London premiere of a 1980s classic by a leading Dutch pupil of Andriessen's, Cornelis de Bondt. It is a musical ritual of death superimposing the funeral march from Beethoven's Eroica Symphony on the famous Lament from Purcell's Dido and Aeneas.

Lucas Vis (conductor)

Bart Schneemann (conductor)

Steve Martland: Beat the Retreat

Louis Andriessen: De staat

Cornelis de Bondt: Doors Closed (London premiere).

The Netherlands Wind Ensemble in music by Andriessen, Steve Martland and Cornelis de Bondt

The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.

Prom 58: Netherlands Wind Ensemble

20091222

Catherine Bott presents a high-intensity late-night Prom given by some of the world's best wind players.

The Netherlands Wind Ensemble perform Steve Martland's Beat the Retreat, a work written for the last big Purcell anniversary in 1995. In celebration of the seventieth birthday of Martland's iconoclastic teacher, Dutch composer Louis Andriessen, there is the minimalist masterpiece De Staat (The State). The concert ends with Doors Closed, a belated London premiere for a 1980s classic by a leading Dutch pupil of Andriessen's, Cornelis de Bondt. It is a musical ritual of death superimposing the funeral march from Beethoven's Eroica Symphony on the famous Lament from Purcell's Dido and Aeneas.

Steve Martland: Beat the Retreat

Louis Andriessen: De Staat

Cornelis de Bondt: Doors Closed

Lucas Vis (conductor)

Bart Schneemann (conductor) - De Bondt only.

Netherlands Wind Ensemble perform Steve Martland, Louis Andriessen and Cornelis de Bondt.

The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.

Prom 60: Martha Argerich

20100102

In a performance from the BBC Proms 2009 pianist Martha Argerich, performs Ravel's jazz-inspired concerto. Ravel reappears as the orchestrator of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, and the programme begins with an exotic work composed in 1979 by Canadian Claude Vivier. Huge orchestral forces conjure up the immensity of the cosmos and the piece suggests that human nature is just as vast and unfathomable.

Martha Argerich (piano)

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Charles Dutoit (conductor)

Vivier: Orion

Ravel: Piano Concerto in G

Prokofiev: Symphonic Suite (The Love for Three Oranges)

Musorgsky, orch Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition.

Martha Argerich and the Royal Philharmonic in Ravel. Plus Mussorgsky and Prokofiev.

The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.

Prom 66, Nash Ensemble

20090904

From the Royal Albert Hall, London. Presented by Verity Sharp.

The Nash Ensemble and Diego Masson celebrate the 80th birthday of American composer George Crumb with three hauntingly beautiful pieces.

To mark the 40th anniversary of the first manned mission to the moon, mezzo-soprano Hilary Summers sings Night of the Four Moons, a work composed by Crumb during the Apollo 11 flight. Crumb often incorporates theatre into his work and Vox balaenae (Voice of the Whale) draws inspiration from the songs of humpback whales for which the three performers on stage are required to wear masks to efface their human presence. Soprano Claire Booth leads a septet of performers in Ancient Voices of Children, a highly expressive cycle set to verses by Federico Garcia Lorca.

Claire Booth (soprano)

Hilary Summers (mezzo-soprano)

Diego Masson (conductor)

George Crumb: Night of the Four Moons; Vox balaenae (Voice of the Whale); Ancient Voices of Children.

Nash Ensemble in Crumb: Night of the Four Moons; Vox balaenae; Ancient Voices of Children.

The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.

Prom 71

20090908

From the Royal Albert Hall, London. Presented by Martin Handley.

A performance of two of Peter Maxwell Davies' most important choral works.

Westerlings imagines the early Norse settlers colonising Orkney in the 8th century. In one of the most virtuosic works in the entire choral repertoire, George Mackay Brown's poems are set alongside wordless seascapes, creating an enormously atmospheric piece which vividly evokes the cold and wet and hardships endured by the settlers rowing their longboats across the waters from Scandinavia. Sightings of whales and fish, waves and birds, culminate at landfall in a haunting setting of the Lord's Prayer, sung in the old Norse of ancient Orkney.

