Arcana at the BBC Proms: Julie Roset, Sinfonia of London Strings / John Wilson – Britten, Berkeley, Bridge & Imogen Holst

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Julie Roset (soprano), Sinfonia of London Strings / John Wilson

Berkeley Serenade for Strings Op.12 (1938-9)
Bridge Lament H117 (1915)
Britten Les illuminations Op.18 (1939)
Imogen Holst Suite for String Orchestra (1943)
Britten Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge Op.10 (1937)

Royal Albert Hall, London
Sunday 6 September 2026, 11am

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse Photos (c) BBC / Chris Christodoulou

Just weeks after the heady excess of Respighi’s ‘Roman Triptych’, John Wilson and Sinfonia of London were back at the Proms with a typically resourceful programme of British works for and with string orchestra. One which opened with the fourth appearance at these concerts for Lennox Berkeley’s Serenade for Strings, its modest dimensions belying an intensifying trajectory from the high-spirited Vivace, through a suave Andantino then impetuous Allegro, to a Lento whose inward plangency is a sure reflection of events in the latter months of 1939.

Following on naturally, Frank Bridge’s Lament – remembering a nine-year-old girl drowned with the sinking of RMS Lusitania in May 1915 – found a more apposite context than its two previous Proms appearances; not least as Wilson drew such fastidious poise from his players.

Although hardly ineffective given with tenor, Britten’s Les illuminations conveys its essence more fully as conceived with soprano and Julie Roset’s rendering (above) of Arthur Rimbaud’s often disquieting texts was nothing if not idiomatic. From the insistent activity of Villes, via the suspenseful Phrase and elegant Antique to the portentous Royauté and playful Marine – this was a reading to savour. As enticing were the yearning sensuality of Being Beauteous then capricious contrasts of Parade; this latter’s climactic setting of lines first encountered in Fanfare then Interlude as if completing a circle, from where Départ brings the whole sequence to a resigned though fulfilled conclusion. Roset’s insights were ably underpinned by the strings, even if a slightly more visceral response would at times have been welcome.

Her output can suggest an ambition waylaid if not frustrated at every turn, but Imogen Holst left numerous works of intrinsic as opposed to practical worth. Not least her Suite for Strings, its inquiring spirit evident in a restless Prelude then taciturn Fugue with a tellingly queasy final cadence. Despite its title, the Intermezzo that follows makes for a slow movement of unforced eloquence; one whose barely concealed depths inform the final Jig such that the latter’s impetus is not without a growing ambivalence only just dispelled towards its close.

Commemorating Britten at these concerts in the 50th anniversary of his death means, almost by definition, focussing on those works for orchestra largely absent from his post-war output. Among which, Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge remains among the most impressive – not least in a performance as finely conceived and executed as this. As if mindful of an early comment that ‘‘neither [Britten’s] seriousness nor his levity is intense enough’’, Wilson duly pushed expressive contrasts across its 10 variations to their limits. Characterful as were those earlier vignettes, it was in the sequence of glowering Funeral March, ominous Chant then closing Fugue and Finale that his approach came into its own – not least in the way that the latter’s animation came to a standstill before its belated if impulsive surge to a decisive close.

A pity that Wilson did not consider including an encore (one or other of Bridge’s Two Old English Songs would have been ideal for this context) but the all-round excellence of what was heard, at what might be thought a ‘Proms matinee’, was assuredly its own justification.

You can listen to this Prom on BBC Sounds until the end of September 2026.

Published post no.3,009 – Sunday 6 September 2026

New music – Black Dog Productions featuring Ofra Haza – Babylon (Remastered)

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posted by Ben Hogwood, with text from Bandcamp

This poignant re-release of a long-lost track is a fitting memorial to Ken Downie, the much-missed founder of The Black Dog.

Its Bandcamp commentary, from The Black Dog members Martin and Richard Dust, reads as follows: “I don’t remember talking to Ken about this album very much. I do remember his manager sending me the album and singles, along with a bit of chat about the quality of Jimmy Cauty’s remixes. Beyond that, it was one of those records that quietly appeared and then slowly disappeared again.

Looking back, this feels like Ken’s second solo Black Dog album. It has always sat slightly outside the main Black Dog story and, because of that, it never seemed to receive the attention it deserved. Over the years it became increasingly difficult to find, and for many people it simply vanished.

