Welcome to your daily BBC Proms preview from BBC Music Magazine. It’s Wednesday 28 August, and today’s Prom 50 is an another evening of all-Czech repertoire.
Keep visiting www.classical-music.com each day during the 2024 Proms, as every day we have an in-depth guide to that evening’s Prom concert. And if you want to see all the Proms in one place, head to our comprehensive 2024 BBC Proms guide. That’s where we’ve listed all of this year’s Proms. These include more than 70 concerts at London’s Royal Albert Hall, plus weekend festivals in Bristol, Nottingham and Gateshead, and chamber music concerts in Aberdeen, Newport and Belfast.
What’s on at the BBC Proms today?
Today’s Prom is Prom 50. And, like yesterday’s Prom 49, it’s got a distinctly Czech flavour. We begin with the fantastic Military Sinfonietta by the relatively little-known female Czech composer
Vítězslava Kaprálová (1915-1940). Composed for her graduation from the Prague Conservatory in 1937, the Military Sinfonietta packs plenty of excitement into its 15 minutes. Rousing and richly orchestrated, the piece was composed by Kaprálová as a response to the military threat posed to her beloved Czechoslovakia (Nazi Germany would invade the Czech Sudetenland the following year).
Taught by her fellow Czech composer Bohusłav Martinů and others, Kaprálová was a hugely talented composer who could perhaps have gone on to become one of the 20th century’s major musical figures. However, her life was cut tragically short when she died in 1940, at the age of 25, possibly from typhoid fever.
Prom 50: Dvořák and Janáček
Next on tonight’s programme is Dvořák‘s Piano Concerto. Less flamboyant and showy than contemporary piano concertos by the likes of Tchaikovsky, Brahms and Liszt, Dvořák’s concerto is perhaps something of an overlooked gem, featuring beautifully lyrical writing for both soloist and orchestra, and strong links to the folk music rhythms and dances of the composer’s Czech homeland.
The concerto‘s three movements are an Allegro agitato that begins with a dramatic orchestral introduction; a serene Andante sostenuto with a typically beautiful tune from this most gifted melodist; and an ebullient Allegro con fuoco that draws on Czech folk dance themes.
Tonight’s closing showpiece is the magnificent Glagolitic Mass by Vítězslava Kaprálová’s compatriot and contemporary Leos Janáček. A joyous combination of the composer’s pantheistic beliefs, the Glagolitic Mass also celebrates the beginnings of Slavonic Christendom.
‘Intense and vibrant’
One of the 20th century’s most striking and original choral works, the Glagolitic Mass is a setting of the traditional Catholic mass, but rather than the Latin original, it uses the Old Church Slavonic language, written in the ancient Glagolitic script.
Composed across nine movements, the Glagolitic Mass has plenty of choral and orchestral grandeur, coupled with a fervent energy. Intense and vibrant, it’s chock full of powerful rhythms, striking harmonies, and earthy spirituality.
Who is performing at the BBC Proms today?
Today’s performers are the Czech Philharmonic and conductor Jakub Hrůša. They are joined by pianist Mao Fujita for the Dvořák Piano Concerto. Then, for the Glagolitic Mass, orchestra and conductor are joined by the Prague Philharmonic Choir and soloists Corinne Winters (soprano), Bella Adamova (mezzo-soprano), David Butt Philip (tenor), Brindley Sherratt (bass) and organist Christian Schmitt.
What time is tonight’s Prom?
Prom 50 gets going at 6.30pm. Tickets are priced between £11 and £54.