Introducing the BBC Proms concert taking place on Sunday, 25 August. And we're being whisked off into the solar system, courtesy of British composer Gustav Holst and his best loved work.
Head to www.classical-music.com every day during this year's Prom season to get the lowdown on each day's Prom. And visit our all-singing, all-dancing 2024 BBC Proms guide to see informative listings for all this year's Proms - both the 73 Proms taking place at the Royal Albert Hall, and the weekend festivals in Bristol, Nottingham and Gateshead and chamber music concerts in Aberdeen, Newport and Belfast.
What's on at the BBC Proms today?
Today's Prom performance (Prom 46) takes a wide-eyed look at the wonders of nature and the cosmos. We begin with a world premiere performance of Laulut maaseudulta (‘Songs from the Countryside’), a BBC commission from Finnish-American composer Lara Poe.
We stay in Finland for Sibelius's graceful tone poem The Wood Nymph. Composed in 1894 (around the same time as a more famous Sibelius tone poem, The Swan of Tuonela), The Wood Nymph paints a vivid, atmospheric picture of Finnish nature and folklore. We can already hear strong suggestions of Sibelius's mastery in creating evocative musical landscapes.
Tonight's main draw, however, is The Planets, Gustav Holst's hugely popular symphonic suite depicting our neighbours in the solar system. Composed between 1914 and 1917, The Planets comprises seven movements: each of these is named after, and depicts, a different planet in the solar system. Why only seven? Well, our own native Earth is not included, and Pluto had not yet been discovered.
- Holst featured strongly in our list of the greatest British composers of all time
Each movement depicts the astrological character of its designated planet. So, for example, the opening movement 'Mars, the Bringer of War' is, as you'd expect from that planet's warlike astrological properties, pounding and aggressive, with a vigorous martial rhythm and plenty of percussion and brass. Conversely, the next movement 'Venus, the Bringer of Peace' is calm and reflective, with harp, strings, and woodwinds to the fore.
Who is performing at the BBC Proms today?
Tonight's performers are the Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra, the Sibelius Academy Symphony Orchestra, and the Finnish conductor Sakari Oramo. The latter is familiar to British (and particularly BBC Proms) audiences, having led both the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and BBC Symphony Orchestra.
These forces are joined by Finnish soprano Anu Komsi for Laulut maaseudulta (‘Songs from the Countryside’), and by the Royal College of Music Chamber Choir for The Planets, in which 'Neptune' features a wordless melody for female chorus.
What time does the BBC Proms concert start today?
Prom 46 starts at 7.30pm.
How much are tickets to the Proms?
Tickets to tonight's Prom are priced between £11 and £54.
