Proms on Four

BBC Proms 2003

Stephanie Hughes presents tonight's promenade concert from London's Royal Albert Hall , where the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain are making their annual visit. Yan Pascal Tortelier guest- conducts as the ensemble performs two major works by composers whose music is being celebrated in 2003. First on the programme is an early work from Messiaen, the "symphonic meditation" Les Offrandes Oubliées. The Byronic concerto Harold in Italy by Berlioz - whose bicentenary is this year - follows, with viola soloist Lawrence Power. The evening climaxes with Prokofiev's rousing Symphony No 5 in B flat major, a work he composed nine years before his death in 1953. In the interval Stephanie Hughes is joined by special guests.