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The Best Episodes of BBC Proms Season 68

Every episode of BBC Proms Season 68 ranked from best to worst. Discover the Best Episodes of BBC Proms Season 68!

The Best Episodes of BBC Proms Season 68

The World's Greatest Classical Music Festival. The BBC Proms is a classical music festival held every summer at the Royal Albert Hall in London,...
  1. Background image for Prom 4: BBC Proms Masterworks: Strauss and Mahler
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    #1 - Prom 4: BBC Proms Masterworks: Strauss and Mahler

    S68:E4

    Tom Service presents as Russian maestro Valery Gergiev brings the World Orchestra for Peace to the Proms for a performance of Mahler's all-encompassing Sixth Symphony. In celebration of Richard Strauss's 150th birthday year, Gergiev also conducts the symphonic fantasia Die Frau ohne Schatten.

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  2. Background image for Prom 12: BBC Proms Masterworks: Bach's St John Passion
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    #2 - Prom 12: BBC Proms Masterworks: Bach's St John Passion

    S68:E12

    Tom Service explores masterworks from the 2014 BBC Proms, beginning with the epic drama of Bach's St John Passion. Much loved British conductor Sir Roger Norrington conducts the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and Zürcher Sing-Akademie, with tenor James Gilchrist singing the part of the Evangelist.

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  3. Background image for Prom 16: Oriental Promise
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    #3 - Prom 16: Oriental Promise

    S68:E16

    The Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra make their debut at the festival. Music inspired by the east colours the programme, with the sounds and scents of bazaars and seraglios, as well as portraits of the Queen of Sheba by both Handel and Respighi. Also, violin virtuoso Daniel Hope premieres a new concerto by the remarkable young composer Gabriel Prokofiev, grandson of the great Sergei Prokofiev. Presented by Katie Derham.

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  4. Background image for Prom 18: Ravel's Left Hand Piano Concerto
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    #4 - Prom 18: Ravel's Left Hand Piano Concerto

    S68:E18

    In his proms concerto debut, French pianist Alexandre Tharaud performs one of Ravel's last great works, the Piano Concerto for the Left Hand. Conductor Juanjo Mena also leads the BBC Philharmonic in a Mahler masterpiece, the Fifth Symphony, which includes one of greatest love letters ever written - the famous Adagietto. Presented by Suzy Klein and Nicholas McCarthy.

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  5. Background image for Prom 19: The Sunday Prom: Richard Strauss Celebration
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    #5 - Prom 19: The Sunday Prom: Richard Strauss Celebration

    S68:E19

    From the Royal Albert Hall, Katie Derham presents a 150th anniversary celebration of the birth of Richard Strauss. The acclaimed Danish soprano Inger Dam-Jensen sings the composer's exquisite Four Last Songs in a prom which also showcases two of Strauss's rarely heard works - his majestic Festival Prelude and his Deutsche Motette for choir and four solo voices. The mood of late-romantic nostalgia continues with a performance of Elgar's Second Symphony. Vasily Petrenko conducts the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Singers.

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  6. Background image for Prom 21: Kiss Me, Kate at the Proms
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    #6 - Prom 21: Kiss Me, Kate at the Proms

    S68:E21

    John Wilson and his orchestra are joined by a spectacular ensemble of singers and dancers from Broadway and the West End for a unique performance of the classic musical Kiss Me, Kate. Hits including Another Op'nin, Another Show, Wunderbar and Too Darn Hot combine to create a dazzling evening of music, dance and theatre to mark 50 years since the death of its celebrated composer and lyricist Cole Porter. This hilarious take on Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew is performed in its glorious 1948 original orchestration, a highlight of the 2014 BBC Proms season at the Royal Albert Hall. Starring Ben Davis, Alexandra Silber, Tony Yazbeck and Louise Dearman.

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  8. Background image for Prom 23: BBC Proms Masterworks: Mozart and Beethoven
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    #7 - Prom 23: BBC Proms Masterworks: Mozart and Beethoven

    S68:E23

    Tom Service invites us to listen to well-known, definitive masterworks from two of the greatest composers of all time with a fresh ear. Donald Runnicles takes on Beethoven's Fourth Symphony with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and joins forces with the National Youth Choir of Scotland and four top British soloists for Mozart's Requiem - a work of tragic beauty both musically and historically, left unfinished by Mozart just before his death in 1791. Soloists are the soprano Carolyn Sampson, mezzo-soprano Christine Rice, tenor Jeremy Ovenden and bass Neal Davies.