This is followed by another piece with powerfully Orcadian roots - Solstice of Light, for chorus, organ and solo tenor - which sets more words by Brown, charting the whole history of the Orkney archipelago. It begins as the islands first emerge from seas and ice, then describes the prehistoric builders of cairns and stone circles; the Celtic men and women who bring a religion of dance and light; Viking marauders who murder the islands' own saint, Magnus; and finally the story is brought into our own times to those who would despoil the Orkneys in search of oil, minerals and uranium.

Ed Lyon (tenor)

David Goode (organ)

BBC Singers

David Hill (conductor)

Peter Maxwell Davies: Westerlings; Solstice of Light.

A performance of Peter Maxwell Davies' choral works Westerlings and Solstice of Light.

The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.

Prom 71: Peter Maxwell Davies Celebration

20091223

Catherine Bott presents a concert given as part of the 2009 Proms celebration of the 75th birthday of composer Peter Maxwell Davies, featuring a performance of two of his most important choral works.

Westerlings imagines the early Norse settlers colonising Orkney in the 8th century. In one of the most virtuosic works in the entire choral repertoire, George Mackay Brown's poems are set alongside wordless 'seascapes', creating an enormously atmospheric piece which vividly conjures up the cold and wet and other hardships endured by the settlers, rowing their longboats across the waters from Scandinavia. Sightings of whales and fish, waves and birds, culminate - at landfall - in a haunting setting of the Lord's Prayer, sung in the old Norse of ancient Orkney.

It is followed by another piece with powerful Orcadian roots: Solstice of Light, for chorus, organ and solo tenor, sets more words by Brown charting the whole history of the Orkney archipelago. It begins as the islands first emerge from seas and ice, then describes the prehistoric builders of cairns and stone circles, the Celtic men and women who bring a religion of dance and light, Viking marauders who murder the islands' own saint - Magnus - and finally brings the story into our own times of those who would rape and despoil the Orkneys in search of the treasures of today - oil, minerals, uranium.

Ed Lyon (tenor)

David Goode (organ)

BBC Singers

David Hill (conductor)

Peter Maxwell Davies: Westerlings; Solstice of Light.

BBC Singers/David Hill in Peter Maxwell Davies's Westerlings and Solstice of Light.

The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.

Prom 75

20090911

From the Royal Albert Hall, London. Presented by Verity Sharp.

East meets West as cellist Yo-Yo Ma returns with his cross-cultural Silk Road Ensemble, after their successful Proms debut in 2004, with more from this truly mesmerising musical journey - a mix of traditional and contemporary flavours, inspired by the ancient trade route which united China and Europe.

Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma

Various composers: Silk Road Suite

Giovanni Sollima: The Taranta Project

Angel Lam: Empty Mountain, Spirit Rain

Trad, arr. Li Cang Sang and Wu Tong: Ambush from Ten Sides.

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and his Silk Road Ensemble perform contemporary and traditional music.

The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.

Proms In The Park

20090912

Highlights from the Proms in the Park events, from England, N Ireland, Wales and Scotland.

The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.

