Preview

The First Night is always special whether you’re in the Hall or listening or watching at home. For dedicatees, the Proms bookends the summer and, at launch, makes all manner of imaginary promises not unlike the prospect of an extended holiday break does.

So the opening night can sometimes be a double-edged sword. How we imagine it isn’t necessarily how we hear it. Hence why sometimes the exuberance from presenters can unexpectedly grate and the season promotion jar.

But this year feels a little different. The line up is sound with some crowd pleasers in the form of Mendelssohn and Sibelius, something unusual (Vaughan Williams’ choral work Sancta civitas), and some new music from Errollyn Wallen, Master of the Kings Music.

Wallen never disappoints, writing music that meets the needs of whatever audience she’s called upon to write for. A new work from Wallen is something to look forward to. She’s also loved and respected, this in no small part because she combines craft, wit, and humility. She also lives in a lighthouse.

Soloist Lisa Batiashvili came to international attention with her performance of Sibelius’ Violin Concerto in the 1995 International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition where she was the youngest ever competitor. Since then she’s performed numerous times, including one concert with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sakari Oramo, who conducts the First Night of the Proms 2025.

Vaughan Williams’ Sancta Civitas (‘The Holy City’) written in 1924/5 embarks on a musical and spiritual journey that tackles anquish and concludes with hope. The intense thirty-minute choral work sees the BBC Singers, BBC Symphony Chorus, and members of London Youth Choirs joining forces wtih bass-baritone Gerald Finlay, and tenor Caspar Singh.

Review

Arthur Bliss’s Birthday Fanfare for Henry Wood has a small feel in the cavernous acoustic mix of the Royal Albert Hall, though there’s a plucky earnestness to Bliss’s writing that gives tonight’s proceedings a nostalgic mid-twentieth century nod. Moving without a pause straight into the Hebrides Overture deftly sidesteps that awkward moment when the audience works out whether to applaud the minute and twenty seconds of music, or wait for the end of something more substantial like an overture.

In the Hebrides Overture, conductor Sakari Oramo commands a storm that is gentle rather than wild — a judiciously painted seascape drawing heavily on the strings to do the heavy lifting. Tantalising mahogany colours in the cellos and bass solos, with clarinets adding pin-sharp detail to this vibrant picture. Later, the upper strings adopt a sandpapery texture in the build-up to the concluding material — a delicious contrast to the silky-smooth accompaniment that builds towards the stillness that ultimately concludes.

The Sibelius Violin Concerto has a far more three-dimensional feel in the live Royal Albert Hall mix than is usually heard in recordings. This enhances the central character at the heart of the concerto, giving the feel that the orchestra are wrapped around the soloist. The cadenza sees a vulnerable but tenacious figure pitching themselves against the world, but the tension established makes the denouement far from a foregone conclusion. There is a battle of wits (or wills) needed yet.

There’s an evocative coffee-infused taste to the heartfelt plea in the solo line in the second movement before the swell of strings takes over. Intensely tender moments surface towards the end of the movement when the lower brass match the solo string line with a luxuriously smooth touch.

The final movement opens with a delicious bounce in both the strings and the motoring timpani line. As the movement progresses, a lightness prevails in pace and texture that works as a foil for the more intense, heady recordings that sometimes put me off. Detail discernible in the woodwind flourishes and decorations tickle and delight without overpowering. We arrive at a resolute but overstated conclusion that shapes the entire work as complex and beguiling rather than bombastic and egotistical.

Violinist Lisa Batiashvili draws a suave and sophisticated tone from an instrument that makes the mid-register resonate with notable warmth. In the upper range, the sound maintains its breadth, a hallmark of Batiashvili’s distinctive voice.

This review will be updated in due course to reflect the remaining works in the programme.

Gallery

📷 Chris Christodoulou/BBC

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