Proms 2016 Prom 7

Paris was at the centre of the quest for new clarity and order in music around the start of the 20th century, and tonight’s Prom presents some of the most delicious fruits of that quest. Our Shakespeare anniversary celebrations continue with a suite drawn from Fauré’s incidental music for The Merchant of Venice.

In his ballet score Pulcinella, Stravinsky dusted down Baroque melodies then believed to be by Pergolesi, lending them an ear-teasing bite.

Spare simplicity and urbane wit usually meet in the works of Poulenc; but in his Stabat mater – a portrait of the mother of Christ beholding her crucified son – Poulenc finds a mode of disarming tenderness and contemplation.