BBC - Symphony Orchestra

MALCOLM ARNOLD Symphony No 4 (BBC commission)
Malcolm Arnold conductor
Royal Festival Hall, 2 November 1960
Arnold conducted at the Proms in 1966, his Concerto for two pianos was premiered by the BBC SO at the 1969 Proms, and his music was heard again on the Last Night in 1997.

NICHOLAS MAW Scenes and Arias (BBC commission)
Norman Del Mar conductor
Royal Albert Hall (Prom), 31 August 1962
This voluptuous work was one of the most successful of the BBC commissions which William Glock introduced as a regular feature of the Proms from the early 1960s. The BBCSO also gave the first performances of the Maw's great single-movement Odyssey.

GERHARD Concerto for Orchestra (World premiere)
Antal Dorati conductor
Symphony Hall, Boston, 25 April 1965
The emigre composer Roberto Gerhard settled in Cambridge and the BBC SO premiered several works, this one on its historic first US tour. A UK premiere at Cheltenham followed.

TIPPETT The Vision of St Augustine (BBC commission)
Michael Tippett conductor
Royal Festival Hall, 19 January 1966
Tippett's first piece for the BBC SO was the Birthday Suite for Prince Charles in 1948, followed by the Symphony No 2 a decade later. The Praeludium for brass, bells and percussion and his final miniature, Caliban's Song, were also BBC commissions.

VARESE Acuatorial (UK premiere)
Frederick Prausnitz conductor
Royal Albert Hall (Prom), 28 July 1966
It is extraordinary to think that there were will still major works by Varese unheard in the UK in the 1960s. Pierre Boulez conducted Arcana and Ionisation together in the 1968 Proms.

IVES Symphony No 4 (UK public premiere)
Gunther Schuller conductor
Royal Albert Hall (Prom), 13 September 1966
Parts of this sprawling masterpiece had been attempted before, but this was the first complete account to be heard in this country.

LUCIANO BERIO Sinfonia (UK premiere)
Luciano Berio conductor
Royal Albert Hall (Proms), 22 July 1969
One of the defining works of the 1960s, Sinfonia's collage-like quotation of many familiar works made it a piece of its time.

PETER MAXWELL DAVIES Worldes Blis (BBC commission)
Peter Maxwell Davies conductor
Royal Albert Hall (Proms), 28 August 1969
From the First Tavener Fantasia in 1962, to the Seventh Symphony in 2000, many works by Maxwell Davies have been commissioned and premiered by the BBC; Worldes Blis has been one of the most outstanding.