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  9. Background image for Prom 25: The Sunday Prom: John Tavener Premiere
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    #8 - Prom 25: The Sunday Prom: John Tavener Premiere

    S68:E25

    Sir John Tavener, who died in 2013, was one of the country's defining musical voices. His sacred choral music, inspired by his deep Orthodox faith, touches the hearts of millions and has been the soundtrack to some of this nation's most moving events. Just before he died he completed his Requiem Fragments, commissioned by the BBC for this Prom. The Tallis Scholars are conducted by Sir John's great friend Peter Phillips, who describes the work as a miraculous masterpiece. The concert begins with his radiant choral work, Ikon of Light. Presented by Katie Derham.

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  10. Background image for Prom 30: Battle of the Bands
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    #9 - Prom 30: Battle of the Bands

    S68:E30

    Jazz singer and broadcaster Clare Teal transports us back to the heady days of the swing band era of the 1930s and 1940s in a recreation of the bands of Count Basie and Duke Ellington. Conductor James Pearson of the Count Pearson Proms Band takes on Grant Windsor of the Duke Windsor Proms band in a roof-raising battle, with help from vocalists Gregory Porter and Vula Malinga. The evening culminates in a bespoke rousing 'battle royal' for the biggest audience ovation. Presented by Katie Derham.

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  11. Background image for Prom 31: Beethoven's Eroica Symphony
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    #10 - Prom 31: Beethoven's Eroica Symphony

    S68:E31

    The work that changed the course of music forever, Beethoven's epic Eroica Symphony is the culmination of this concert from Sir Mark Elder and the Hallé. Berlioz's swashbuckling overture Le corsaire, depicting the adventures of pirates on the ocean wave, opens the concert with a splash. Elder is famed for his Elgar and he is joined by British mezzo-soprano Alice Coote for the Sea Pictures, Elgar's orchestral song-cycle exploring the fascination and fear inspired by the sea. Presented by Suzy Klein and Rodney Earl Clarke.

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  12. Background image for Prom 33: BBC Proms Masterworks: Stravinsky and Lutoslawski
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    #11 - Prom 33: BBC Proms Masterworks: Stravinsky and Lutoslawski

    S68:E33

    Tom Service presents as the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain return for their annual Proms performance. Ed Gardner conducts an energetic programme of 20th-century music featuring Stravinsky's vivid ballet Petrushka, Lutoslawski's colourful Concerto for Orchestra and Prokofiev's First Piano Concerto with soloist Louis Schwizgebel.

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  13. Background image for Prom 35: BBC Proms Masterworks: Walton and Sibelius
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    #12 - Prom 35: BBC Proms Masterworks: Walton and Sibelius

    S68:E35

    Tom Service reaches the 20th century on his route through Masterworks at the Proms, by way of Jean Sibelius and William Walton. Canadian violinist James Ehnes performs Walton's striking violin concerto, and Thomas Sondergard conducts the National Orchestra of Wales in two works by Sibelius - the transcendent tone poem The Swan of Tuonela, and his Fifth Symphony with its memorable, ecstatic 'swan theme'.

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  14. Background image for Prom 42: In Memoriam WWI
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    #13 - Prom 42: In Memoriam WWI

    S68:E42

    Razia Iqbal and Petroc Trelawny present a special concert drawing together four composers whose lives and music were impacted by WW1. The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrew Manze performs Vaughan Williams's post-war composition, the elegiac Pastoral Symphony. The three promising young composers also featured in the concert were all killed in the war and have left us poignant evocations of lost lands and innocence destroyed - George Butterworth's settings of poems from AE Housman's nostalgic collection A Shropshire Lad; Australian-born Frederick Septimus Kelly's Elegy for his friend Rupert Brooke; and, from across the battle lines, German composer Rudi Stephan's Music for Orchestra.

