Proms 2017: First night

[sawyl]

Superb start to the 2017 season, kicking off with the world premier of Tom Coult's St John's Dance. Igor Levitt and Edward Gardner had a particularly nice dynamic in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3, and Levitt closed the first half with a pointed statement: Liszt's piano transcription of Beethoven's Ode to Joy. But the real standout piece of the evening was a stunning performance of John Adams' Harmonium. The rapid, rhythmic opening, a setting of John Donne's The Negative Love, featured supremely clear and beautifully articulated singing from the combined forces of the BBC SO Chorus and the Proms Youth Choir. The second movement, Emily Dickinson's Because I Could Not Stop for Death, was quiet and polished, blending smoothly in to the ecstatic setting of Wild Nights before dropping away to pianissimo finish. I don't think I've every heard Harmonium performed quite so well.