Proms Prompter - Week 5

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



Week five sees much Mahler on the programme and my first must see must be Saturday’s pairing of Mahler with Schubert’s Unfinished as I think that’s a mix that’s going to work very well. From the darkness into the light and my second pointer is to the Sunday binge-watch of Rachmaninov as his work totally takes over the schedules for Sunday. Of these, you have to listen to his All Night Vigil (but don’t worry, it’s not on all night, only for an hour.)



My final recommendation is more of a recommendation to myself because it’s something I know nothing at all about so it’s going to be my “pot luck pick” of the Proms. And that’s the Bang on a Can All-stars on Thursday. I tried to find out a little by going digging on t’interwebs – they’re apparently a New York concert performance orchestra with attitude – and, if this example is anything to go by, we’re in for an interesting evening!







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 where this week (Saturday 12th to Friday 18th August)





Saturday 12 August 2017



SCHUBERT AND MAHLER



How do you solve a problem like an unfinished symphony? The BBC SSO and Chief Conductor Thomas Dausgaard offer answers in a programme that pairs Schubert’s Eighth Symphony with Mahler’s 10th, performed here in the performing version by Deryck Cooke.



Programme



Franz Schubert Symphony No 8 in B minor 'Unfinished'(26 mins)



INTERVAL



Gustav Mahler Symphony No 10 in F sharp minor (performing version by Deryck Cooke)(74 mins)





Sunday 13 August 2017



RACHMANINOV – PIANO CONCERTO NO. 3 (Televised live on BBC Four)



A night dedicated to Rachmaninov opens with two of the composer’s greatest works. Alexander Gavrylyuk is the soloist for the impossibly demanding Third Piano Concerto, while the BBC SSO steps into the spotlight for the mercurial Second Symphony.



Programme



Sergei Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 3 in D minor(41 mins)



INTERVAL



Sergei Rachmaninov Symphony No 2 in E minor(60 mins)





Sunday 13 August 2017

RACHMANINOV – ALL-NIGHT VIGIL (VESPERS)



The Latvian Radio Choir performs a work hailed as ‘the greatest musical achievement of the Russian Orthodox Church’. Rachmaninov’s All-Night Vigil (Vespers) is also one of the loveliest works of any faith – a profoundly moving statement of belief.



Programme



Sergei Rachmaninov All-Night Vigil (Vespers)(63 mins)





Monday 14 August 2017



DEBUSSY, RAVEL AND MARK-ANTHONY TURNAGE



In a Prom of wide-ranging emotions Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, gives way to Ravel’s jazzy Piano Concerto. Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Hibiki is a sequence of threnodies offering solace after loss. Kazushi Ono conducts the BBC SO.



Programme



Claude Debussy Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune(10 mins)

Maurice Ravel Piano Concerto in G major(22 mins)



INTERVAL



Mark-Anthony Turnage Hibiki(50 mins)European premiere





Tuesday 15 August 2017



BRAHMS, BERG, THOMAS LARCHER AND SCHUMANN



Robin Ticciati and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra perform Schumann’s Third Symphony – the climax of a Prom also including Brahms’s Tragic Overture and Thomas Larcher’s Nocturne – Insomnia. Christian Tetzlaff is the soloist in Berg’s Violin Concerto.



Programme



Johannes Brahms Tragic Overture(14 mins)

Alban Berg Violin Concerto(27 mins)



INTERVAL



Thomas Larcher Nocturne – Insomnia(15 mins)UK premiere

Robert Schumann Symphony No 3 in E flat major 'Rhenish'(32 mins)





Tuesday 15 August 2017

PHILIP GLASS AND RAVI SHANKAR (Televised on 18th August on BBC Four)



Blending Glass’s American Minimalism with traditional Hindustani classical music, sitar virtuoso Anoushka Shankar joins the Britten Sinfonia for the first complete live performance of Philip Glass and Ravi Shankar’s 1964 concept album Passages.



Programme



Philip Glass, Ravi Shankar Passages(65 mins)(first complete live performance)





Wednesday 16 August 2017



LES SIÈCLES AND FRANÇOIS-XAVIER ROTH



François Xavier-Roth and Les Siècles present a programme inspired by the East, from the fragrant Indian gardens of Delibes’s Lakmé to the sensual charge of a Bacchanal. Cédric Tiberghien is the soloist for Saint-Saëns’s ‘Egyptian’ Piano Concerto.



Programme



Camille Saint‐Saëns La princesse jaune – overture(7 mins)

Léo Delibes Lakmé – ballet music(6 mins)

Camille Saint‐Saëns Piano Concerto No 5 in F major, 'Egyptian'(25 mins)



INTERVAL



César Franck Les Djinns(12 mins)

Édouard Lalo Namouna – Suite No. 1

Namouna – Suite No. 2(22 mins)

Camille Saint‐Saëns Samson and Delilah – Bacchanal(8 mins)





Thursday 17 August 2017



SAINT-SAËNS – ‘ORGAN’ SYMPHONY



Charles Dutoit and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra take us on a colourful journey through Spain. In his ballet El amor brujo, Falla captured the essence of his homeland, while Joshua Bell is the soloist for Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole.



Programme



Manuel de Falla El amor brujo(24 mins)

Édouard Lalo Symphonie espagnole, Op 21(34 mins)



INTERVAL



Camille Saint‐Saëns Symphony No 3 in C minor, 'Organ'(36 mins)





Thursday 17 August 2017



BANG ON A CAN ALL-STARS



Expect everything from avant-garde Minimalism to rock and funk in this 30th-birthday concert by American music pioneers Bang on a Can, who perform works by Louis Andriessen, Philip Glass and others alongside a world premiere by Michael Gordon.



Programme



Michael Gordon Big Space(15 mins)BBC commission: world premiere

David Lang Sunray(12 mins)London premiere

Julia Wolfe Big Beautiful Dark and Scary(9 mins)London premiere

Philip Glass Glassworks – Closing(6 mins)

Louis Andriessen Workers Union(17 mins)





Friday 18 August 2017



MAHLER – ‘RESURRECTION’ SYMPHONY



The BBC SO and Chief Conductor Sakari Oramo are joined by soloists Elizabeth Watts and Elisabeth Kulman in addition to the combined forces of the BBC Symphony Chorus and The Bach Choir as they perform Mahler’s epic ‘Resurrection’ Symphony.



Programme



Gustav Mahler Symphony No 2 in C minor 'Resurrection'(85 mins)

Original Image - © David Iliff, Royal Albert Hall