Following our preview of the 2015 BBC Proms season, we asked our reviewers who'll be helping cover the season for Bachtrack for their top 3 recommendations. A rich and varied bunch (both the recommendations and the reviewers!) emerged, with pride of place going to... the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
Which of this year's Proms would get your vote? Add a comment to let us know!
Prom 36 BBCSO/Roth play Boulez, Ravel and Stravinsky: Great programming which doesn't apologise for Boulez's uncompromising aesthetic, and a great chance to hear the full Firebird.
Prom 49 Boston SO/Nelsons play Dean and Mahler: I'm just excited to see Nelsons live at last; I'm hardly going to complain that it's in Brett Dean and Mahler, either!
Prom 55 SWRSO Baden-Baden and Freiburg/Roth play Boulez, Ligeti and Bartók: A mind-bending evening of modern classics that explore the boundaries of perception and virtuosity.
Prom 50 Andras Schiff plays Bach: Late night Goldberg Variations by the venerable Andras Schiff should be a magical event.
Prom 43 BBCSO/ Vänskä play Sibelius: Vänskä’s Sibelius symphonies are surely unmissable in this 150th anniversary year
Prom 73 Bychkov/Vienna Philharmonic: I am looking forward to hearing a Viennese rarity, Schmidt’s Symphony No.2, performed by Bychkov and the VPO
Prom 49 Boston SO/Nelsons play Dean and Mahler: If I were in the country on August 22nd, I’d be heading for Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony conducting the unbearably intense Mahler 6, with the chance to hear the great trumpeter Håkan Hardenberger playing a Brett Dean concerto as a taster. Extra points for anyone non-Swedish who can pronounce Hardenberger’s first name correctly.
Prom 68 Yo-Yo Ma plays Bach: I’ll be back in the country to hear Yo-Yo Ma playing all six cello suites. I’ve been listening to him doing these on record for years, so while it seems a bit crazy to do all six in one gig, I’ll be there.
Prom 14 LSO/Gergiev plays Prokofiev: But Ma is pipped to this year’s award for “craziest thing to attempt” by Valery Gergiev on July 28th, conducting the LSO in all five Prokofiev piano concertosi. Three different pianists, to be fair, including the highly rated Daniel Trifonov, but even so, it’s going to have to be seen to be believed.
Prom 68 Yo-Yo Ma plays Bach: Listening to Yo-Yo Ma playing Bach on his own will be a meditative event.
Prom 35 Story of Swing: The big band event, every year, is always a lively evening that leaves me tapping my toes.
Prom 2 Ten Pieces Prom, BBCNOW: This looks like it has an interesting variety of works and some fun presenters.
Proms Chamber Music 1 Thomas Tallis: A glorious selection of Tallis by period-perfect ensemble The Cardinall's Musick, including the jaunty "Why fum'th in fight" and the unearthly "Suscipe quaeso", culminates in Tallis's great 50-part masterpiece "Spem in Alium", twenty minutes of spellbinding 16th-century ecstasy.
Prom 23 BBCSSO/Runnicles perform Verdi’s Requiem: The great maestro of 19th century opera turns his attention to the spiritual drama of death and redemption, conducted by Donald Runnicles: bring your hip flask, bring your handkerchief.
Prom 48 Late-night Bach: A starry lineup of singers, including chance to hear celebrated young soprano Sophie Bevan and Iestyn Davies, one of our most exciting countertenors, would make this worth seeing whatever they were singing; the fact it's all Bach puts the icing on the cake for this midnight feast of a concert.
Prom 47 BBCSO/Oramo play Sibelius, Leifs, Hillborg & Beethoven: Sibelius’s haunting Tapiola rubs shoulders with two lesser known gems from the north – Icelandic composer Jon Leifs’ monumental organ concerto, and Anders Hillborg’s Beast Sampler – before a romp through Beethoven 7 brings the evening to a close.
Prom 13 BBCSO/Mälkki play Boulez, Francesconi and Holst: I can’t wait for the first half of this concert – some classic Boulez and the premiere of Francesconi’s violin concerto, with Leila Josefowicz as soloist.
Prom 54 BBCSO/Gardner: Britten, Janáček and Raymond Yiu present their own novel takes on the symphony, and Emily Beynon performs Nielsen’s irreverent flute concerto.
