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

By Peter Quantrill, 21 July 2025

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

Reviewed at Royal Albert Hall, London on 18 July 2025

Bliss, Birthday Fanfare for Sir Henry Wood

Mendelssohn, The Hebrides Overture, “Fingal's Cave”, Op.26

Sibelius, Violin Concerto in D minor, Op.47

Wallen, The Elements (BBC commission: world premiere)

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

Lisa Batiashvili, Violin

Caspar Singh, Tenor

Gerald Finley, Baritone

BBC Singers

BBC Symphony Chorus

Members of London Youth Choirs

BBC Symphony Orchestra

Sakari Oramo, Conductor

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

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Wolfe's climate-change oratorio, performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, already feels out of date.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

*****

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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.