Episodes

Title	First Broadcast	Comments
Last Night Of The Proms 2009	20091231	From the BBC Proms 2009 season, Petroc Trelawny presents the festivities of the Last Night of the Proms. In charge of proceedings in September was American principal guest conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra David Robertson. The programme includes music by three of BBC Radio 3's Composers of the Year 2009: a concerto by Haydn, played by former New Generation Artist Alison Balsom, a famous lament by Purcell, sung by Sarah Connolly, and orchestral fireworks by Handel. Oliver Knussen's opening Flourish with Fireworks is complemented by fanfares specially written by six young Proms Inspire composers. And there's fun and games in memory of Gerard Hoffnung with Malcom Arnold's uproarious piece which includes vacuum cleaners, floor polishers and rifles all played by guest celebrities. Oliver Knussen: Flourish with Fireworks Purcell, arr. Henry Wood: New Suite Purcell: Thy hand, Belinda... When I am laid in earth (Dido's Lament); With drooping wings ye cupids come (Dido and Aeneas) Haydn: Trumpet Concerto in E flat Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen Villa-Lobos: Choros No 10 (Rasga o Coracao) Arnold: A Grand, Grand Overture Ketelbey: In a Monastery Garden Piazzolla: Libertango Gershwin, arr. Barry Forgie: They can't take that away from me (Shall We Dance) BBC Proms Inspire composers: Fireworks Fanfares Handel: Music for the Royal Fireworks (excerpts) Arne, arr. Sargent: Rule, Britannia! Parry: Jerusalem Elgar: Pomp and Circumstance March No 1 The National Anthem Sarah Connolly (mezzo-soprano) Alison Balsom (trumpet) BBC Singers BBC Symphony Chorus David Robertson (conductor). David Robertson conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra in the Last Night of the Proms 2009. The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.
Part 2, Prom 46: Glanert, Rachmaninov, Shostakovich Inspire Young Composers' Competition 2009	20090819	From the Royal Albert Hall, London. Presented by Andrew McGregor. The Prom concludes with renowned Shostakovich interpreter Semyon Bychkov conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra in the powerful and strikingly cinematic Symphony No 11, written in 1957. On the surface the work commemorates the failed anti-Tsarist uprising of 1905, but deep down it rages at the Soviet authorities. Semyon Bychkov (conductor) Shostakovich: Symphony No 11 (The Year 1905). Semyon Bychkov conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Shostakovich's Symphony No 11. The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations. Sara Mohr-Pietsch profiles the BBC Proms Inspire Young Composers' Competition 2009.
Prom 11: David Titterington	20090725	David Titterington takes to the Royal Albert Hall's Willis organ to perform Elgar's grand sonata composed in 1895 for Worcester Cathedral's new organist Hugh Blair to play for a group of visiting Americans. The so-called Second Sonata is in fact a free transcription by Ivor Atkins, Blair's successor, of the Severn Suite, compiled from youthful sketches by the elderly Elgar in 1930. The transatlantic connection is continued in Peter Dickinson's Blue Rose Variations, in which the British composer, born in the year of Elgar's death, takes a famous tune by Edward MacDowell and gives it a blues and ragtime spin. David Titterington (organ) Elgar, arr. Atkins: Organ Sonata No 2 Peter Dickinson: Blue Rose Variations Elgar: Organ Sonata No 1 in G. David Titterington (organ). Elgar: Organ Sonatas. Peter Dickinson: Blue Rose Variations. The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.
Prom 17: Bach Motets	20090728	From the Royal Albert Hall, London. Petroc Trelawny introduces John Eliot Gardiner and his hand-picked choir and ensemble performing a selection of Bach motets. Monteverdi Choir English Baroque Soloists John Eliot Gardiner (conductor) Bach; Komm, Jesu, Komm!, BWV229; Furchte dich nicht, BWV228; Jesu, meine Freude, BWV227; Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV225. Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists conducted by John Eliot Gardiner in Bach motets The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.
