Earlier this evening in London the "First Night of the Proms" took place to open the 123rd season of "The World's Greatest Classical Music Festival". Over an 8 week period many of the world's finest orchestras and performers journey to London to appear in the daily concerts.

The concert schedule is shown here . They're broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and are available on demand for 30 days on the BBC iPlayer .

As I have in previous years I'll probably occasionally bring to your attention a concert that I particularly enjoyed.

After what I thought was a rather weak start on First Night, Daniel Barenboim was conducting his Berlin Staatskapelle earlier this evening for Prom 2 and supplied plenty of musical enjoyment.

The first half featured an excellent performance of the beautiful Sibelius Violin Concerto. Following intermission the majestic Elgar 1st Symphony was played and thunderous applause led to two encores: the Sibelius Valse Triste and Elgar's Pomp and Circumstances No. 1.

There should be a music category for these posts as they do not really pertain to stereo. If not, then maybe the water cooler.

I'm pretty sure JohnK is listening to them in stereo

Seriously though, my impression was that most of the music-related threads were in the stereo forum. Probably not 100% correct but it seems like a better fit than the water cooler.

Always been here and not doing any harm.Works for me.

For Prom 5 the BBC Northern Orchestra of Wales presented a fine overall selection of music which thankfully didn't include alleged "new music" to receive its first(and undoubtedly last)public performance.

The concert opened with the rather gentle last symphony of Sibelius, the No.7. There followed the popular Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2, with its many beautiful and familiar themes.

Following intermission the massive and dramatic Shostakovich Symphony No. 10 was performed. This contains passages, particularly the angry 2nd movement, which are believed to illustrate Shostakovich's travails with the evils of the Soviet regime, specifically Stalin, who had just died.

Hey John,
As always, thanks for the information.
The Proms seem to slip my mind, appreciate the reminder.
Best, Jeff

And even better, I finally have sufficiently high speed internet that I can listen to them. Timing couldn't be better.

The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra came to London for Prom 14 and played major works by two British composers who were lifelong great friends: Holst and Vaughan Williams.

The first part of the program got off to an interesting start with the Symphony No. 9 of Vaughan Williams, his final composition. Following the intermission Holst's "The Planets", a favorite for both its dramatic and beautiful passages and often used as a sonic display piece, ended the concert.

For Proms 37 and 38 an all Rachmaninoff(my favorite composer)evening and night of glorious music was performed. Prom 37 featured the Piano Concerto No. 3, known by pianists as being fiendishly difficult in some passages. Before the concerto began, however, there was an unusual prelude in which the Latvian Radio Choir(the performers in Prom 38 later)entered the hall with chants of the Russian Orthodox liturgy. Following thunderous applause at the conclusion of the concerto, the Rachmaninoff Vocalise was performed as an encore.

After the intermission, which had an interesting discussion about the composer with music samples, the choir again began with Orthodox chants which served as a prelude to the Symphony No. 2, one of the high-water marks in musical romanticism.

For Prom 38 the Latvian choir performed his All-Night Vigil(just 1 hour!)composed for the Orthodox evening Vespers service. There were many beautiful sections for those who enjoy choral music.

Prom 54 brought the Orchestra of La Scala from Milan to play the Brahms Violin Concerto in the first part of the program.

After intermission Respighi's musical tributes to his home city, the colorful Fountains of Rome and Pines of Rome concluded the concert.

For Prom 60 the Oslo Philharmonic traveled to London to perform a concert comprised entirely of colorful/dramatic Russian music. To open, the suite from Stravinsky's "Firebird" was played. Rachmaninoff's 4th Piano Concerto(with an encore)closed the first half.

Following intermission the massive Shostakovich Symphony No. 12 was performed. After thunderous applause at its conclusion the quietly beautiful Rachmaninoff Vocalise in its orchestral version served as an encore.

JohnK thanks for that post.
I'll take some time to listen to it asap.

Blair, hope that you'll be able to listen to some of this great music.

For Prom 63
the concert began with the little-known(my first hearing)overture by Taneyev which proved to have a considerable amount of musical interest. The first half then concluded with the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No.1 to complete the Proms cycle of all four Rachmaninoff piano concertos.

Following intermission an excellent performance of Tchaikovsky's excitingly dramatic Manfred Symphony closed this overall fine concert.

I used to have quite the collection. Not sure what happened to it just seemed to disappear about the time we moved into this house.

Prom 68 brought the Mariinsky Orchestra from St. Petersburg for a concert of Russian music. The opening work was a Prokofiev Cantata which featured much energetic choral singing. The relatively brief one movement Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 3 followed, with two encores added by the pianist to close the first half.

The second half featured the monumental Shostakovich Symphony No. 5 in a fine performance, with an encore work of Lyadov to end the concert.

The superb Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra arrived for Prom 72 and performed a single work, but it was the huge Mahler Symphony No. 6, which was enough to supply plenty of listening enjoyment.

Ever try to imagine the story in the music?

The Proms are over, but I'll bring to your attention a gigantic BBC concert with the top-rank London Symphony Orchestra performing all three of the great musical scores composed for The Firebird, Petrushka, and The Rite of Spring by Stravinsky . Each of these is often performed as the major work in a concert, and this is to my knowledge a unique event with all three performed and separated by two intermissions.

Blair, much classical music is without a story underlying it and is to be enjoyed for its inherent beauty or excitement. The British composer Vaughan Williams, annoyed by questions as to the "meaning" of certain of his pieces, is often quoted as responding "It never seems to occur to people that a man might simply want to write a piece of music".

This doesn't apply to the three Stravinsky works in the concert, which were composed for ballets which had themes of an often sinister nature. Most notably, The Rite of Spring(which caused a riot at its 1913 Paris premier), told of an ancient pagan sacrificial rite involving a young girl dancing herself to death. So sure, sometimes your mind imagines the composer elaborating the events with his music.

Yep, I can totally understand the composers point of view.
My question was more in line with allowing your own imagination to try and piece it all together or at least wander from idea to idea, scene to scene, as the music plays.
The songs are too long for a single extended "day dream" for lack of a better term.
Music and emotion...