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Prom 55: Philharmonia Orchestra
- Date Wednesday 27 August 2008
- Time 7.00pm - c9.05pm
- Venue Royal Albert Hall
A programme with leanings towards the natural world. Debussy's faun slumbers languidly in the heat of a Mediterranean afternoon and Vaughan Williams's lark climbs ever higher into the sky above England.
VW's teacher Maurice Ravel sets his ballet Daphnis et Chloé in an Ancient Greece ravishingly lit by a sun that dawns magnificently at the opening of the Second Suite. And an Orient of sensuality and danger is portrayed in the exotic song-cycle Shéhérazade.
Peter Eötvös's violin concerto, Seven, was written to commemorate the seven astronauts who lost their lives in the space shuttle Columbia.
- Debussy Prélude à L'après-midi d'un faune (10 mins)
- Peter Eötvös Seven (violin concerto) (UK premiere) (20 mins)
- Interval
- Vaughan Williams The Lark Ascending (14 mins)
- Ravel Shéhérazade (18 mins)
- Ravel Daphnis and Chloe - Suite No.2 (17 mins)
Akiko Suwanai violin
Sarah Connolly mezzo-soprano
Philharmonia Orchestra
Susanna Mälkki conductor
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Northwest
A great Prom. Susanna Malkki did a fantastic job, to my hearing, of conducting these pieces. Two of them - Debussy's 'Prelude..' & Ravel's 'Daphnis et Chloe, Suite No. 2' - are especially fresh in my mind just now through the classic (& greatly recommended) Stokowski 'Phase 4' recordings of these. The high spot of this Prom, for me, was Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending. The Philharmonia Orchestra played beautifully, while Akiko Sawanai's violin absolutely soared to the heights, with some lovely oriental accentings on this awesome, profoundly moving piece.
Tim Chamberlain
Akiko Suwanai is a supremely skilled and talented violinist. I have several of her recordings but this was my first time to hear her perform live. I hope this will be the first of many Proms appearances yet to come. Subarashii deshita. Domo arigato gozaimasu, Suwanai-san!