The summer is open and the Proms are back. From the first genial notes of Arthur Bliss’s Birthday Fanfare for Sir Henry Wood, the first concert felt like one giant fanfare for a concept – bringing the finest music to the widest audience at an accessible price – that’s as crucial now as it was when Wood himself launched the Proms back in 1895.
The Bliss segued into Mendelssohn’s ‘Hebrides’ Overture – and with Sakari Oramo, the most elegant and assured of conductors, heading up his BBC Symphony Orchestra on its finest form, it would be hard to imagine a more heartwarming account.
Based further north than the Hebrides, in Orkney, today’s Master of the King’s Musick (a post once held by Bliss) is the inimitable Errollyn Wallen, whose new ten-minute, three-part work, The Elements, evades pigeon-holing.
Lisa Batiashvili performs in the Sibelius Violin Concerto BBC Proms Royal Albert Hall, London, UK; Credit: Chris Christodoulou/BBC. The BBC Proms opened with a subtle, yet superb performance to kick off the summer run. BBC Proms Royal Albert Hall, London, UK; Credit: Chris Christodoulou/BBC. Image via Freya EdgeworthThe ‘elements’, she says, are the building blocks of sound itself, forming a bright magpie-like nest of ideas, full of funky rhythms, glitter-spangled melody, the occasional police-style whistle and ironic hints of brass bands. Oramo wielded sterling control over the sizzling whole, offered an occasional boogie and even swung round to exhort finger-clicking audience participation.
Earlier, Lisa Batiashvili had been an immaculate and mesmerising soloist in the Sibelius Violin Concerto. Along with superbly honed sound, she made light of the work’s challenges and excelled in a delicious sense of spontaneity, in the finale seeming to toy with sonic stratospheres as if to see just what that Guarneri del Gesù violin could do.
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Vaughan Williams’s mystical half-hour oratorio Sancta Civitas (the Holy City) played similarly with the auditorium, its giant forces exploiting its bizarre space. Premiered in 1926 amid the General Strike, it hovers perilously close to ‘white elephant’ status; this was only its second-ever performance at the Proms and I’d be surprised if it is back anytime soon.
Still, setting text from the Book of Revelations, the music at its sporadic best can be thrillingly immersive. It involves a large orchestra and chorus, a semi-chorus (the ever-excellent BBC Singers), an invisible children’s choir (members of London Youth Choirs singing their hearts out in a high balcony), a baritone solo delivered by the magnificent Gerald Finley, and a blink-and-miss-it tenor solo, sung from on high by Caspar Singh.
Even if not quite a stamping, yelling sort of evening, this refreshingly gimmick-free Prom had real integrity: its world-class musicians communicated straight from the heart. It bodes well for a great summer of music ahead.
The Proms continue at the Royal Albert Hall and other venues until 13 September. Calendar: www.bbc.co.uk/events/rb5v4f/by/date/2025
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