Dead heat!! 

Yes, martle, I'd be happy with either, or even in the style of the member who loves the seventh letter of the alphabet so much that he's appropriated it twice, both.

Ali,

Some of the concerts have sounded fine, but most have not been a patch on previous years' efforts. I was listening to the Sinfonia da Requiem in the car today, and it sounded really good, but there are two commercial issues of the same work from Proms performances (Wiggly from 1991 on the first-ever BBCMM disc, and Elder from 1998 on BBC World Wide) sitting on my shelves, which might make for interesting comparisons.

The Lutoslawski's sounding decidedly better, btw.

Richard,

OK (or in your case, OK once only )

Saturday 25 August 1984

Liszt
Piano Sonata in B minor (29 mins)
 
Interval

Bruckner
Symphony No. 5 in B flat major (70 mins)

Lazar Berman piano

BBC Symphony Orchestra
Conductor Sir John Pritchard


Saturday 18 August 2007
Cadogan Hall: 3.00pm

Handel's resplendent music for a royal river party on the Thames is the climax of today's concert with one of the country’s leading period-instrument orchestras, and also the focal point of a journey placing the great composer in the context of his English contemporaries.The nautical influence turns tragically full circle in the enchanted ode to Shakespeare by Thomas Linley Jr, a pupil of Boyce, who died aged 22 in a boating accident.

Boyce
Symphony No. 5 in D major (8 mins)
Arne
Three Shakespeare songs: 'Under the greenwood tree'; 'When icicles hang' from The owl; 'Where the bee sucks' (6 mins)
Thomas Linley Jr
Ode on the Spirits of Shakespeare – Overture (8 mins)
Handel
'Total eclipse!' from Samson; 'His mighty arm' and 'Waft her, angels' from Jephtha (13 mins)
Handel
Water Music - Suites G & D (25 mins)
Ouverture
Menuet
Rigaudon
Lentement
Bourrée
Menuet I
Menuet II
Country Dance I/II
Alla Hornpipe

There will be no interval

Mark Padmore tenor
The English Concert
Laurence Cummings conductor/harpsichord

Royal Albert Hall: 6.30 pm


The magnificent first instalment of a planned trilogy upon which Elgar embarked after the success of The Dream of Gerontius is a highlight of this year's Elgar anniversary celebrations at the Proms. Sakari Oramo, a leading champion of British music, conducts his forces from the city whose festival commissioned this work in 1903. After its Birmingham premiere, one critic wrote of a growing recognition 'that [Elgar] is one of the great originals in the musical world of today'.

Elgar
The Apostles (115 mins)

There will be one interval

Amanda Roocroft soprano
Catherine Wyn-Rogers mezzo-soprano
Anthony Dean Griffey tenor
Alan Opie baritone
James Rutherford bass-baritone
Peter Rose bass

City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Sakari Oramo conductor

Royal Albert Hall: 10.15 pm

Sadly Maxim Vengerov has had to cancel his appearance. Because of a minor injury he has been unable to dedicate the time necessary to prepare the concerto which was written specially for him. He was due to give the UK premiere of Benjamin Yusupov’s Viola Rock Tango Concerto.

The programme for the concert has been changed and we are delighted that as well as the London Symphony Orchestra, now conducted by François-Xavier Roth, we have secured the participation of the brilliant young Venezuelan Brass Ensemble, drawn from the ranks of the Simón Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela which is giving a sold-out Prom on Sunday 19 August, directed by Thomas Clamor.

LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Copland
El sálon México (12 mins)
Piazzolla arr. Adams
La Mufa; Todo Buenos Aires (10 mins)*
Piazzolla
Tangazo (14 mins)
Copland
Hoe-down from Rodeo (3 mins)

VENEZUELAN BRASS ENSEMBLE

Copland
Fanfare for the Common Man (3 mins)
Strauss R
Feierlicher Einzug (Original) (7.5 mins)
Bach
Wachet auf ruft uns die Stimme (5.5 mins)
Castro G
Gran Fanfaria (8 mins)
Scarpino A
Canaro en Paris (4 mins)
Abreu Z
Tico Tico (4 mins) **
Mendoza F
Guerra de Secciones (6 mins)
Gershwin
I got Rhythm (3 mins)

Alina Ibragimova violin *
London Symphony Orchestra
François-Xavier Roth conductor

Tomas Medina trumpet **
Venezuelan Brass Ensemble
Thomas Clamor conductor

I don't remember the Bruckner at all but I recall being underwhelmed (very disappointed) by the Berman Liszt - far too splashy and sloppy to be a representative memory of a great pianist.