Review: BBC PROMS: FROM THE ALPS TO THE AUVERGNE, Royal Albert Hall
London Philharmonic Orchestra take us to the great outdoors
Richard Strauss's "An Alpine Symphony", with its off-stage brass section and soaring discordance, is the main event in this Proms concert from the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The theme of the evening is 'the great outdoors', with the sound of bird song, the wind in the trees, and the wonder of the natural world.
We open with Kristine Tjøgersen's "Between Trees" - a remarkable and challenging piece that uses numerous percussive instruments and tricks across the woodwind, brass and string sections to bring the Nordic forest to life. Watching each new adaptation of familiar instruments was fascinating.
This is followed by an appearance from soprano Louise Alder, who dazzled at the 2025 Last Night of the Proms, performing a selection from Joseph Canteloube's "Songs of the Auvergne". These were written between 1923 and 1955, highlighting a long-term interest in the region's folk songs.
Sung in Auvergat, a dialect of Occitan, these songs are pastoral in subject and deeply melodic. The "Baïlèro" is possibly the most familiar, but all allow a certain playfulness and experimentation for the woodwind section. Alder's elegaic engagement with the work's flights of fancy and deep emotion make this a welcome returns for the songs, memorably performed at the 2001 Last Night reworked programme after 9/11.
After an interval, it is time to engage with that Strauss tone poem in "An Alpine Symphony". This vibrant piece requires a huge commitment by the orchestra across 22 continuous sections - indulgent, magical, thrilling, and absorbing. The visual images it evokes are strong as we move through the Alps climbing from base to peak and down again.
With harp, organ, tuba, trombone, cello and oboe each contributing to the scene, the orchestra, conducted with focused energy by Edward Gardner, capture the slow complexity of the ascent and the unpredictable contribution of storm and mist.
"An Alpine Symphony" may feel atypical against sone of the more bombastic work of Strauss, but its 21st century popularity has grown so it has become a core piece of repertoire. The LPO performed it last year in London with Gardner, where I was privileged to attend an afternoon rehearsal of the piece, showing the care and craft in which this ensemble approach its construction and rendition.
A concert that brings all the elements of old and new, inside and outside together, this left audiences stamping their feet for more.
The Proms continues at the Royal Albert Hall until 12 September
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