Saturday, September 10, 2022
Royal Albert Hall, London
Grażyna Bacewicz: Overture for Orchestra
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Deep River
Saint-Saëns: Carnival of the Animals – The Swan
James B. Wilson: 1922
Wagner: Tannhäuser – ‘Dich, teure Halle’
Grieg: 12 Songs, Op. 33 – ‘Våren”
Sibelius: Snöfrid
Mascagni: Cavalleria rusticana – Easter Hymn; Intermezzo
Verdi: Macbeth – ‘Vieni! t’affretta!’
Ian Farrington: A Party with Auntie (world premiere)
Doreen Carwithen: ODTAA (One Damn Thing After Another) Overture
Emmerich Kálmán: ‘Heia, heia, in den Bergen ist mein Heimatland’
Heitor Villa-Lobos: Bachianas Brasileiras – Cantilena
Valentin Silvestrov: Prayer for Ukraine
Henry Wood: Fantasia on British Sea-Songs
Arne: Rule, Britannia!
Elgar: Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 in D major, ‘Land of Hope and Glory’
Parry (orch. Elgar): Jerusalem
The National Anthem (arr. Britten)
Trad.: Auld Lang Syne
Lise Davidsen (soprano)
Sheku Kanneh-Mason (cello)
Harriet Walter (actor)
BBC Singers
BBC Symphony Chorus
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Dalia Stasevska
Big mistake BBC, just when the country needs a lift you cancel the one thing that would do it. Instead its the same news on all TV channels and every radio station is also the same. Respect is one thing, blanket bombing another.
I totally agree Mr Taylor, ideal timing for the last night. I tried Radio 4 extra earlier, now back to independence from R4, yet R3 is continuing right through Saturday with anonymous scheduling. Why? Could Alan Davey explain please.
perhaps they thought DC’s overture ‘One Damned thing after another’ was an unfortunate title though they could have replaced it with her husband’s DERBY DAY overture…..but that might be tactless as she won all the Classics except the Derby (in 1953 Areole was second to Pinza). I expect also the BBC would have complaints about EU flags and not having a British conductor etc
I wrote to the BBC to complain about the cancellation and received a standard reply saying the cancellation was “out of respect” and “irrespective of the programming content”. I quite agree with the above comments that The Last Night of the Proms, in particular, would have been entirely apt by way of remembrance of The Queen in its traditional singing of patriotic songs. I therefore put it to the BBC that their cancellation was more to do with their standing dislike of “Land of Hope and Glory” than any sort of respect for the Queen.
Typically arrogant BBC – make a hasty decision and tell the world urgently, then reflect and realise the wrong decision was made.