Prom 15: Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra I

One of Europe’s greatest orchestras, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, returns to the Proms under Yannick Nézet-Séguin. In the first of two concerts (see also Prom 17) they pair two contrasting symphonies in a programme that moves from sunshine to bitterness. ‘This symphony is smiling throughout,’ wrote Berlioz of Beethoven’s Second Symphony – a work in which seemingly sunny moods conceal personal tragedy and loss. The orchestra then tackles Shostakovich's Fifth, “a Soviet artist’s creative response to justified criticism”.