Live, Video: Kritiken zu klassischen Konzerten, Opern, Ballett und Tanz finden | BBC Symphony Chorus

John Luther Adams piece unfolds with the patience and weight of the geological time, leaving a powerful mark.

Warmly affectionate Vaughan Williams contrasting with angular and psychologically charged Wood, followed by an emotional performance of Elgar's The Music Makers.

What to put with Beethoven's greatest statement on the universality of the human spirit? The BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Sakari Oramo, Neil Ferris and Andreas Haefliger make a case for renewal.

Canellakis is an elegant conductor who invests so much in the music and inhabits its lilts and thrills with her whole demeanour.

James Gaffigan and the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus provide the climax to a worthy day of discovery at the Barbican.

Even Baroque specialist John Butt could not persuade the BBC Symphony Chorus to sing in tune

Berlioz was well served in a performance that rose to heights of inspiring dignity and devotional beauty.

Dame Ethel Smyth's Mass in D enjoys a rare outing with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Martyn Brabbins. 

The ubiquitous cycle of life and death was explored in two contrasting works by Musgrave and Brahms in Richard Farnes’ debut with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.

Thomas Søndergård’s final performance as chief of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales sees them pull off Mahler 8 in style.

Polished but ultimately tepid performances that kept the emotional temperature under wraps despite some fine individual playing and singing.

Marking the centenary of the end of the First World War, Anna Meredith and 59 Productions' work proves a powerful, often surprisingly upbeat, commission.

Sparks flew as two British music giants, Vaughan Williams and Birtwistle, collided at the Barbican.

Not a seat to be had for the BBCSO’s thrilling Proms performance of Mahler's Resurrection Symphony. 

The BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus conducted by James Gaffigan, with two stellar soprano soloists, deliver a maritime-themed programme of pieces by Korngold, Anders Hillborg and Rimsky-Korsakov.

Mass hysteria, Schiller’s Ode to Joy and Wild Nights – a heady mix for this year’s opening night of the BBC Proms from Edward Gardner and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

An account of The Beatitudes that will do much to reassess this neglected work was coupled with a polished “Enigma”.

The BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus grow in stature through an evening which provides a good introduction to the virtues of Dvořák’s seldom-played large scale choral work.

To celebrate Philip Glass’s 80th birthday the BBC honoured him with one their invaluable Total Immersion days, of which this concert with the BBCSO conducted by Marin Alsop was the climax.

The silence of the Cenotaph was swept away by the greatest howl of anguish in music.

“Beloved Friend” is the term Tchaikovsky used to address Nadezhda in his letters, and it is the title Semyon Bychkov has given to his Tchaikovsky series, of which this concert with the BBCSO closed the Barbican leg.

The 2016 Proms come to a riotous close at the Royal Albert Hall.

An opportunity for the human voice to shine in works by Mahler and Mozart, performed by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ilan Volkov, with an opening work by Gérard Grisey.

A varied concert of new music by Anthony Payne, Max Bruch's 1st Violin Concerto with Ray Chen, a Tchaikovsky rarity and a rousing early work by Vaughan Williams

After a stirring Marseillaise, a sombre mood hung over the first half of this Proms season opener, with Sol Gabetta's lyrical, intimate Elgar. 

Joseph Phibbs’s Partita makes a strong impression in its première at the Barbican. 

The coda to Juliet's "Convoi funèbre" crystallised all that was exceptional about this performance of Berlioz's symphonie dramatique.

Flags, balloons and musical revelry bring the BBC Proms season to a close. 

Saint-Saens' “Dance of Death” and Orff's gaudy, medieval satire framed a stunningly-realised new commission from Guy Barker, with Alison Balsom playing against type. 

A packed Royal Albert Hall cheered as rocker-come-classical composer Eric Whitacre took to the stage for this Sunday matinee.

Delius resurrected, Wood introduced, Nielsen explored and thrilling Ravel at the BBC Proms.

A mixed programme thrills, launching the season with a bang

Two classic scores by Berlioz and a musical memorial to Bliss’ brother made a deep impression. 

Thank goodness for the BBCSO! The London concert season would be far less colourful without it...

Sakari Oramo takes the reins for his first Last Night of the Proms, alongside dazzling violinist Janine Jansen and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Rachmaninov's The Bells proved the highlight of Prom 43, with fabulous soloists and huge choral forces who stole the show in the third movement.

An impressive performance of Oedipus Rex under Sakari Oramo, demonstrating that his rapport with his new orchestra has grown rapidly. 

Ravel and Dove complement each other, but Mozart sits oddly out of place in the BBC Symphony Orchestra's latest Prom. 

A brave choice for a Proms season opener, but Elgar's ponderous score is presented in the best possible light by the BBC forces.

An ultimately disappointing Fauré Requiem gave way to an outrageously funny performance of Poulenc's comic opera Les mamelles de Tirésias with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Ludovic Morlot.

Edward Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius tells the story of a pious man’s death, his travels through Purgatory and finally being accepted into Heaven. It is perhaps not the most dramatic of tales, but one filled with a sense of redemption and intense spirituality. 

The Last Night of the Proms provided a welcome tying-up of the various strands that have permeated this year’s season: British light music, the 60th anniversary of the Coronation, a host of premières and new BBC commissions, and the significant anniversaries of a number of composers (including the big-hitters of the season, Wagner and Britten).

It’s so good to hear Tippett’s ravishing opera, The Midsummer Marriage, performed in full at the Proms, particularly in Britten’s centenary year. Tippet’s work is like an antidote to Britten’s drier, more literal operatic style – so overflowing with warmth, colour and hope.

Gustav Holst certainly wouldn’t be classed by anyone in the “one-hit wonder” brigade, but it is quite rare to find his name appearing on concert programmes next to anything but those two words: The Planets.

When most of us feel like we’re getting a little stale with a piece of work we’re doing – when the thoughts, words or ideas are drying up – we stop for a coffee, stretch our legs, or do a bit of internet browsing. When Richard Wagner realised inspiration was running low for Siegfried, he decided to have a break from it too.

Thomas Søndergård made his BBC Proms debut at the end of a successful first season at the helm of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, bringing a hefty programme of Stenhammar, Szymanowski and Strauss to the Royal Albert Hall.It was a fascinating programme, with a first half of relatively underperformed works prefacing Strauss’ popular Alpine Symphony.

On a hot, humid summer’s evening, Sakari Oramo made his debut as Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. That the occasion was the first night of the BBC Proms 2013 didn’t seem to bother him. The Finn’s combination of serenity and confidence – and just enough passion to assure us that he was enjoying it – set the tone for an intriguing, if oddly assembled programme.

An orgy of British music greeted an appreciative audience at the Barbican last night courtesy of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by British music enthusiast John Wilson. But it certainly wasn’t all Land of Hope and Glory, or indeed The Lark Ascending, with three contrasting pieces – all now sadly neglected in the concert hall.Walton’s Scapino overture really set things in motion with a bang.

One of the strange things about classical music is that we often hear pieces played without their original context. Ballet music is often performed as simply orchestral music, and many composers have made suites out of ballet or film music in order to make this even easier.

The Last Night of the Proms isn’t really a concert at all; it’s two very different concerts put on one after the other. The first is something like what we’re used to from a Prom, with big-name soloists performing alongside the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Chorus in world premières and classic works from the repertoire.