The First Night of the BBC Proms: celebration and redemption

Gerald Finley and Sakari Oramo

Lisa Batiashvili and the BBC Symphony Orchestra

Sancta Civitas at the First Night of the BBC Proms

Par Peter Quantrill, 21 juillet 2025

Chargement en cours, veuillez patienter...

Voir le listing complet

“the Royal Albert Hall was transformed for a few seconds into St Mark’s Venice”

Critique faite à Royal Albert Hall, Londres, le 18 juillet 2025

Bliss, Birthday Fanfare for Sir Henry Wood

Mendelssohn, Les Hébrides (ou La Grotte de Fingal), Op.26

Sibelius, Concerto pour violon en ré mineur, Op.47

Wallen, The Elements (BBC commission: world premiere)

Vaughan Williams, Sancta civitas - oratorio for tenor, baritone, chorus & orchestra

Lisa Batiashvili, Violon

Caspar Singh, Ténor

Gerald Finley, Baryton

BBC Singers

BBC Symphony Chorus

Members of London Youth Choirs

BBC Symphony Orchestra

Sakari Oramo, Direction

Le Barbican Hall transfiguré par le BBC Symphony Orchestra

Nicolas Schotter, 21st October

Le Barbican Hall accueillait le BBC Symphony Orchestra et son chef Sakari Oramo pour un programme d'une remarquable cohérence, à de multiples niveaux, et dont la gradation dramatique a conquis l'assemblée.

****1

Beethoven et Lutoslawski par le BBC SO à Londres

Julie Jozwiak, 24th April

Le BBC Symphony Orchestra donnait un programme Beethoven/Lutoslawski au Barbican Hall. Le chef Michal Nesterowic et le pianiste Steven Osborne ont remplacé les têtes d'affiche initialement annoncées. Un changement de distribution qui n’a pas empêché la soirée d'être réussie.

***11

Sakari Oramo, Yeol Eum Son and the BBC Symphony in Seoul

SangKwon Lee, 26th March

Yeol Eum Son’s Britten Piano Concerto formed the evening’s centre of gravity, played with lucid line, structural command and sudden fire. In Brahms’ Second Symphony, Sakari Oramo found conviction, proportion and a warmth that felt earned rather than applied.

****1

Sakari Oramo and Yeol Eum Son summon up vivid landscapes

Christopher Woodley, 13th March

Yeol Eum Son's superb performances of Bartók and Finzi are matched by intense and heady readings of Stravinsky and Weir by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sakari Oramo.

****1

From snow to sludge: Icelandic music at the Barbican Centre

Marat Ingeldeev, 22nd February

A bewildering evening at the Barbican, where ambitious Icelandic programming collapses under its lofty ambition of defying genres and making music more appealing to a wide variety of audiences.

**111

Fine Lindberg and Stravinsky double bill from the BBC Symphony

Roy Westbrook, 6th February

After a performance of Magnus Lindberg’s First Violin Concerto by Lisa Batiashvili at the Barbican, Stravinsky’s Perséphone stands the test of time.

****1

Plus de critiques...

Peter Quantrill

Peter Quantrill is a regular contributor to Gramophone, The Strad and other journals. Recent programme notes have been published by the Salzburg and Edinburgh festivals, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Royal Ballet. He also writes about music and musicians for many record labels including Eloquence, Delphian, Signum, Danacord and Brilliant Classics. Once unplugged from his hi-fi, he can generally be found in a London concert hall or at the cricket, and he tweets (sporadically) @PeterQuantrill.