Last year would have been the Philhadelphia Orchestra under Eschenbach. Just caught the finale of the Beethoven, and it was just too shadowed with reminiscences of the first night, I'm afraid.

The chorus came over none too well, but then, compared to the Philharmonia Chorus and BBCSC in Prom 1, it wouldn't...

I agree, it's silly to have two B9s in a season just cos we didn't have one last year.  Even if somebody was just being obsessive about statistics, it's not as though the number of B9s matched the number of Proms seasons to begin with!

The second movement was fantastic, I thought, with great energy and an almost marcato feel to the strings even though it was still done with lightness, if that makes any sense.  In the first and third movements I heard bits I'd never noticed before (perhaps that was something to do with the layout of the orchestra and the position in which I was standing).  The finale, for my money, fell rather flat - the soloists didn't sound like an ensemble (though I did like the bass) and as for the choir, there just weren't enough of them, and the big climaxes just weren't big enough.

Tony, your point about the high key is one I have heard made many times before (being an alto I've never had personal experience of the pain the sopranos and tenors are forced to endure in this piece  ) and somehow my eye was caught last night by a choral soprano who wasn't articulating any consonants at all, just opening and closing her mouth like a goldfish - especially, but not exclusively, during the sustained passage of high As.

I expected to be impressed by this performance, but for me it paled in comparison with the BBCSO/BBCSC/Philharmonia Chorus in Prom 1.

The Honegger symphony was the great thing about this evening for me.  This is another work I have on disc but obviously haven't listened to attentively enough.  Maestro Jansons and his band brought it to life for me - just as they did with 'The Miraculous Mandarin' the night before.

I went along principally for the Beethoven 9 experience because, for me, unless this symphony is played dreadfully it's going to deliver the goods.  To paraphrase Stevie Wonder "with a voice like Ludwig's ringing out there’s no way the band can lose".  It's not my favourite LvB symphony but it's got an irresistible momentum.  I agree with the comments here and in the other place that it wasn't the great performance we might have expected from such an illustrious conductor & band.  The choir was a bit small and the soloists weren't that marvellous (Why were they all reading, btw?  Don't they know the words?  Even I know most of the words and I've never performed in anything!) But it was still great to be there.

I'm glad I stuck to my guns and braved the arena queue (I was number 408 - the furthest back I've ever been).  I decided I'd rather risk not getting in than hear this work from the gallery and I now wonder whether that rather small choir would have had the desired effect at such a distance. I was almost regretting that decision as the woman next to me decided that the lengthy pauses between movements weren't quite enough for a satisfactory chat with her pal and carried on through the first few bars of the 2nd movement, until I gave her a very nasty stare.  Then she did the same in the third movement.  They moved away straight after the Honegger and I was half glad I wouldn't be disturbed in the second half though I knew she was probably just going to spoil somebody else's enjoyment of the Beethoven.  How anyone can think it's acceptable to behave like that is quite beyond me.

Still, a very good evening considering that at five thirty I wasn't even sure I'd be going and as late as six forty five I wasn't sure I'd succeed in getting in.  I'll be digging out my Honegger disc as soon as I get home on Sunday!