Last evening in London the 125th season of "The World's Greatest Classical Music Festival" opened. Many of the world's finest orchestras and performers appear over 8 weeks for the daily concerts. The schedule is
here .
The concerts are carried live on BBC Radio 3 and are available for the next 30 days on the
BBC iPlayer .
As in past years, I'll probably occasionally bring to your attention a concert I thought was especially worthwhile. So immediately I'll note here the excellent
Prom 2 .The Bamberg Symphony Orchestra is visiting and presents a terrific all-Czech program. In the first half the Dvorak Violin Concerto is played with soloist the American Joshua Bell giving a fine performance(plus encore).
After the intermission, which had an interesting discussion of the concluding work, the orchestra performed the massive "Ma Vlast"(My Country)by Smetana, a highly emotional piece with many patriotic themes. After thunderous audience applause to Ma Vlast, the orchestra kept it going with an encore of two colorful selections from Smetana's "The Bartered Bride".
