The final concert of the world’s greatest classical music festival celebrated Britain in all its plurality – with a little help from Brian May
Yesterday central London experienced a hideous spectacle: a large, far-right demonstration, titled “unite the kingdom” while doing the exact opposite. Hours later, at the Last Night of the Proms, we were expected to sing that “Britannia rules the waves” and that we are a “land of hope and glory”. Maybe the devil really does have all the best tunes.
At heart, though, the Last Night is one big celebration for Prom goers of every shape and size, many of whom have stood in the arena night after night, listening to the great and good of classical music, and occasionally beyond, for a pittance. Yesterday’s flags came from everywhere. The union jack and the EU blue and gold co-existed at ease and party poppers flew, together with balloons, beach balls and an inflatable elephant. And some of us get around those toxic supremacist songs by making up our own alternative words.
Elim Chan, 38, was conducting the event for the first time, her podium sporting an L plate. This overstuffed programme required her to manage everything from a guest appearance by Brian May to the intricacies of Bernstein’s Prelude, Fugue and Riffs, two world premieres and the gaggle of unruly promenaders repeating traditional jokes that were probably funny circa 1958. Notwithstanding a shaky start, Chan later showed genuine mettle in sparky accounts of Shostakovich’s Festive Overture and, especially, Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice – the work, she told us in her speech, that inspired her to become a conductor when as a child she first saw Fantasia.
Trumpeter Alison Balsom shone bright in the Hummel Trumpet Concerto and the aforementioned Bernstein – and this was her farewell performance. She is retiring from concert life, explaining that there is not enough repertoire for the instrument to keep a career exciting. That despite having commissioned an amazing new concerto from Wynton Marsalis last year. We wish her the very best for whatever the future holds.
The future of music itself is always a highlight of the Last Night, in the shape of world premieres. It’s 30 years since Harrison Birtwistle’s Panic was there, seemingly designed to alienate most of the listenership. Maybe that’s why “approachable” style is key for younger composers now.
This time, we had two BBC commissions that were distinctly approachable: Rachel Portman’s The Gathering Tree, with lyrics by Nick Drake, a tender choral song with Scottish folksong vibes, and Camille Pépin’s Fireworks, a beautifully orchestrated party piece, pulsing and glittering like early John Adams. But best of all was something that, while not a premiere, was a first hearing for many: a two-minute choral work, Today, by the British composer Lucy Walker, a tranquil moment that seemed to come straight from the heart, exquisitely sung by the ever-wonderful BBC Singers.
Centre stage, however, went to soprano Louise Alder, who has the star quality to hold her audience in her palm and a voice that slaloms with finesse through all that space. She boasts the versatility to thrill us with Gounod’s virtuoso “Jewel Song” from Faust, channel Audrey Hepburn in extracts from My Fair Lady and finally rule the airwaves, resplendent in a red, white and blue ballgown.
It would be hard to top that, but the beloved comedian Bill Bailey nearly managed it as soloist in The Typewriter by Leroy Anderson, tapping away complete with the precise placement of bell and return bar. This perfect musical jest was the most fun moment in what sometimes felt like a very long night, until he popped up later for a quick jam session at the mighty organ.
Did the orchestrated version of Bohemian Rhapsody, with Brian May and Roger Taylor in person, really add value? The actor Sam Oladeinde channelled Freddie Mercury, Taylor seemed to enjoy priming the giant tam-tam, and the audience went wild, but it all smacked slightly of desperation.
And the Proms does not need to be desperate. This season has won strong audiences in every medium and offered unforgettable moments galore, often to sold-out houses. On the penultimate night, the Sinfonia of London, conductor John Wilson and violinist James Ehnes gave one of the best, with taut, pliable and laser-sharp accounts of Strauss’s Don Juan, Bernstein’s Serenade and Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé. Through the summer, we’ve thrilled to the Budapest Festival, the Vienna Philharmonic and the Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestras, relished the great pianist Sir András Schiff in Bach’s The Art of Fugue, and admired the BBC orchestras on fine form as the backbone of what’s still the greatest music festival of all.
We’re lucky to have the Proms. And, as Chan reminded us, we must never take it for granted.
