From Minimalism to neo-Romanticism, a lyrical sound world at the Proms

By Morwenna Campbell-Smith, 10 September 2021

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“each of the pieces unfurled its own distinctive sound world”

Reviewed at Royal Albert Hall, London on 6 September 2021

Glass, Mad Rush

Rautavaara, Cantus Arcticus

Weir, Still, Glowing

Pärt, Festina Lente

Jóhannsson, Good Night, Day

Messiaen, Le livre du Saint Sacrement: La joie de la grâce

Jóhannsson, A Sparrow alighted upon our shoulder

Moussa, A Globe Itself Infolding (UK premiere)

James McVinnie, Organ

BBC Concert Orchestra

Anna-Maria Helsing, Conductor

The BBC Singers at full throttle at Milton Court

Nick Boston, 26th February

Powerful Herbert Howells, together with affecting Shaw and engaging MacMillan from the BBC Singers, with the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Sofi Jeannin.

****1

Aleko on the Arno: Bryn Terfel leads fine new GPO double bill

Roy Westbrook, 6th June

An unlikely pairing opens Grange Park Opera's season, the two works united by the dominant central character of each opera – Sir Bryn Terfel.

****1

BBCCO thrills in an evening of Sibelius and his Swedish neighbours

Susannah Moody, 17th March

A study of landscapes, freedom and love from the Anna-Maria Helsing and BBC Concert Orchestra, plus the world premiere of a Trinidadian concerto for orchestra.

****1

Mystics and magicians from the BBC Concert Orchestra at the BBC Proms

Leighton Jones, 28th August

Music from different genres, for the big and small screens, sit side by side in an evening of music that ignites and enchants the imagination.

****1

Over the top: revamped Tosca returns to the Theatre in the Woods

Mark Pullinger, 10th June

Stephen Medcalf gingers up Grange Park Opera’s staging with some deft directorial touches… even if Tosca is denied her final leap.

***11

Mari Samuelsen radiant in Pärt and Vasks with the BBC CO

Chris Garlick, 26th February

The Norwegian violinist performs a trio of contemporary works in an evening that concludes with Einojuhani Rautavaara's Angel of Light.

****1

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Morwenna Campbell-Smith

Morwenna Campbell-Smith writes The Lady Organist, a blog which began as a chronicle of her progress as an organist, but is now an international online magazine, with news, reviews, and advice for organists and would-be organists. She works for the Society of Women Organists, recently set up to encourage women and girls to take up the organ. Since 2015 she’s been on the the management team of the Royal College of Organists in the UK, as Editor of their learning campus iRCO, and writing their official blog, StopPress.

From Minimalism to neo-Romanticism, a lyrical sound world explored at the Proms