★★☆☆☆The moment the grim reality of the Viennese Prom waltzed into focus was probably when the always upbeat host Petroc Trelawny informed us that there were “smiles on the faces of everyone in the Royal Albert Hall this evening”. This presumably meant that there were smiles on the faces of everyone called Petroc Trelawny, since he was the only one there. There were lots of good reasons to keep the “light music” Prom this year in the live series. We could all do with a shot of levity, and the BBC Concert Orchestra players were no doubt as desperate as their colleagues in other BBC bands to be reunited with their principal conductor (in their case, Bramwell Tovey). Also, if you think Beethoven’s anniversary

Source: The Times September 01, 2020 11:03 UTC