Prom 22: Rachmaninov

Much of Rachmaninov’s best music has been slow to enter the repertoire. His evocative choral symphony The Bells, unheard at the Proms until 1973, is based on an adaptation by the Russian Symbolist poet Konstantin Balmont of verses by Edgar Allan Poe. Never previously given complete at the Proms, the Three Russian Songs are poignant, gem-like time capsules of a Russia now irretrievably lost.