BBC Proms - Classics, bon-bons and an engagingly fresh account of an enduring masterpiece, Nil Venditti conducts BBC National Orchestra of Wales

Great British Classics - BBC Singers, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Nil Venditti - BBC Proms 2025 (Photo: BBC / Chris Christodoulou)

Great British Classics: Walton, Vaughan Williams, Coleridge-Taylor, Britten, William Mathias, John Rutter, Avril Coleridge-Taylor, Grace Williams, Elgar; Liya Petrova, BBC Singers, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Nil Venditti; BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall
Reviewed 5 August 2025

The Italian-Turkish conductor mixed establish classics with varied bon-bons including John Rutter's 80th birthday commission and ending with an engagingly fresh account of Elgar's enduring masterpiece

Tuesday 5 August's concert at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall was billed as Great British Classics. True, Nil Venditti did conduct the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in Walton's Crown Imperial, Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending (with violinist Liya Petrova), Britten's Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes and Elgar's Enigma Variations but someone had been rooting around in the library cupboards and so these works were shaken up with a selection of lesser-known bon-bons in the manner of a pre-War programmes. It was a very Proms programme too, mixing a cappella music from the BBC Singers with full orchestra in a way that few promoters could afford. But it meant that we heard part-songs by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and his daughter, Avril Coleridge Taylor, along with William Mathias' Dance Overture, Grace Williams' Elegy for Strings and the premiere of a BBC commission, John Rutter's Bird Songs.

Italian-Turkish conductor Nil Venditti was appointed principal guest conductor of the Royal Northern Sinfonia last September and she seems to be developing a relationship with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, giving seven concerts with them during their 2025/26 season.

We began with Walton's Coronation March 'Crown Imperial' which was written for the 1936 Coronation and gave the first glimpse of a rather different Walton to his earlier music. Here we heard it in Vilem Tausky's reduced orchestration (which still included double woodwind, five horns, three trumpets and three trombones). Venditti's approach was brisk, it opened full of impetus and energy enlivened by crisp rhythms with the noble second subject rather flowing and youthful in feel. Hardly Imperial at all.

Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending - Liya Petrova, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Nil Venditti - BBC Proms 2025 (Photo: BBC / Chris Christodoulou)

Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending was completed in 1914 and premiered in 1920, so it should not surprise us that the work's pastoral melancholy goes far beyond the George Meredith poem that inspired it. Soloist Liya Petrova made the violin's opening slow, meditative and thoughtful. The strings were impressively hushed when joining her, and there was a mysterious melancholy to the piece. Throughout Venditti avoided hints of folk rumbustiousness, the faster section was only just perky and the closing pages returned to the meditative feel.

Prom 30: Gavin Higgins' Concerto Grosso for brass band and orchestra with the Tredegar Band and BBC NOW

Prom 30, Gavin Higgins: Concerto Grosso for brass band and orchestra - The Tredegar Band, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Ryan Bancroft
BBC Proms (Photo BBC/Mark Allan)

Gavin Higgins: Concerto Grosso for brass band and orchestra, Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique; The Tredegar Band, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Ryan Bancroft; BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall
Reviewed 8 August 2022 (★★★★½)

From Higgins' remarkable use of colour and timbre in his new work for brass band and orchestra to the classical underpinnings of Berlioz' Romantic symphony in a fine prom with Welsh forces.

For the BBC National Orchestra of Wales' final BBC Prom at the Royal Albert Hall on Monday 8 August 2022, Ryan Bancroft conducted them in two large-scale works. First came the world premiere of Gavin Higgins' Concerto Grosso for Brass Band and Orchestra when the orchestra was joined by the Tredegar Band, then came Berlioz' Symphonie fantastique.

Brass bands have not been a regular feature of the BBC Proms and one can posit various reasons ranging from class consciousness and banding's origins in working class industrial culture to the sheer fact that bands are largely amateur and I have a long enough memory to remember at least one occasion when a planned amateur band was replaced at the last minute by professional musicians. Hopefully attitudes are changing, and not only was the Tredegar Band appearing at this BBC Prom but they have their own late-night concert (Tuesday 9 August 2022).

