Today at the Proms - Prom 35 & 36

Continuing our daily coverage of what's on at The Proms 2019, Susan Omand has a quick look at the programme for Prom 35: Enigma Variations and Prom 36: Late-Night Mixtape ...



Lots and lots and LOTS to listen to in today's two Proms. First up in the early evening prom, inspired by Elgar's Enigma Variations which, incidentally, close the early prom tonight, we get not one but FOURTEEN completely new variations on a theme, composed by 14 different composers to celebrate the birthday of the conductor Martyn Brabbins. In between these variety bookends there's some Vaughan Williams with his Serenade to Music, originally written for Sir Henry Wood (he of the statue in the Royal Albert Hall at Proms time) and based on the discussion about the music of the spheres in Act 5 of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. There's also more Brahms, and a piece with the very Tenacious D sounding title of Song of Destiny (but wouldn't it be cool if it was?)



It's the late Prom though that I really like the idea of; a "mixtape" of relaxing and calming classical music. I guess, these days, a lot of the younglings won't understand the origin of a mixtape, being used to playlists and digital whatnots, but, believe me, it took a lot of love, hard work and dedication to make a mixtape (especially using songs off the radio) so you only made them for people who were really really special to you.



So put your feet up, relax, unwind and listen to the opening work from tonight's mixtape, Eriks Esenvalds' beautiful Stars...

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



Prom 35 - 19:00


Kalevi Aho, Sally Beamish, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Richard Blackford, Gavin Bryars, Brett Dean, Dai Fujikura, Wim Henderickx, Colin Matthews, Anthony Payne, John Pickard, David Sawer, Iris ter Schiphorst, Judith Weir
Pictured Within: Birthday Variations for M. C. B.(30 mins)BBC commission: world premiere

Ralph Vaughan Williams
Serenade to Music(13 mins)Henry Wood Novelties: world premiere, 1938

INTERVAL

Johannes Brahms
Song of Destiny(18 mins)

Edward Elgar
Enigma Variations(29 mins)

Prom 36 - 22:15

Eriks Esenvalds
Stars(4 mins)

Max Richter
Vladimir's Blues(2 mins)

Arvo Pärt
Fratres (version for solo violin, strings and percussion)(11 mins)

Peteris Vasks
The Fruits of Silence(6 mins)

Johann Sebastian Bach
Keyboard Concerto in F minor, BWV 1056 (arr. unknown for violin in G minor)(3 mins)

Ola Gjeilo
The Spheres(5 mins)

Franz Schubert
String Quartet No 14 in D minor, 'Death and the Maiden'(11 mins)

Soumik Datta
Morning Song(5 mins)

Alonso Lobo
Versa est in luctum cithara mea(5 mins)

Frédéric Chopin
Nocturne in D flat major, Op 27 No 2(6 mins)

Soumik Datta
Clouds(3 mins)arr. Iain Farrington (world premiere)

Max Richter
On the Nature of Daylight(6 mins)

John Tavener
The Lamb(5 mins)


Image - Photo © Chris Christodoulou