Proms 2021 Charlotte Bray, Walton & Arnold

A world away from centenary composer Malcolm Arnold’s reputation for light music and film scores, the Fifth Symphony is a richly layered work full of irony, pain and loss. An opening musical ‘garden of memories’ pays affectionate homage to departed friends, while the scherzo flirts with jazz and the finale offers a tantalising glimpse of heaven before snatching it cruelly away. BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist Timothy Ridout is the soloist in Walton’s poetic Viola Concerto, which was given its world premiere at the Proms in 1929. Global warming is the stimulus behind Charlotte Bray’s Where Icebergs Dance Away, which draws on the work of American artist Zaria Forman.

Image: Sakari Oramo © Benjamin Ealovega