Prom 37 – Haydn, Vaughan Williams, Kaija Saariaho and Beethoven

Part of the BBC Proms.

Celebrations of Vaughan Williams’ 150th anniversary continue with the Royal Northern Sinfonia and Principal Conductor Dinis Sousa. They are joined by soloist Nicholas Daniel for the Oboe Concerto – a work that opens in elegiac, pastoral sweetness but also explores the instrument’s piquant wit and athleticism. The music’s echoes of medieval chant are shared by Kaija Saariaho’s Vers toi qui es si loin – a mesmerising, other-worldly adaptation of music from the composer’s troubadour opera L’amour de loin, with the original soprano line reassigned to a solo violin, played in her Proms debut by Polish violinist Maria Wloszczowska. This leads into Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony, a joyful, energetic work often overshadowed by its two heavyweight symphonic neighbours.