Celebrating the BBC orchestras and the BBC Singers

Sir Adrian Boult & the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 1932
(image from a Pathe newsreel)

There is sometimes a general tendency to take the BBC's performing groups for granted, only really taking notice of them when their existence is threatened. But across the country, they do amazing work, both live and broadcast, supporting a wide range of contemporary composers from Jonny Greenwood to Sir Harrison Birtwistle, and providing a core backbone of performance that it is sometimes easy to take for granted. This weekend (11-13 February 2022), the BBC is celebrating its centenary with BBC 100 and as part of that is celebrating its performing groups, with each one being broadcast in a celebratory performance. And there is plenty of excitement ahead too, as Ryan Wigglesworth has been announced as the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra's next chief conductor.

They have a long history (though interestingly, the oldest broadcasting orchestra in the world is in Japan). But the majority of the performing groups have their origins in the 1920s and 1930s. There have been losses, the BBC Northern Singers for instance, but the track record is strong. 

In 1922 the 2ZY Orchestra, the precursor to the BBC Philharmonic, gave its first performance on the 2ZY radio signal in Manchester, one of two frequencies used to launch the BBC. The BBC Wireless Singers, who later became the BBC Singers, were formed in 1924 and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales gave its first performance in 1928. The BBC Symphony Orchestra came into being under the direction of Adrian Boult in 1930, whilst the BBC Concert Orchestra traces its roots back to the BBC Theatre Orchestra formed in 1931 and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra was established in 1935.

The BBC Wireless Singers in 1934 (Photo BBC)

So there are concerts from each group over the weekend: 

• Semyon Bychkov conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra in a programme that includes the UK premiere of Bryce Dessner's Mari and Richard Strauss' Burleske with soloist Kirill Gerstein
• Ryan Bancroft conducts the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in a concert that includes music by Sebastian Hilli and Grace Williams' Elegy for String Orchestra
• Anna-Marie Helsing conducts the BBC Concert Orchestra in a programme that ranges from RVW, Eric Coates and Malcolm Arnold to Anne Dudley and Xia Sloane, with vocalist Claire Teale
• Omer Meier Welber conducts the BBC Philharmonic in music by Hindemith and Tippett plus the UK premiere of Aziza Sadikova's Marionettes and Schumann's Piano Concerto with  Eliso Virsaladze
• Andrew Gourlay conducts the Ulster Orchestra in a programme that combines Sir Hamilton Harty's Piano Concerto (which the composer premiered as soloist with Sir Thomas Beecham conducting the Halle Orchestra) and Conor Mitchell's Democracy Dances
• Howard Goodall conducts the BBC Singers in RVW's Mass in G minor plus music by Judith Weir, Melissa Dunphy, Roxanna Panufnik, Philip Cooke, Errollyn Wallen and the European premiere of Goodall's Unconditional Love
• Ryan Wigglesworth celebrates his forthcoming role with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra by conducting them in a programme of Strauss and Berg, plus his own Five Waltzes with soprano Katherine Broderick and viola player Scott Dickinson

Ryan Wigglesworth takes over as chief conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in September 2022. He returns to Glasgow in May 2022 to conduct the orchestra in a programme of Mozart (directed from the piano) and Jörg Widmann (the orchestra's artist in residence). His debut with the orchestra as chief conductor will be on 22 September 2022.

Full details from the BBC website.

Up Close and Orchestral: BBC NOW's Classical Playlist: LIVE

Another orchestra trying out a different concert experience (see my post below about the City of London Sinfonia) it the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Tomorrow (Saturday 5 October 2019) the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales presents Classical Playlist:LIVE at the Brangwyn Hall, Swansea, that aims to deliver an accessible, enveloping experience that showcases a wide variety of music in a relaxed listening environment.

There will be three different stages, enabling a wide range of music to be performed from full orchestra, to solos, chamber and unaccompanied choral. Most of the seats will be removed, so the audience can walk around, sit or lie on the floor during the performance, and enjoy a drink alongside the music, and audiences will be able to keep their phones on and share on social media. The programme is full of well known music by Elgar, Wagner, Prokofiev, Orff, Bruckner, Copland, Mozart, Ravel, Sir Karl Jenkins and Huw Watkins (BBC NOW's composer-in-association). Featured soloists will include saxophonist Amy Dickson, Huw Watkins (wearing his pianist hat as well as his composer one) and Huw Williams (director of music at Bath Abbey and a Swansea native), and there will be special appearance from young string musicians from Six Counties Music playing Sir Karl Jenkins' Palladio.

Classical Playlist: LIVE forms part of Swansea Fringe Festival 3-6 October. For more information visit theswanseafringe.com or the BBC NOW website.