Prom 17: Bach Motets	20091221	Presented by Catherine Bott. A late-night Prom from the 2009 season in which John Eliot Gardiner and his hand-picked choir and ensemble perform some of Bach's motets. While Bach's great Passions languished unheard for almost a century after his death, his motets continued to be sung by the Leipzig choirs for which they were written. The concert features four of them, including Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied (Sing to the Lord a new song), a work which had even Mozart exclaiming, 'Now, there's a piece one can learn from'. Monteverdi Choir English Baroque Soloists John Eliot Gardiner (conductor) Bach: Komm, Jesu, Komm!, BWV229; Furchte dich nicht, BWV228; Jesu, meine Freude, BWV227; Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV225 Followed by two solo performances from the 2009 Proms New Generation Artist weekend. Violinist Alina Ibragimova plays Bach's Partita No 3 in E, BWV1006, while Maxim Rysanov performs Bach's Suite No 4 in E flat, BWV1010, in an arrangement for the viola. The Monteverdi Choir under John Eliot Gardiner perform four Bach motets. The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.
Prom 22, Mgm Musicals	20090801	From the Royal Albert Hall, London. Presented by Petroc Trelawny. John Wilson and his hand-picked Orchestra celebrate the MGM musical with songs from unforgettable movie classics, including The Wizard of Oz, Meet Me in St Louis, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, High Society, Gigi and Singin' in the Rain. Remarkably, although the original orchestral parts were lost when the studio destroyed its music library to make way for a car park, Wilson has succeeded in reconstructing the scores by painstakingly transcribing each soundtrack by ear. He is joined by starry singers from the classical and musical theatre worlds, as well as by the elite Maida Vale Singers Kim Criswell (singer) Sarah Fox (soprano) Thomas Allen (baritone) Curtis Stigers (singer) Seth MacFarlane (singer) The John Wilson Orchestra John Wilson (conductor). John Wilson and his Orchestra celebrate MGM film musicals with songs from movie classics. The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.
Prom 27, Harrison Birtwistle Celebration	20090804	From the Royal Albert Hall, London. Presented by Verity Sharp. The London Sinfonietta and Harrison Birtwistle have formed a close bond over the last four decades. Under the baton of their co-founder David Atherton, Sinfonietta revisit three of the composer's early works - all of which the ensemble originally premiered. One of the themes of this year's season is 1934, England at the Crossroads, the year Birtwistle was born, and a turning point for British music in the 20th century. Verses for Ensemble showcases the virtuosity of the ensemble with brass, wind and percussion all vying for the listener's attention. In Silbury Air and Carmen arcadiae mechanicae perpetuum, Birtwistle explores the mysterious and the mechanical with imaginary landscapes and colliding musical ideas. David Atherton (conductor) Harrison Birtwistle: Carmen arcadiae mechanicae perpetuum; Silbury Air; Verses for Ensembles. The London Sinfonietta celebrates Harrison Birtwistle's music with three virtuosic works. The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.
Prom 27: Harrison Birtwistle 75th Birthday Prom	20091229	From the BBC Proms 2009 season, Petroc Trelawny presents a late-night Prom marking the 75th birthday of composer Sir Harrison Birtwistle given at the Royal Albert Hall in August. The London Sinfonietta and Birtwistle have formed a close bond over the past four decades, and under the baton of their co-founder David Atherton, they revisit three of the composer's early works - all of which the ensemble originally premiered. Verses for Ensemble showcases the virtuosity of the ensemble with brass, wind and percussion all vying for the listener's attention. In Silbury Air and Carmen arcadiae mechanicae perpetuum, Birtwistle explores the mysterious and the mechanical with imaginary landscapes and colliding musical ideas. Harrison Birtwistle: Carmen arcadiae mechanicae perpetuum; Silbury Air; Verses for Ensembles David Atherton (conductor). Petroc Trelawny presents a Prom marking the 75th birthday of Sir Harrison Birtwistle. The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.
Prom 3: Stan Tracey	20091224	Catherine Bott presents a late-night jazz Prom from the opening weekend of the 2009 season, in which the great pianist and composer Stan Tracey - known to his fans as the Godfather of British Jazz - recreates the biblical version of the Big Bang as a big band suite. Stan Tracey and his Orchestra Stan Tracey: Genesis. The great pianist Stan Tracey and his orchestra perform his jazz masterpiece Genesis. The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.
