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In 2020, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 3 is bringing together musical greats, from the past and the present, in one extraordinary Proms season. Radio 3 is broadcasting the best of four decades of unmissable Proms concerts and tonight Martin Handley presents an all-English programme from the 2006 season conducted by the much-missed Richard Hickox.

Elgar: In the South (Alassio)
Bliss: A Colour Symphony
Walton: Belshazzar's Feast
(From the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Proms 2006, 23 July)

Bryn Terfel (bass-baritone)
´óÏó´«Ã½ National Chorus of Wales
London Symphony Chorus
´óÏó´«Ã½ National Orchestra of Wales
London Brass
Richard Hickox (conductor)

Ever the champion of British music, Richard Hickox conducts his final Prom at the helm of the ´óÏó´«Ã½ National Orchestra of Wales, joined by Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel and massed choirs from London and Cardiff in the Old Testament fire-and-brimstone tale of Belshazzar's Feast. Walton’s mighty cantata was commissioned by the ´óÏó´«Ã½ in 1929, originally as a small-scale choral work. It soon outgrew its conception, morphing into a musical behemoth for orchestra, eight-part choir, organ and two brass bands.

Commissioned at the behest of Elgar – whose own In the South (Alassio) opens this concert – Bliss’s A Colour Symphony explores the heraldic associations of the colours purple, red, blue and green. Hickox and ´óÏó´«Ã½ NOW would go on to record the work in 2006, alongside Bliss’s Violin Concerto.
Presented by Martin Handley.