BBC Proms Last Night - I flee the country
The final week of the BBC Proms brings what may well be the concert of the season. Bernard Haitink is one of the great living Mahlerians, and on Wednesday (September 6) he conducts the mighty Symphony No 2, ‘ Resurrection’ . I have attended some inspirational performances by Haitink of this symphony, and next week, with the combined forces of the BBC Symphony and London Symphony Choruses underpinned by the Royal Albert Hall organ , the finale of Mahler’s masterpiece should add some spiritual uplift to what has been a distinctly earthbound season. It is a good week for both the late romantics and adagios , and the Berlin Philharmonic’s concert on Saturday (September 2) couples Bruckner Symphony No 7 with Karol Szymanowski’s rather neglected Violin Concerto No 1. And can you get more romantic, or adagio , than Rachmaninov’s Symphony No 2? I have heard Tadaaki Otaka do it blisteringly well, listen out for his performance on Tuesday (September 5) with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.