Beethoven – Symphony No. 5 – Aurora Orchestra - Saffron Hall & BBC Proms

3 August 2022, 11:00
The last time I performed at the BBC Proms with the Aurora Orchestra was in 2020—in the midst of the pandemic. Back then, we played Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 to a remote audience. This year was thankfully a stark contrast: it was great to experience the electrifying ambiance of a packed Royal Albert Hall once again, and it was a privilege to perform in the Proms in the BBC’s centenary year. 
I played first trumpet in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor, which the whole orchestra performed from memory. This remarkable ensemble, the Aurora Orchestra conducted by Nicholas Collon, performed in an evening Prom on Tuesday 2nd August 2022 and in a Relaxed Prom the following morning. We also performed our Proms programme in Saffron Hall on Sunday 31st July 2022. 

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In addition to Beethoven’s instantly recognisable Symphony No. 5, which was the finale of the performance, the programme featured Iannis Xenakis’ O-Mega (and the percussionist Henry Baldwin), Dmitry Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor (with the soloist Patricia Kopatchinskaja), and the Aurora Orchestra’s now-signature ‘presentation’ (introduced by Nicholas Collon and Tom Service). The latter included audience participation—the entire audience, divided into four sections, rendered Beethoven’s da-da-da-dum rhythm in four sequences illustrating Beethoven’s unabating use of this now iconic rhythm. It was explained how that knocking pattern morphed into triple time in the great call-to-arms that is the Scherzo, and how Beethoven adapted melodic ideas from Mozart’s Symphony No. 40. The analysis of the final movement included a rendition of the Marseillaise, and a Marseillaise/Beethoven 5 mash-up illustrated how the two were similarly rousing and triumphant. An exciting and energetic performance of the symphony followed. 
The trumpets were: Russell Gilmour, Simon Cox and Sam Kinrade (Xenakis + Beethoven bumper); horns: Annemarie Federle, Elise Campbell; and trombones: Matt Gee, Isobel Daws, Joseph Arnold (as well as Andrew Budden (horn), Hugh Sisley (horn), & Michael Levis (tuba) in the Shostakovich). We had no orchestral commitments on 1st August, the day after our first performance in Saffron Hall, and I used the day off to revise. Much as I would probably have been fine without revising, it was reassuring. I didn’t want to just know the piece: I wanted to be a connoisseur of it. As the American entrepreneur Jim Rohn once said: ‘We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.’ I was really pleased with how it all went, and I, thankfully, had no regrets!
We returned to the Royal Albert Hall the following morning to perform a slightly shorter version of the presentation and the Beethoven, in a ‘Relaxed Prom’—an absolutely brilliant idea. According to the BBC Proms website, the “Relaxed Proms are suited to people who feel more comfortable in a relaxed environment. Everyone is welcome including people with autism, sensory and communication impairments, and learning disabilities, as well as people who are deaf, blind and partially sighted. There is a relaxed attitude to noise and you are free to leave and re-enter the auditorium at any point.” The performance was audio-described by Timna Fibert and Angie Newman gave an interpretation in British Sign Language.
This was also a very exciting performance. It was a pleasure for us to be able to offer a more accessible concert to enable listeners who feel more comfortable in a relaxed environment to hear classical music of the highest quality. Proms founders Sir Henry Wood and Robert Newman would certainly be proud of this initiative, especially as it was their vision was to democratise this genre.

After the Relaxed Prom, I stopped for a quick look at the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers’ collection in the Science Museum (I admired several watches that were made on the Isle of Man by George Daniels and Roger W. Smith), then I met up with my wife, my mum and her friend in the Tate Modern (they had come to London for our Prom last night). Mum and her friend went back to Gatwick to fly back to the Isle of Man and my wife took me to Dishoom, as a ‘career success’ treat. As a freelance professional musician, you rarely get anything as concrete as a promotion, or new job title, so this is a really nice tradition she has initiated after Proms or similar career highlights.

These performances were my sixth and seventh appearances at the BBC Proms. I am just as thrilled thrilled now to be involved in the BBC Proms as I was after my first Prom, when I wrote: ’I would never have imagined that playing in a band would eventually lead to me playing in a ‘banda’ in the BBC Proms twenty-two years later—obviously with many intermediate steps along the way.’ After the mid-pandemic prom, I wrote that ‘we have probably played a small morale-boosting role in social history’. Playing in the Proms is always an awe-inspiring experience, one I hope I will have the pleasure of enjoying again in the near future. Here's to the second century of the BBC!
Russell Gilmour
Russell Gilmour Blog
writing on music, photography, engraving, travel and life as a freelance professional musician.