Today at the Proms - Prom 59 & 60

Continuing our daily coverage of what's on at The Proms 2018, Susan Omand has a quick look at the programme for Prom 59: Relaxed Prom and 60: Marin Alsop & Baltimore Symphony Orchestra...


Reminder - Watch Prom 59: Relaxed Prom available to watch at bbc.co.uk/proms



It's another double prom day. First up is a brilliant thing. A Relaxed Performance is completely inclusive, with BSL signing and audio description, with allowances made for movement, noise and disruption, with quiet spaces set aside for those who need to get away from the noise and "chill out" for a while - it's a perfect way for all the family, no matter their age or ability, to enjoy classical music by Tchaikovsky, Bernstein and Holst together in a concert setting.



The evening Prom continues the Bank Holiday Bernstein theme with his pupil and protégée Marin Alsop conducting the Baltimore Symphony orchestra as they play some Shostakovich alongside Bernstein's own compositions, including the marvellous, and typically Bernsteinian, Slava! (yes the exclamation point is part of the title). This short piece was written by Bernstein to for part of the inaugural concert for cellist Mstislav (Slava) Rostropovich, who was taking over as Music Director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington in 1977, the two men having met much earlier, in 1959 in Russia. The piece itself is interesting in that, in the original recording, taped snippets of political speeches were used throughout. Even now, the piece ends with all the musicians shouting "Slava!"











Here's the full programme for this evening's Prom which you can listen to live on Radio 3 or on the iPlayer

Prom 59 - 16:30

Prom 60 - 20:00



Leonard Bernstein
Slava! (A Political Overture)(4 mins)
Symphony No 2 'The Age of Anxiety'(35 mins)

INTERVAL

Dmitri Shostakovich
Symphony No 5 in D minor(51 mins)




Image - Photo © Chris Christodoulou