Today at the Proms - Prom 39

Continuing our daily coverage of what's on at The Proms 2019, Susan Omand has a quick look at the programme for Prom 39: Elgar, Errollyn Wallen, Mendelssohn & Mussorgsky ...



Three glorious works and a world premiere tonight. The premiere is from Errollyn Wallen and is her homage to the abstract artist, Howard Hodgkin who died in 2017, so it should prove a very interesting listen.  Also on the artistic theme we have Mussorgsky's wonderful Pictures At An Exhibition, which is a collection of ten short pieces, each depicting a specific painting by his friend, Russian artist Viktor Hartmann, as they were arranged at a memorial exhibition after the artist's death, interspersed by a "promenade" as Mussorgsky tours around the exhibition.

Before the interval we head from the gallery to the sea, with the highly evocative song cycle Sea Pictures, in which Elgar set five separate sea-related poems to music. Opening the show tonight though is an incredibly well known piece of music, inspired by Mendelssohn's visit to the Scottish island of Staffa in 1829 and its hexagonal basalt rock formations, similar to the Giant's Causeway in Ireland, that make up Fingal's Cave.

Here's the full programme for this evening's Prom which you can listen to live from 19:30 on Radio 3 or on the iPlayer 



Felix Mendelssohn
Overture 'The Hebrides' ('Fingal's Cave')(10 mins)

Edward Elgar
Sea Pictures, Op 37(23 mins)

INTERVAL

Errollyn Wallen
THIS FRAME IS PART OF THE PAINTING(10 mins) BBC commission: world premiere

Modest Mussorgsky
Pictures at an Exhibition (orch Maurice Ravel)(35 mins)




Image - Photo © Chris Christodoulou