We’re making it available again because it deserves to be heard. We also want Ken’s work to remain available as a complete archive, rather than leaving important releases scattered across deleted CDs, out of print vinyl and disappearing digital services.

One thing that has always puzzled us is why the release ended up consisting mostly of remixes of Ken’s original recordings. We’ve spoken to people involved at the time, but nobody seems able to remember exactly how or why that decision was made. The original DAT tapes are still safely stored away and, one rainy day, we may return to them and finally release the original versions as they were first recorded.

Originally released on Warner ESP in 1998, Babylon became one of the last projects that Ofra Haza worked on before her untimely death on 23 February 2000. Her voice, combined with Ken’s production, created something that still sounds unlike anything else from that period.

A few years after its release, Ken reflected on the project and said: “Out of everything I’ve ever done, I think the Babylon project is the one thing that I’m most proud of.” 

Published post no.3,008 – Saturday 5 September 2026

Arcana at the BBC Proms – Augustin Hadelich, Berliner Philharmoniker / Kirill Petrenko: Beethoven & Scriabin

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Augustin Hadelich (violin), Berliner Philharmoniker / Kirill Petrenko

Beethoven Violin Concerto in D major Op.61 (1806)
Scriabin Symphony no.3 in C minor, Op.43 ‘Le poème divin’ (1902-04)

Royal Albert Hall, London
Thursday 3 September 2026

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse Photos (c) BBC / Chris Christodoulou

Their second appearance this season saw Kirill Petrenko and the Berliner Philharmoniker tackling pieces that, written almost a century apart, could hardly have offered greater contrast in terms of their aesthetic and which made the cohesion of tonight’s programme the more impressive.

His fifth visit to the Proms in just a decade found Augustin Hadelich giving a performance of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto full of interest if on occasion neglecting the wood for the trees. Not that, other than momentarily in its development, the opening Allegro hung fire but this most spacious such movement in Beethoven’s output lacked an underlying impetus without which it all too easily loses focus. The (unexpected) highlight was a Kreisler cadenza which renewed respect for its motivic ingenuity then segued into the coda with acute seamlessness.

There was little to fault thereafter. The Larghetto duly emerged as the most eloquent of those variational slow movements that Beethoven favoured at this time, with orchestral playing of fastidious poise then an ideal transition into the final Rondo – the incisiveness of whose main theme threw into relief its genial secondary idea then the plaintiveness of its central episode. It rounded off what was a never less than perceptive reading, and Hadelich returned with his own arrangement of Träumerei from Schumann‘s Kinderszenen as a raptly affecting encore.

Some 98 years after Beethoven’s most intrinsically abstract symphonic work found Scriabin flexing his extra-musical muscles in the last if most ambitious of his numbered symphonies. Given its UK premiere at these concerts by Sir Henry Wood in 1918 and repeated three years later, The Divine Poem had to wait nine decades for its Proms revival but has now secured its place in the repertoire. Certainly there was no element of ‘special pleading’ in an account as underlined that structural integration between its three (continuous) movements as across the work overall. However overreaching Scriabin’s theosophical aspirations may have been, his musical instinct was such that nothing is left to chance in a design as surveys the ‘tragedy to triumph’ trajectory beloved of late-Romanticism from an arresting and productive vantage.

The defining motto drawn unerringly into its evolution, the opening Luttes made a virtue of its discursive unfolding with a sure balance between its agitated and ethereal themes; building to a resplendent if short-lived climax in its development then methodically retracing its steps. There was no lack of sensuousness in the central Voluptés, offset by an ominous undertow resolved in the final Jeu divin with its capricious trumpet idea and its pointed revisiting of earlier material as made the eventual apotheosis not just inevitable but necessary as a formal and expressive QED. Felicities of phrasing and of texture abounded in an interpretation that demonstrated the rapport of conductor and orchestra, now at the start of their eighth season together, at its most tangible with music on the cusp between Romanticism and Modernism.

As on their earlier visits, there was no encore with Petrenko’s blowing a kiss to the audience his most overt acknowledgement of what seemed a genuine enthusiasm for the piece as heard in this performance. Their next Proms appearance (in 2028?) can only be eagerly anticipated.

You can listen to this Proms concert on BBC Sounds until the end of September 2026.

