Prom 53: Stravinsky, Reich, Tippett and Elgar

Live at the BBC Proms: the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Martyn Brabbins, performs Elgar's Enigma Variations, Tippett's Ritual Dances and Steve Reich's Jacob's Ladder.

Presented by Ian Skelly, live from the Royal Albert Hall, London.

Igor Stravinsky: Symphony in Three Movements
Steve Reich: Jacob’s Ladder* (BBC co-commission: UK premiere)

c.8.10pm
INTERVAL: With a career spanning 132 appearances at the Royal Albert Hall, Sir Andrew Davis clocked-up more First and Last Nights of the Prom than any other conductor in modern times. Ian Skelly reflects on Sir Andrew's presence at the festival, his famously good-humoured speeches, and among other things his place in the Proms' musical firmament.

c.8.30pm
Michael Tippett: The Midsummer Marriage – Ritual Dances
Edward Elgar: ‘Enigma’ Variations

Synergy Vocals*
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Martyn Brabbins (conductor)

Sir Andrew Davis (1944–2024), the celebrated British conductor famed for delighting audiences at the BBC Proms with his sparkling wit and exquisite musicianship, is remembered in this Prom from the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Martyn Brabbins. The centrepiece of the concert is Reich’s Jacob’s Ladder, the composer’s ‘dream of ascending and descending a ladder between heaven and earth’ that was deemed ‘energetic, meditative, light, graceful and refreshing’ when premiered in New York last spring. The second half will now include the ‘Ritual Dances’ from Tippet’s opera The Midsummer Marriage and Elgar’s ‘Enigma’ Variations, two pieces close to Sir Andrew Davis’s heart.