Last night, BBC Four gave us one of the richest evenings of television I can remember seeing in the 10 years or so I’ve lived here. A digest of the best of this year’s contemporary music offerings at the Proms, it was a diverse and exciting array of great pieces really well performed. It did a fantastic job of showcasing the virtuosity and irreplaceable value of the BBC orchestras, the unique power of the Proms to take new music to vast audiences, and, most importantly, it was all first rate music.
It’s a pity that some pieces were only excerpted, but the BBC has, in this case, made great use of their online capabilities by making complete performances of some pieces that were not shown in full available on their website
If you’re in the UK and missed the live broadcast, do catch it on iPlayer in the next 6 days
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b038wqc0
If you’re abroad, keep an eye on YouTube- most televised Proms seem to end up there within a week or so.
Congratulations to John McCabe, David Matthews, Colin Matthews, Thomas Ades, James MacMillan and the rest of the gang.
Recent Comments