More Proms

Last night (Wednesday) we went to the Proms, wow twice in one season, that's more than I've managed for years.


The work was Mahler's 3rd symphony, for those of you who don't know it this is a monumental work in 6 movements, the first movement alone lasting about 45 minutes. All the performances were first class, but special mention should perhaps go to the Mezzo Soprano Karen Cargill, and off stage trumpet - superb. Off course with a set up like the BBC Scottish Symphony you would expect that.

This is what the Proms website says "Donald Runnicles conducts Mahler's massive Third Symphony, the most rousing and touching of his early efforts to encapsulate the whole world within a single work. Its visions of verdant nature and heavenly love sprang from the composer's intention to give 'the whole of nature a voice'." I think that pretty much covers it.

Of special personal joy, my wife enjoyed the evening - since she is not a hard line classical music fan I was a little worried that this might just be too much for her, but the excellence of the performance and the sheer quality (if eccentric) of the writing shone through and won the day.