Published post no.3.007 – Friday 4 September 2026

Switched On: Christian Prommer: Rhythmique Nocturne (Compost Records)

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Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Rhythmique Nocturne is the first solo album from Christian Prommer in over ten years, picking up from the successes of Drumlesson Zwei and Übermood, complementing his work as part of Trüby Trio, Fauna Flash, Drumlesson and Voom:Voom.

Prommer, in the words of his Bandcamp, “distils ten years of Berlin into a twilight drift between order and abandon. Daytime studio sketches are pulled apart at night, reshaped by shifting perspectives that swing between jazz harmony, textural experimentation, and the heavy gravity of techno basslines and analog drums. Intimately close-mic’d piano, drums, percussion, cello, and strings are constantly recontextualized—dropped into new rooms, resonances, and imagined spaces—so their meaning keeps mutating. Room noise, human breath, and accidental sounds are folded into the pulse, turning spill and imperfection into rhythm. Even a piano lid thudding shut on Dark Matter is claimed as part of the beat, underscoring an album that embraces freedom, spontaneity, and the beautiful lack of accountability that defines this city at night.”

What’s the music like?

The extended quote shows everything that this album is about, rhythm being the prime focus but with instrumental colour always carefully considered and imaginatively sourced.

What strikes the listener is the forward momentum Prommer enjoys on each track, the fusion between jazz and dance that working extremely effectively, the grooves driven by the lower end of the piano working a treat.

The likes of Algorhythmic and Dark Matter reach thrilling highs, powered by sharp piano stabs and quick beats, their lean and wiry kinetic energy getting the foot tapping straight away. Black Mamba adds deeper feeling, a darkly glinting track that builds effectively, while Bosss lets Kelvin Sholar’s piano run free. Tryin’ Times harks back to the Truby Trio, sashaying into the room in the company of Justine Hoerwarth, whose vocal timing is ideal.

Providing contrast is the deep Struck, vocalist Leona Berlin multitracked on a smoky slower jam, and Night Society, whose orchestral palette grows in poise and power.

Does it all work?

It does – and with atmospheric slower tracks complementing quickfire missives, the contrast is ideal.

Is it recommended?

Yes. An album that fizzes and pops in all the right places!

For fans of…St. Germain, Brandt Brauer Frick, Truby Trio, Jazzanova, Kyoto Jazz Massive

Listen / Buy

Published post no.3,006 – Thursday 3 September 2026

Switched On: Abul Mogard & Rafael Anton Irisarri – Where Light Pauses in the Silence of the Sun (Black Knoll Editions)

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Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

This is the second collaboration between Abul Mogard and Rafael Anton Irisarri, created during a three-day residency at Berlin’s Morphine Raum. The duo recorded their performances live while also reshaping their work, using rotary speakers, modular synthesizers and bowed guitar. All were captured through a vintage (1970s!) mixing console and microphones placed around the room.

As the pair returned to their home studios, Mogard manipulated the existing material through his studio in Rome, while Irisarri added guitar textures and treatments in New York. Then, passages recorded by cellist Martina Bertoni and violinist Andrea Burelli in Berlin added new layers to their work, after which Mogard reassembled everything into the final versions.

What’s the music like?

Like a slow-moving swan, this album proceeds serenely with no hint of the process going on underneath. Heard on headphones, there are moments of heart-shifting beauty as the slow moving but firmly set musical processes make their mark, and the harmonies make telling turns when led by the bassy drones.

This is the case for In the Eastern Wild, a descriptive number that grows in stature to become an awesome presence, a wall of sound complemented by Over The Domes, held exquisitely in suspension.

The centrepiece of the album is A Blue Descent, where immersive ambience takes on new levels with the help of Bertoni’s long-breathed cello phrases, brooding yet uplifting, and In A Quiet Radiance, which goes through a similarly pronounced crescendo. Here Burelli’s violin sits above with a wordless vocal, all beautifully judged and woven together.

The comedown from this is the huge space found by Of Blessed Ages, then the wall of outdoor white noise that is Among Shadows, with a drone you could happily dive into.

Does it all work?

Yes. The pair work as one throughout, the music unfolding with a natural beauty and stature rare in ambient music.

Is it recommended?

With great enthusiasm. This is music that can calm the fevered brow, but also warm the cold heart, for there are great emotional depths found through the smallest movement. A deeply impressive achievement.

Listen / Buy

Published post no.3,005 – Wednesday 2 September 2026