A fitting close to the Proms season

By Hazel Rowland, 15 September 2014

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Reviewed at Royal Albert Hall, London on 13 September 2014

Higgins, Velocity (BBC commission; world première)

Arnold, Peterloo Overture (new choral version with lyrics by Sir Tim Rice: world première)

Walton, Façade

Chausson, Poème, for violin and orchestra, Op.25

Tavener, Song for Athene

Strauss R., Taillefer, Op.52

Khachaturian, Gayaneh: Sabre Dance

Ravel, Tzigane

Kern, Show Boat: Ol' Man River (arr. R Williams)

Traditional, Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho (arr. Williams)

Sherman, Film music from Mary Poppins (arr. Anne Dudley)

Ansell, Plymouth Hoe

Arne, Rule, Britannia! (arr. Sargent)

Elgar, Pomp and Circumstance March no. 1 in D Major, Op.39 (Land of Hope and Glory)

Parry, Jerusalem (orch. Elgar)

Traditional, The British National Anthem (arr. Britten)

Janine Jansen, Violin

Elizabeth Watts, Soprano

John Daszak, Tenor

Roderick Williams, Baritone

BBC Singers

BBC Symphony Chorus

BBC Symphony Orchestra

Sakari Oramo, Conductor

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

UK premiere of Julia Wolfe’s unEarth impresses on scale, not substance

Susannah Moody, 23rd January

Wolfe's climate-change oratorio, performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, already feels out of date.

**111

Sir James MacMillan delights with his Christmas Oratorio

David Karlin, 19th December

MacMillan's large scale choral work offers a rich variety of texts and musical ideas, the composer conducts the BBC Symphony with unerring precision.

*****

Ermonela Jaho gives a tragic twist to Puccini's La rondine

Peter Quantrill, 5th December

A new edition of Puccini's score springs to life in a meticulously prepared Opera Rara concert performance at the Barbican.

****1

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Hazel Rowland

Hazel is in her final year reading music at Oxford University. As well being a classical music reviewer, she has written arts commentary for the Oxford Student and reviewed plays at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Her particular interests lies in early German Romantic music and in how classical music functions within contemporary popular culture. Follow her blog here.

Prom 76: A fitting close for the 2014 Proms season