Today at the Proms - Prom 42

Continuing our daily coverage of what's on at The Proms 2019, Susan Omand has a quick look at the programme for Prom 42: Youthful Beginnings ...



Reminder - Watch Prom 40: Queen Victoria's 200th Anniversary on BBC Four tonight.



Don't you hate it when really young people show prodigious talent? That's what we're looking at with tonight's prom. First up we have Beethoven's first Symphony, written while he was in his early 20s, and often called a Comedy of Manners because it starts off in the "wrong" key before resolving to C Major.



Then we have Clara Schumann's piano concerto or, rather, Clara Wieck's piano concerto because she wasn't married (although she had met her husband to be) when she composed this. Mostly because she was 13. THIRTEEN and composed technically complex pieces for music! Where did I go wrong? Ah yes, piano lessons.

Skipping to the end of the evening and we have some fascinating Shostakovich and his first Symphony, completed when he was 19, although it was really just his homework from the Petrograd Conservatory.

And finally, just after the interval is a piece I've never heard by a composer I've never heard of. On doing a bit of investigation, Sofia Gubaidulina is a Russian/Tartar composer whose work sounds very cinematic, indeed she has scored a few films. I've found a copy of tonight's work to share with you - it's very interesting, if a little challenging, and I really like her use of piano with the chromatic scales and sharp stabby chords overlaying wavery, ethereal woodwind and tuned percussion.

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 



Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No 1 in C major(26 mins)

Clara Schumann
Piano Concerto(21 mins)

INTERVAL

Sofia Gubaidulina
Fairytale Poem(10 mins)

Dmitry Shostakovich
Symphony No. 1 in F minor(28 mins)

Image - Photo © Chris Christodoulou