63x1 - Prom 01 - First Night of the Proms 2009

63x2 - Prom 9

63x3 - Prom 10 - Orchestra National de Lyon

63x4 - Prom 12 - 1934

63x5 - Prom 19 - Berlioz and Mendelssohn

63x6 - Prom 20 - Stravinsky and Schumann

63x8 - Prom 29 - Mendelssohns Italian Symphony

63x9 - Prom 30 - Knussen Conducts Knussen

63x10 - Prom 31: National Youth Orchestra

63x11 - Prom 38: Stravinsky's Rite of Spring

63x12 - Prom 39: Birtwistle's Mask of Orpheus

63x13 - Prom 36: Handel Anniversary Highlights

63x14 - Prom 47: Handel's Samson

63x15 - Prom 48: Barenboim and West-Eastern Divan

63x16 - Prom 50: Beethoven's Fidelio

63x17 - Prom 56: Lang Lang Plays Chopin

63x18 - Prom 57: Tchaikovsky Night

63x19 - Prom 59: Tonhalle Orchestra

August 29, 2009

A trio of works from America. Copland's great Third Symphony - with its portrayal of the wide, open spaces of North America - includes a striking reprise of the classic Fanfare for the Common Man at the start of the last movement. The symphony dates from the end of the Second World War and captures something of the sense of optimism of the American people at the time. From 25 years earlier, though sounding far more recent, comes Edgard Varèse's Amériques, whose title, he claimed, was 'symbolic of discoveries, of new worlds on Earth, in the sky or in the minds of men'; the first work that the Frenchman completed after arriving in New York, this still strikingly original score was premiered in Philadelphia by Leopold Stokowski. So too was Rachmaninov's Fourth (and last) Piano Concerto, also composed in the USA, where the composer had settled after leaving Russia in 1917. Rachmaninov himself was the soloist at the 1927 premiere; tonight it's the fearlessly virtuosic Boris Berezovsky.

63x20 - Prom 64: Jurowski & London Philharmonic

63x21 - Prom 65: Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester

63x22 - Prom 53: Composers of the Year

63x23 - Prom 73: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

63x24 - Prom 40: Beethoven's 9th Symphony

63x25 - Last Night of the Proms