Proms Prompter - Week 7

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



Penultimate week of the Proms coming up and the first thing that catches my eye is the Leonard Bernstein on Sunday. The On the Waterfront suite is highly listenable and, coupled with Copeland, should make for a good pre-interval hour. Not sure about putting Tchaikovsky with it after the interval though but we’ll see. The debut of Chineke! could also be interesting – a nice “pick n mix” of old and new music and it’s always good to see a new orchestra getting its break. Finally, Tuesday is a must watch with Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite heading up a strong proms with Rachmaninov and Shostakovitch showcasing early 20th century classical music at its best.

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 26th August to Friday 1st September)



Saturday 26 August 2017



THE BOHEMIAN REFORMATION



Rising star conductor Jakub Hrůša presents an all-Czech concert with the BBC SO and the BBC Singers. Smetana’s evocative tone-poem Ma vlast sits alongside Martinů’s Field Mass and Suk’s Prague. This is music of protest, anger and national pride.



Programme



Unknown Hussite Chorale 'Ktož jsú Boži bojovníci' (You Who Are Warriors of God)(2 mins)



Bedrich Smetana Má vlast – Tábor and Má vlast – Blaník

Bohuslav Martinu Field Mass(26 mins)



INTERVAL



Antonín Dvořák Hussite Overture(14 mins)

Leos Janáček The Excursions of Mr Brouček – Song of the Hussites(4 mins)

Josef Suk Prague(25 mins)





Sunday 27 August 2017



SWING NO END (Televised on 1st September on BBC Four)



Singer and broadcaster Clare Teal and bandleaders Guy Barker and Winston Rollins take the audience on a journey through the irrepressible big band music of Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Count Basie and others.





Sunday 27 August 2017

CINCINNATI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AND LOUIS LANGRÉE



This Proms debut performance by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra opens with Bernstein’s On The Waterfront. Copland’s Lincoln Portrait pays homage to one of the nation’s heroes, while Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 offers a statement of nationalism.



Programme



Leonard Bernstein On the Waterfront – symphonic suite(22 mins)

Aaron Copland Lincoln Portrait(15 mins)



INTERVAL



Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Symphony No 5 in E minor(45 mins)





Monday 28 August 2017



MOZART – LA CLEMENZA DI TITO



Love and ambition collide in Mozart’s politically charged opera La clemenza di Tito, among the finest of Mozart’s mature works. Mezzo-soprano Alice Coote (Vitellia) leads an all-star Glyndebourne cast under Music Director Robin Ticciati.



Programme



Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart La clemenza di Tito, K 621(132 mins)(semi-staged; sung in Italian)





Tuesday 29 August 2017



STRAVINSKY, RACHMANINOV AND SHOSTAKOVICH



Vasily Petrenko conducts the Oslo Philharmonic in an all-Russian programme, featuring Stravinsky’s The Firebird suite, Rachmaninov’s Fourth Piano Concerto with Leif Ove Andsnes as soloist and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 12.



Programme



Igor Stravinsky The Firebird – suite (revised version, 1919)(21 mins)

Sergei Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 4 in G minor(24 mins)(revised version, 1941)



INTERVAL



Dmitri Shostakovich Symphony No 12 in D minor 'The Year 1917'(41 mins)





Wednesday 30 August 2017



RENÉE FLEMING SINGS STRAUSS



Renée Fleming joins regular collaborators Sakari Oramo and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra for music by Barber and Strauss. The orchestra also performs Nielsen’s Second Symphony and Andrea Tarrodi’s musical ‘walking tour’ Liguria.



Programme



Andrea Tarrodi Liguria(12 mins)UK premiere

Samuel Barber Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Op 24(16 mins)



INTERVAL



Richard Strauss Daphne – Transformation Scene, 'Ich komme – ich komme'(11 mins)

Carl Nielsen Symphony No 2 'The Four Temperaments'(33 mins)





Wednesday 30 August 2017



CHINEKE! (Televised on 8th September on BBC Four)



The UK’s first BME (black and minority ethnic) orchestra, Chineke!, makes its Proms debut. 2016 BBC Young Musician winner, cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, is the soloist, and the concert also includes works by composers George Walker and Hannah Kendall.



Programme



Hannah Kendall The Spark Catchers(10 mins)BBC commission: world premiere

Antonín Dvořák Rondo in G minor, Op 94(7 mins)

David Popper Hungarian Rhapsody, Op. 68(10 mins)orch M. Schlegel

George Walker Lyric for Strings(6 mins)

George Frideric Handel Julius Caesar – 'Da tempeste il legno infranto'(6 mins)

Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint‐Georges Au penchant qui nous entrâine(4 mins)orch Mauricio Rodriguez

George Frideric Handel Messiah – 'Rejoice greatly'(5 mins)

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Capriccio espagnol, Op 34(16 mins)





Thursday 31 August 2017



TANEYEV, RACHMANINOV AND TCHAIKOVSKY



Semyon Bychkov conducts the BBC SO in an all-Russian Prom that climaxes with Tchaikovsky’s Manfred. Kirill Gerstein is the soloist for Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 1, whose beauty is a natural companion to Taneyev’s brooding Oresteia overture.



Programme



Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev Overture 'The Oresteia'(19 mins)

Sergei Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 1 in F sharp minor(27 mins)



INTERVAL



Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Manfred(61 mins)





Friday 1 September 2017



ROYAL CONCERTGEBOUW ORCHESTRA AND DANIELE GATTI



Amsterdam’s mighty Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra returns to the Proms for the first time in almost a decade, under Chief Conductor Daniele Gatti. They pair Bruckner Ninth Symphony with Wolfgang Rihm’s In-Schrift.



Programme



Wolfgang Rihm In-Schrift(17 mins)



INTERVAL



Anton Bruckner Symphony No 9 in D minor(65 mins)





Friday 1 September 2017



STAX RECORDS, 50 YEARS OF SOUL (Televised live on BBC Four)



Founded in 1957, Stax Records was synonymous with Southern Soul music. Jools Holland and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra pay tribute to this pioneering label in a concert featuring hits from Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes and Johnnie Taylo


Original Image - © David Iliff, Royal Albert Hall