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  15. Background image for Prom 44: Elgar's Cello Concerto
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    #14 - Prom 44: Elgar's Cello Concerto

    S68:E44

    English weekend at the Proms continues with Elgar's autumnal, sepia-toned Cello Concerto, written after the horrors of the First World War. Norwegian virtuoso cellist Truls Mørk joins the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, visiting the Proms from Australia for the first time and conducted by a Proms favourite, Sir Andrew Davis. The concert opens with Richard Strauss's spectacular tone poem about the serial womaniser Don Juan, with romantic unrequited love at the heart of the final piece, Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique. Presented by Katie Derham.

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  16. Background image for Prom 46: Barenboim Conducts the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra at the Proms
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    #15 - Prom 46: Barenboim Conducts the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra at the Proms

    S68:E46

    A Proms visit from Daniel Barenboim's West-Eastern Divan Orchestra is always an exciting event. The international ensemble's home is Seville and the programme has a strong Spanish flavour. Razia Iqbal and organist-conductor Wayne Marshall present Mozart's sparkling overture to the Marriage of Figaro - set just outside Seville - and a series of Ravel pieces including Rapsodie espagnol, Pavane for a Dead Princess and the ultra-popular Bolero.

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  17. Background image for Prom 54: Monteverdi Choir Birthday Prom - Beethoven
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    #16 - Prom 54: Monteverdi Choir Birthday Prom - Beethoven

    S68:E54

    Samira Ahmed presents a concert celebrating 50 years of the world-famous Monteverdi Choir, founded by conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner. This Prom of Beethoven's mighty Missa Solemnis also features the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique with a line-up of star soloists. The performance is introduced by a short film exploring the Monteverdi Choir's impact on the music scene over 50 groundbreaking years.

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  18. Background image for Prom 63: BBC Proms Masterworks: Mahler and Adams
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    #17 - Prom 63: BBC Proms Masterworks: Mahler and Adams

    S68:E63

    Live from the Royal Albert Hall, Tom Service presents music from multi-award-winning American composer John Adams, alongside Mahler's imaginatively ambitious 1st Symphony. Saxophonist Timothy McAllister performs the UK premiere of Adams's Saxophone Concerto and Marin Alsop conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

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  19. Background image for Prom 65: Late Night Live with Paloma Faith and Guy Barker
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    #18 - Prom 65: Late Night Live with Paloma Faith and Guy Barker

    S68:E65

    The Royal Albert Hall shimmers with flamboyance as Paloma Faith takes to the stage in her debut Proms performance. The multi-platinum London-born singer-songwriter is reunited with conductor, composer, trumpeter and arranger Guy Barker, a 42-piece jazz orchestra and the elite Urban Voices Collective for a one-off concert featuring new arrangements of songs, including Picking up the Pieces, Can't Rely on You, Only Love Can Hurt Like This and Upside Down.

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  20. Background image for Prom 67: Friday Night at the Proms: Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto
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    #19 - Prom 67: Friday Night at the Proms: Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto

    S68:E67

    Daniel Hope and Danielle De Niese present a pair of great Romantic blockbusters - Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony and Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto, featuring soloist Denis Matsuev. The Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra makes its first visit to the BBC Proms, conducted by its music director Han-Na Chang.

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  21. Background image for Prom 68: The Sunday Prom: The Cleveland Orchestra
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    #20 - Prom 68: The Sunday Prom: The Cleveland Orchestra

    S68:E68

    Katie Derham is live at the world's biggest classical music festival as the legendary Cleveland Orchestra perform at the BBC Proms. This is a rare chance to hear one of America's best orchestras in a huge Proms favourite, Brahms's First Symphony. The concert opens with Brahms in a lighter mood in his Academic Festival Overture and also includes the UK premiere of an elegant, dance-like flute concerto by German clarinettist and composer Jorg Widmann.

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Season 68 Ratings Summary

"Prom 4: BBC Proms Masterworks: Strauss and Mahler" is the best rated episode of "BBC Proms" season 68. It scored /10 based on 0 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 8/14/2014. This episode is rated 0.0 points higher than the second-best, "Prom 12: BBC Proms Masterworks: Bach's St John Passion".