Proms Prompter - Week 6

What’s coming up in week six of the 2017 Proms season? Susan Omand gives you some Proms Prompters...



I’m going to be controversial here and say that this seems a bit of a filler week for the proms because there’s not much that jumps out and screams “listen to this!” However, I’ll still suggest a few pointers from what is there.



Firstly is a Sunday evening back to Bach with the full two plus hours of his St John’s Passion. It’s the kind of thing I’d put on in the background though rather than avidly sit and listen to. I am intrigued, though, by Wednesday’s Prom which promises an explanation as well as a performance of Dvorak’s New World Symphony. It will be interesting to see how well they balance the technical with the informative and to see whether personal interpretation is presented as fact, as is often the case with explaining works of arts in any media.



Last recommendation is a Prom that shouldn’t be a Prom and that’s the celebration of Charlie Mingus on Thursday (Friday on TV) because the music, although not “classically” orchestral, will be fantastic. Listen to this:







As well as the televised concerts, every Prom is broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and HD Sound online, so “people in countries all over the world can tune in and have 'the best seat in the house’”. They’ll also be available to download on the Radio 3 app and you’ll find any you missed on iPlayer.



Here’s the full list of what’s on this week (Saturday 19th to Friday 25th August)





Saturday 19 August 2017



SCHOENBERG – GURRELIEDER (Televised on 3rd September on BBC Four)



Gurrelieder is Schoenberg’s Tristan and Isolde, an opulent, late-Romantic giant. The LSO and Sir Simon Rattle are joined by an outstanding line-up of soloists, including soprano Eva-Maria Westbroek and tenor Simon O’Neill as lovers Tove and Waldemar.



Programme



Arnold Schoenberg Gurrelieder(99 mins)





Sunday 20 August 2017



BACH’S ‘LITTLE ORGAN BOOK’ PAST AND PRESENT



Reformation Day celebrations begin with an organ recital by William Whitehead and Robert Quinney that has chorale preludes from Bach’s Orgelbüchlein at its heart. There are also premieres by Jonathan Dove, Cheryl-Frances Hoad and Daniel Saleeb.



Programme



Cheryl Frances-Hoad Chorale Prelude ‘Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott’(3 mins)BBC commission: world premiere

Jonathan Dove Chorale Prelude ‘Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam’(3 mins)BBC commission: world premiere

Daniel Saleeb Chorale Prelude 'Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort'(3 mins)world premiere

Toccata on 'Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort'(5 mins)





Sunday 20 August 2017

A PATCHWORK PASSION



The BBC Singers and the City of London Sinfonia tell the Passion story as never before. Music from five centuries of Passion settings comes together, including works by Schütz, J. S. Bach, Handel, Mendelssohn, Arvo Pärt and Sir James MacMillan.





Sunday 20 August 2017

BACH’S ST JOHN PASSION (Televised live on BBC Four)



Bach specialist John Butt and his award-winning Dunedin Consort make their Proms debut with a performance of Bach’s St John Passion, a work of almost operatic immediacy. The soloists include Tim Mead, Sophie Bevan and Nicholas Mulroy.



Programme



Johann Sebastian Bach St John Passion(130 mins)





Monday 21 August 2017



BEETHOVEN, STRAVINSKY AND GERALD BARRY (Televised on 27th August on BBC Four)



After a triumphant Proms debut with the CBSO last year, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla returns with a programme that sets Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony against a world premiere by Gerald Barry. Leila Josefowicz is the soloist in Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto.



Programme



Ludwig van Beethoven Overture 'Leonore' No. 3(14 mins)

Igor Stravinsky Violin Concerto in D major(22 mins)



INTERVAL



Gerald Barry Canada(10 mins)BBC commission: world premiere

Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No 5 in C minor(31 mins)





Tuesday 22 August 2017



SIBELIUS, SAINT-SAËNS AND ELGAR–PAYNE



This year’s Elgar cycle concludes with the originally unfinished Third Symphony. The concert also features the vivid, descriptive miniatures of Sibelius’s Scènes historiques and Saint-Saëns’s brilliantly youthful Second Piano Concerto.



Programme



Jean Sibelius Scènes historiques – Suite No. 1(18 mins)

Camille Saint‐Saëns Piano Concerto No 2 in G minor(24 mins)



INTERVAL



Edward Elgar, Anthony Payne Symphony No 3 (elab. Payne)(58 mins)





Wednesday 23 August 2017



BEYOND THE SCORE® - DVORÁK’S NEW WORLD SYMPHONY



Presenter Gerard McBurney takes you ‘Beyond the Score®’ in a multimedia concert that explores the history of Dvořák’s enduringly popular ‘New World’ Symphony. Afterwards, Sir Mark Elder and the Halle give a complete performance of the work.



Programme



Antonín Dvořák Symphony No 9 in E minor, 'From the New World'





Thursday 24 August 2017



BENEATH THE UNDERDOG, CHARLES MINGUS REVISITED (televised on 25th August on BBC Four)



Following their sell-out 2016 Quincy Jones Prom, Jules Buckley and his Metropole Orkest return to celebrate the legendary composer, bandleader and bass player Charles Mingus, featuring artists Shabaka Hutchings, Christian Scott and Kandace Springs.





Friday 25 August 2017



ORCHESTRA OF LA SCALA, MILAN, AND RICCARDO CHAILLY



The Filarmonica della Scala (La Scala Philharmonic, Milan), makes its Proms debut under Music Director Riccardo Chailly, with two of Respighi’s Rome-inspired tone-poems. The concert opens with Brahms’s joyous Violin Concerto.



Programme



Johannes Brahms Violin Concerto in D major(42 mins)



INTERVAL



Ottorino Respighi Fountains of Rome(16 mins)

Pines of Rome(23 mins)





Friday 25 August 2017

CLASSICAL MUSIC OF INDIA AND PAKISTAN (Televised on 3rd September on BBC Four)



We mark the 70th anniversary of partition and independence on the Indian subcontinent by celebrating three contrasting traditions: Hindustani music of North India, South India’s melody-driven Carnatic music and the mesmeric Sufi music of Pakistan.



Original Image - © David Iliff, Royal Albert Hall