First Night of the Proms: the morning after the night before
'What a way to open the Proms season' - Katie Derham wasn't wrong, this was a First Night of the Proms to remember, the hall was buzzing and emotions ran high.
What a way to open the Proms seasonKatie Derham
It kicked off with Tom Coult's wondrous BBC commission St John's Dance and then things got intense with Igor Levit at the piano for Beethoven Piano Concerto No.3 in C minor, followed by Igor's heart-warming encore of Ode to Joy and climaxing with a vast choir weaving John Adams' spangling and intricate tapestry, Harmonium.
Here's why we're still in a state of awe the morning after the First Night of the Proms...
The Beethoven was super-charged
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No 3 in C minor – excerpt (Prom 1)
Award-winning pianist Igor Levit is the soloist in Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto.
It was clear from the moment Igor Levit, award-winning soloist in tonight's Prom, stepped on stage that he had a strong emotional connection to Beethoven's music. By the end of the piece the force of this relationship was palpable — this is as close to blood, sweat and tears as it gets.
The puns were excellent
John Adam's Harmonium - but not as you've heard it before
A beatboxer and a heavy metal singer? Not your usual Harmonium
The making of BBC Proms Choir's Harmonium by John Adams.
John Adams said that 'Harmonium began with a simple, totally formed mental image: that of a single tone emerging out of a vast, empty space' and it's exactly that sense of vastness, of completeness that made it such a fitting work to open the Proms season with.
Watch the full BBC Two broadcast of Harmonium
The sound was incredible
Tom Coult: St John's Dance (in binaural sound) (Prom 1)
Listen on headphones to an immersive mix of Tom Coult's Proms First Night world premiere.
Listen to BBC commission and world premiere of Tom Coult's St John's Dance in binaural sound for that extra Royal Albert Hall potency.
The first of the encores of 2017
Beethoven: Ode to Joy – Liszt's transcription (Prom 1)
Igor Levit's encore at First Night of the Proms 2017
The audience never quite know what's coming when the soloist returns to the stage to take their encore and this was no exception.
The First Night and the 90th time round
90 years of the BBC at the Proms
Zeb Soanes takes a look back at the history of the Proms.