Prom 37, Philip Glass	20090812	From the Royal Albert Hall, London. Presented by Verity Sharp. In the first Prom devoted exclusively to the music of American minimalist composer Philip Glass, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and BBC Symphony Chorus are joined by violinist Gidon Kremer and conductor Dennis Russell Davies, both long-term advocates of Glass' music. Harmonic, pulsing and with constant repetition of small figures or phrases, minimalism blossomed from a small underground movement on the west coast of the United States in the 1960s, becoming one of the most popular forms of late 20th century music. Philip Glass, one of its early pioneers, is one of the most prolific, influential and instantly identifiable composers of our age. This concert showcases two of his most important works for full orchestra: his first major orchestral score - the Violin Concerto of 1987 - and the Toltec Symphony of 2004, which takes its title from the ancient pre-Columbian culture that reigned in Mesoamerica long before the coming of the Europeans. Gidon Kremer (violin) Dennis Russell Davies (conductor) Philip Glass: Violin Concerto; Symphony No 7 (A Toltec Symphony - UK premiere). A Prom devoted to Philip Glass' music. Glass: Violin Concerto; Symphony No 7 (UK premiere) The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.
Prom 37: Philip Glass	20091228	From the BBC Proms 2009 season, Petroc Trelawny presents a concert devoted exclusively to the music of American minimalist composer Philip Glass. The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and BBC Symphony Chorus are joined by violinist Gidon Kremer and conductor Dennis Russell Davies, both long-term advocates of Glass's music. Harmonic, pulsing and with constant repetition of small figures or phrases, minimalism blossomed from a small underground movement on the west coast of the United States in the 1960s to becoming one of the most popular forms of late 20th-century music. Philip Glass, one of its early pioneers, is one of the most prolific, influential and instantly identifiable composers of our age. This Prom showcases two of his most important works for full orchestra: his first major orchestral score - the Violin Concerto of 1987 - and the Toltec Symphony of 2004, which takes its title from the ancient pre-Columbian culture that reigned in Mesoamerica long before the coming of the Europeans. Philip Glass: Violin Concerto; Symphony No 7 (A Toltec Symphony) Gidon Kremer (violin) Dennis Russell Davies (conductor). Petroc Trelawny presents a concert devoted to works by minimalist composer Philip Glass. The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.
Prom 45, Ukelele Orchestra Of Great Britain	20090818	From the Royal Albert Hall, London. Presented by Verity Sharp. The all-singing, all strumming players of the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain make their Proms debut with a specially-devised programme including a rendition of the Last Night favourite, Jerusalem, by Parry, plus Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries and the March from The Dambusters. During Ode to Joy from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, they invite ukulele playing members of the audience at the Royal Albert Hall and at home to join in. Listeners can prepare for this by playing along with the tutorials at BBC.co.uk/proms. Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain make their Proms debut. The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.
Prom 45: Ukulele Orchestra Of Great Britain	20091230	From the BBC Proms 2009 season, Petroc Trelawny presents the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain in a specially devised programme including the Last Night favourite Jerusalem, Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries, popular songs and the Dambusters March. Plus the massed rendition of Beethoven's Ode to Joy given by the orchestra and around 1,000 audience members in the Royal Albert Hall. Petroc Trelawny presents the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain in a special programme. The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.
Prom 49, West-eastern Divan Orchestra	20090821	From the Royal Albert Hall, London. Presented by Sara Mohr-Pietsch. Members of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra play Mendelssohn's Octet and Berg's musical monument to friendship. The ensemble includes Daniel Baremboim's violinist son Michael and his pianist protege Karim Said, a relative of the orchestra's co-founder, the late Edward Said. Michael Barenboim (violin) Karim Said (piano) Daniel Barenboim (conductor) Mendelssohn: Octet Berg: Chamber Concerto. Members of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra perform music by Mendelssohn and Berg. The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.
