Welcome to this year’s BBC Proms, the self-styled ‘World’s Greatest Classical Music Festival’, whose programme was revealed today. Every year I write about how even The Proms, which bills itself unambiguously as a festival of classical music, can’t bring itself to be just that: a festival of classical music. And every year it gets worse, with the idea of ‘inclusion’ so pervasive that music which has as much to do with a classical music festival as my pet cat would have at Crufts taking over ever more evenings. This year’s schedule is the final straw.
On day two, the Proms presents ‘The Great American Songbook and Beyond’ with Samara Joy, which is followed by ‘Round Midnight’ with ‘hip hop artist Soweto Kinch’. That’s followed a few nights later by Angeline Morrison singing folk songs from her album ‘The Sorrow Songs’, and then Arooj Aftab and Ibrahim Maalouf with their ‘captivating, eclectic melting-pot of influences from jazz, folk, pop, blues and South Asian’ and ‘Middle Eastern melodies…jazz, Latin jazz, and African rhythms’ respectively.
There’s an evening of Soul Revolution, which will ‘trace a path from spirituals through gospel to soul, revealing the role of these genres in supporting the Civil Rights movement. Inspirational tracks made famous by Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone and Aretha Frank…jumped with an infectious groove.’ The Cavemen then come with their ‘bewitching, colourful and easy-listening grooves (and) their distinctive brand of highlife fusion.’ Late Junction gives a platform to ‘guest artists DJ Sarahsson and Wojciech Rusin for a late-night listening swerve that takes a sharp left off the beaten track…From the music of after-hours Tokyo to Somalian disco, and from guest playlisters to the world’s smallest LP, made for Queen Mary’s dolls’ house.’
An evening with ‘the chart-topping American art-rock siren’ St. Vincent offers ‘the queen of raw emotion, electrifying rock and unrestrained self-expression. Now, fresh from three 2025 Grammy wins – including Best Rock Song and Best Alternative Music Album – St. Vincent makes her BBC Proms debut in a unique UK performance.’ And let’s not forget The Traitors as, not once but twice, the Proms presents ‘a spine-tingling celebration of musical treachery! Claudia Winkleman is our host as we explore this worldwide television phenomenon, with its tense and haunting sound-world.’
I’ve nothing against any of the artists above. I’m sure they’re all the finest exponents of their craft. But they are not classical musicians and they are not performing classical music even in the loosest sense. They have any number of festivals and platforms available for their music. How wonderful it would be if, just once, classical music stood proudly for what it is, without the cultural cringe that makes it feel the need to buttress itself between other more popular art forms, as if only then does it have licence to exist.
Well, I give up. That battle has been lost. Even those who exist to promote and schedule classical music, such as Radio 3 and Proms controller Sam Jackson, appear to behave as if their role is rather to find excuses for its existence. They should instead be standing up and asserting unashamedly that classical music needs no excusing and no buttressing between pop, soul, folk or any other genre. Great music stands on its on own.
It’s not going to happen. There are a few isolated victories, such as Wigmore Hall’s decision last month to spurn taxpayer subsidy so it can pursue artistic excellence rather than be forced to succumb to Arts Council England’s ‘all must have prizes’ approach. But the Proms are far more indicative of where we now are. Introducing the concerts this morning, Jackson told listeners to the BBC’s Today programme that: “There is some classical music that really requires your full attention”.
Oh no! God forbid that some music requires you to actually listen to it, rather than to treat it as pleasant background music, or whatever it is you do when you hear The Cavemen and their bewitching, colourful and easy-listening grooves. Or the rest of those Jackson decided to include this year, lest audiences’ ears and brains find themselves over-stretched by too much music that really requires your full attention.
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