Prom 22 – Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony from Memory

Part of the BBC Proms.

Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony has been played well over 100 times at the Proms – but you’ve never heard it like this. Conductor Nicholas Collon and presenter Tom Service are your guides, taking this much-loved work apart in front of your ears before the Aurora Orchestra performs the entire symphony from memory. In the first half the orchestra is joined by maverick violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja, whose ‘joyous’ and ‘compelling’ performance of Bartók’s Second Violin Concerto was a highlight last year. She performs Shostakovich’s mercurial First Violin Concerto, whose demanding writing climaxes in a boisterous folk celebration. The concert opens with centenary composer Xenakis’s final work, the solemn O-Mega.