Prom power

As the whole world knows, London has been putting its best foot forward this summer, and has done it very impressively. From the success of the Olympics to the best-contested Test Match I’ve ever been to (the final result, notwithstanding) it has been a pleasure to be part of the scene. But of all the glamorous events on offer the ones that have probably received the least publicity — because they happen every year — are those that unfold nightly in the Albert Hall. There, without fail, unbelievable numbers of people go to hear all kinds of classical music, some as challenging as anything in the canon. It is really remarkable that when the Proms put on a concert of compositions by John Cage (which they did on 17 August, involving music that veered between total silence and intense dissonance) the turnout can run to the kind of numbers other festivals could only expect if they were fielding the Vienna Philharmonic playing Beethoven.

Roger Wright’s programming has become a daring mix of the obviously catchy — the Wallace & Gromit Prom, the family events — to programmes that give little quarter. Infrequently does he lighten the look of a tough sequence of pieces with a friendly retreat into Mozart (none of his symphonies is being played this season) that was the standard dodge in the past. Wright is confident that an evening out listening to Maxwell Davies, Delius and Shostakovich (23 August) or Goehr, Knussen, Helen Grime and Debussy (25 August) appeals to enough people to pack the place. The argument that everything cultural in our lives is being dumbed down by an invidious trashiness just won’t wash on this evidence — the Proms can give us as much hope for the future as Team GB have just done.