Prom 54, Michael Nyman	20090825	From the Royal Albert Hall, London. Presented by Fiona Talkington. Now best known for his soundtracks to such movies as The Piano, Gattaca and Wonderland, Michael Nyman started out as a musicologist, editing scores by Handel and Purcell. Nyman makes his Proms debut with his band performing selections from some of his best-known scores and the world premiere of a piece specially commissioned by the BBC for this concert. Anu Komsi (soprano) Michael Nyman Band Michael Nyman (director/piano) Michael Nyman: The Draughtsman's Contract (excerpts); The Musicologist Scores (BBC commission: world premiere); Blume; Psalm (Six Celan Songs); Memorial (The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover). Michael Nyman and his band perform excerpts from his film soundtracks and a world premiere The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.
Prom 58, Andriessen, Martland, De Bondt	20090828	From the Royal Albert Hall, London. Presented by Tom Service. A high-intensity Prom featuring some of the world's best wind players, including the Netherlands Wind Ensemble, who celebrates the music of iconoclastic Dutch composer Louis Andriessen's with his minimalist masterpiece De Staat (The State). It is preceded by a work from Andriessen's English pupil Steve Martland, written for the last big Purcell anniversary in 1995. The concert ends with Doors Closed, a belated London premiere of a 1980s classic by a leading Dutch pupil of Andriessen's, Cornelis de Bondt. It is a musical ritual of death superimposing the funeral march from Beethoven's Eroica Symphony on the famous Lament from Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. Lucas Vis (conductor) Bart Schneemann (conductor) Steve Martland: Beat the Retreat Louis Andriessen: De staat Cornelis de Bondt: Doors Closed (London premiere). The Netherlands Wind Ensemble in music by Andriessen, Steve Martland and Cornelis de Bondt The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.
Prom 58: Netherlands Wind Ensemble	20091222	Catherine Bott presents a high-intensity late-night Prom given by some of the world's best wind players. The Netherlands Wind Ensemble perform Steve Martland's Beat the Retreat, a work written for the last big Purcell anniversary in 1995. In celebration of the seventieth birthday of Martland's iconoclastic teacher, Dutch composer Louis Andriessen, there is the minimalist masterpiece De Staat (The State). The concert ends with Doors Closed, a belated London premiere for a 1980s classic by a leading Dutch pupil of Andriessen's, Cornelis de Bondt. It is a musical ritual of death superimposing the funeral march from Beethoven's Eroica Symphony on the famous Lament from Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. Steve Martland: Beat the Retreat Louis Andriessen: De Staat Cornelis de Bondt: Doors Closed Lucas Vis (conductor) Bart Schneemann (conductor) - De Bondt only. Netherlands Wind Ensemble perform Steve Martland, Louis Andriessen and Cornelis de Bondt. The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.
Prom 60: Martha Argerich	20100102	In a performance from the BBC Proms 2009 pianist Martha Argerich, performs Ravel's jazz-inspired concerto. Ravel reappears as the orchestrator of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, and the programme begins with an exotic work composed in 1979 by Canadian Claude Vivier. Huge orchestral forces conjure up the immensity of the cosmos and the piece suggests that human nature is just as vast and unfathomable. Martha Argerich (piano) Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Charles Dutoit (conductor) Vivier: Orion Ravel: Piano Concerto in G Prokofiev: Symphonic Suite (The Love for Three Oranges) Musorgsky, orch Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition. Martha Argerich and the Royal Philharmonic in Ravel. Plus Mussorgsky and Prokofiev. The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.
Prom 66, Nash Ensemble	20090904	From the Royal Albert Hall, London. Presented by Verity Sharp. The Nash Ensemble and Diego Masson celebrate the 80th birthday of American composer George Crumb with three hauntingly beautiful pieces. To mark the 40th anniversary of the first manned mission to the moon, mezzo-soprano Hilary Summers sings Night of the Four Moons, a work composed by Crumb during the Apollo 11 flight. Crumb often incorporates theatre into his work and Vox balaenae (Voice of the Whale) draws inspiration from the songs of humpback whales for which the three performers on stage are required to wear masks to efface their human presence. Soprano Claire Booth leads a septet of performers in Ancient Voices of Children, a highly expressive cycle set to verses by Federico Garcia Lorca. Claire Booth (soprano) Hilary Summers (mezzo-soprano) Diego Masson (conductor) George Crumb: Night of the Four Moons; Vox balaenae (Voice of the Whale); Ancient Voices of Children. Nash Ensemble in Crumb: Night of the Four Moons; Vox balaenae; Ancient Voices of Children. The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.
