Postgraduate Music Award Holder and cellist, Lois Cocker, recently attended one of this year’s Prom concerts at the Royal Albert Hall. Here, she reflects on a memorable occasion…
This year I was lucky enough to attend the BBC Proms number 19, to listen to a mixture of scores consisting of Jonathan Harvey, Elgar and Holst, performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Sakari Oramo.
The night started off with Tranquil Abiding by Jonathan Harvey, of which I had never heard of before, but was very excited to see after hearing the Head of Music Performance, Dan Harding, express his interest in this piece! [True: I love this piece! Ed.} Harvey’s music conveys his interest in Eastern spirituality into music writing, with this piece relating to meditation where the ‘mind is not observing the rest of the universe but is at one with it’. This was a great piece to start the Proms with, as the small orchestra moved as one to create a slow, breathing rhythm, easing the audience into a state of relaxation. At first upon hearing it, both my mum and I felt it was horror movie-esque, however after reading the programme, this made sense, as it represented the thoughts diverting the mind, as the piece then stills itself creating the sense of calm. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this piece live and seeing how the orchestra moved independently to then ending as one breathing entity. I highly recommend seeing this contemporary piece if ever given the chance!
The end of the first half was Elgar’s Cello Concerto, for which the orchestra was joined by Senja Rummukainen. I am rather biased when it comes to the cello, however this was undoubtedly, the highlight of the evening for me! After attempting to learn passages from this in music lessons this year, it was a dream to be able to see it performed live by an extraordinary cellist. The whole audience loved it as well, with Senja coming back on stage after to perform a random passage to end her Prom with! The orchestra following her were equally as great and it is a performance I shall never forget.
The second half was occupied by Gustav Holst’s, The Cloud Messenger, another piece I was also unaware of before. The Chorus were singing an adaptation of a 4th/5th century poem, whereby the cloud was asked to send a message to the narrator’s wife. Consisting of seven verses, it talks about the natural wonders the cloud will see on its journey and is overall a beautiful poem. A contralto solo was also performed by Jess Dandy, who had an incredible voice and added to the tenderness of the poem. This piece is rarely performed, as in its first performance (1913), apparently the chorus fell apart! I am glad to say this reputation was not followed this night, and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it and following along with the words sung by the chorus.
Overall, the Proms was the highlight of my summer and was a fantastic treat alongside still studying for my Master’s. I highly encourage anyone to go see this programme, especially The Cloud Messenger seeing as it is a rare occurrence!
You can listen back to the whole concert on BBC Sounds here.
The concert on the 15 March features Elgar’s Spirit of England, for which we’ll be joined by soprano Sally Silver, Fauré’s Cantique de Jean-Racine, Elgar’s arrangement of Bach’s Fantasia in C minor, and Vaughan Williams’ Symphony no.3.