Berlin Philharmonic and Martha Argerich: the Proms' starriest week
Every Proms season has a week when the great touring orchestras arrive, and this is it. The Berlin Philharmonic plays two nights at the Royal Albert Hall, and on Saturday Martha Argerich, widely regarded as the greatest living pianist, returns to the Proms. With the Last Night only ten days away, this is the final stretch of the summer to catch the biggest names in classical music on your doorstep.
Tonight: Elgar and Tchaikovsky
On Wednesday 2 September at 6.30pm, the Berlin Philharmonic and its Chief Conductor Kirill Petrenko open with a programme of concealed identities. Elgar's 'Enigma' Variations, a set of warm musical portraits of the composer's friends built around a secret theme nobody has ever definitively solved, is followed by Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4, in which Fate assails the listener before a defiantly joyous finale. Hearing a German orchestra take on one of the best-loved English scores is part of the appeal. Details are on the BBC Proms listing. Note the early start.
Thursday: Beethoven and Scriabin
On Thursday 3 September at 7pm, the orchestra returns with the Grammy Award-winning violinist Augustin Hadelich for Beethoven's Violin Concerto, with its singing slow movement and dancing finale. After the interval comes Scriabin's Third Symphony, The Divine Poem, a rapturous, mystical battle between worldly pleasure and spiritual enlightenment. Hadelich returns after playing Mendelssohn's concerto at last season's Proms.
Saturday: Martha Argerich plays Beethoven
On Saturday 5 September at 7pm, Argerich joins Lahav Shani and the Munich Philharmonic for Beethoven's Second Piano Concerto, a work of singing beauty and light-hearted delight. The concert opens with Louise Farrenc's dramatic Overture No. 2, and closes with Brahms's Fourth Symphony, warm and joyful but always shadowed by melancholy. Yuja Wang, who plays at the Last Night, has called Argerich the pure goddess of the piano. This concert is being recorded for broadcast on BBC television and iPlayer; the BBC Proms page has the full programme.
And on Friday
Between the two orchestras, Friday 4 September brings Andrew Manze and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in a celebration of English music, with Vaughan Williams's 'Fantasia' and his Ninth Symphony alongside music by Benjamin Britten. It is a fine contrast to the international stars either side, and a reminder that the home-grown orchestras are part of what makes the Proms special.
Planning your week
The Hall is a short walk from South Kensington station and an easy stroll along Kensington Road from Knightsbridge. For the Wednesday start at 6.30pm, eat afterwards rather than before, or keep it to a light bite nearby. If the Argerich concert is beyond reach, the broadcast is a worthy consolation. And on Sunday 6 September at 11am, John Wilson and his Sinfonia of London strings offer a morning of English music, pairing Britten's Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge and Les illuminations with music by Berkeley, Bridge and Imogen Holst, which makes a civilised end to the week.
Lead image: Ewan-M via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.