Prom 71	20090908	From the Royal Albert Hall, London. Presented by Martin Handley. A performance of two of Peter Maxwell Davies' most important choral works. Westerlings imagines the early Norse settlers colonising Orkney in the 8th century. In one of the most virtuosic works in the entire choral repertoire, George Mackay Brown's poems are set alongside wordless seascapes, creating an enormously atmospheric piece which vividly evokes the cold and wet and hardships endured by the settlers rowing their longboats across the waters from Scandinavia. Sightings of whales and fish, waves and birds, culminate at landfall in a haunting setting of the Lord's Prayer, sung in the old Norse of ancient Orkney. This is followed by another piece with powerfully Orcadian roots - Solstice of Light, for chorus, organ and solo tenor - which sets more words by Brown, charting the whole history of the Orkney archipelago. It begins as the islands first emerge from seas and ice, then describes the prehistoric builders of cairns and stone circles; the Celtic men and women who bring a religion of dance and light; Viking marauders who murder the islands' own saint, Magnus; and finally the story is brought into our own times to those who would despoil the Orkneys in search of oil, minerals and uranium. Ed Lyon (tenor) David Goode (organ) BBC Singers David Hill (conductor) Peter Maxwell Davies: Westerlings; Solstice of Light. A performance of Peter Maxwell Davies' choral works Westerlings and Solstice of Light. The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.
Prom 71: Peter Maxwell Davies Celebration	20091223	Catherine Bott presents a concert given as part of the 2009 Proms celebration of the 75th birthday of composer Peter Maxwell Davies, featuring a performance of two of his most important choral works. Westerlings imagines the early Norse settlers colonising Orkney in the 8th century. In one of the most virtuosic works in the entire choral repertoire, George Mackay Brown's poems are set alongside wordless 'seascapes', creating an enormously atmospheric piece which vividly conjures up the cold and wet and other hardships endured by the settlers, rowing their longboats across the waters from Scandinavia. Sightings of whales and fish, waves and birds, culminate - at landfall - in a haunting setting of the Lord's Prayer, sung in the old Norse of ancient Orkney. It is followed by another piece with powerful Orcadian roots: Solstice of Light, for chorus, organ and solo tenor, sets more words by Brown charting the whole history of the Orkney archipelago. It begins as the islands first emerge from seas and ice, then describes the prehistoric builders of cairns and stone circles, the Celtic men and women who bring a religion of dance and light, Viking marauders who murder the islands' own saint - Magnus - and finally brings the story into our own times of those who would rape and despoil the Orkneys in search of the treasures of today - oil, minerals, uranium. Ed Lyon (tenor) David Goode (organ) BBC Singers David Hill (conductor) Peter Maxwell Davies: Westerlings; Solstice of Light. BBC Singers/David Hill in Peter Maxwell Davies's Westerlings and Solstice of Light. The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.
Prom 75	20090911	From the Royal Albert Hall, London. Presented by Verity Sharp. East meets West as cellist Yo-Yo Ma returns with his cross-cultural Silk Road Ensemble, after their successful Proms debut in 2004, with more from this truly mesmerising musical journey - a mix of traditional and contemporary flavours, inspired by the ancient trade route which united China and Europe. Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma Various composers: Silk Road Suite Giovanni Sollima: The Taranta Project Angel Lam: Empty Mountain, Spirit Rain Trad, arr. Li Cang Sang and Wu Tong: Ambush from Ten Sides. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and his Silk Road Ensemble perform contemporary and traditional music. The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.
Proms In The Park	20090912	Highlights from the Proms in the Park events, from England, N Ireland, Wales and Scotland. The world's greatest classical music festival - stunning performances and collaborations.