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BBC Proms - 17 July - 12 September 2009 - The World's Greatest Classical Music Festival
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Prom 6: Manchester Camerata
- Date Monday 20 July 2009
- Time 9.30pm - c11.30pm
Haydn's Seven Last Words – 'seven sonatas with an introduction and a concluding earthquake' – were commissioned by Cadiz Cathedral for performance on Good Friday 1786. Haydn regarded these orchestral meditations upon Christ's Crucifixion as among his most successful works; he quickly arranged the music for piano and string quartet, and later adapted it as a cantata just before starting work on The Creation (Prom 2).
Two centuries later, James MacMillan's Seven Last Words was commissioned by BBC Television and shown in nightly instalments during Holy Week 1994. Revived to mark the composer's 50th birthday, this powerfully dramatic cantata is underscored by echoes of plainsong, Bach chorales and traditional Scottish laments.
- Haydn The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour on the Cross (62 mins)
- James Macmillan Seven Last Words from the Cross (44 mins)
- Elizabeth Watts soprano
- Renata Pokupić mezzo-soprano
- Andrew Kennedy tenor
- Darren Jeffery bass-baritone
- BBC Singers
- Manchester Camerata
- Douglas Boyd conductor
- Elizabeth Watts is a member of Radio 3's New Generation Artists scheme.
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2009 Calendar
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July | ||||||
| 17 | 18 | |||||
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | |
| August | ||||||
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
| 30 | 31 | |||||
| September | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
See also
Within BBC Proms
On bbc.co.uk
On the web
- BBC Music Magazine: Proms Diary
- The Times: Proms
- Telegraph: Proms
- Independent: Reviews
- Guardian: Classical Music
- Proms reviews at musicOMH.com
- Proms reviews at Classical Source
- Proms reviews at Musical Criticism
- Proms reviews at Seen and Heard
- Dilettante
- the promcast
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After Bernard Haitink earlier in the evening and the breath-taking end to Mahler's 9th, Douglas Boyd and the Manchester Camerata had a hard act to follow. A measure of their success was that they achieved the rare feat of making a contemporary work more gripping than that of an earlier era. The Haydn that formed the first part of the late-night programme was certainly well played and sung, with the soprano Elizabeth Watts standing out, but the way Boyd emphasised the clarity, and unflinching bleakness, with which the Scottish composer James Macmillan had dealt with the seven last words on the cross made this feel like the profounder work. Boyd was helped by sublime singing from the choir and its soloists (particularly a very tall and lyrical tenor who threatened to steal the show) and who eloquently drew out the many flavours of the work, from orthodox chant to Scottish laments. Were there elements too of Britten's 'Curlew River' and Tavener's 'Veil of the Temple'? Although the crowd was down to a hardy 500 or so, after the earlier full house for Haitink, the aridly beautiful climax was just as tension-filled and inspiring.
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