BBC Proms Saturday Matinee, Lapland Chamber Orchestra

BBC Proms Saturday Matinee: CPE Bach, “Hamburg” Symphony; Sir Harrison Birtwhistle, Endless Parade; Honegger, Pastorale; Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Sinfonia; Sibelius, Rakastava

The Lapland Chamber Orchestra, the EU’s most northerly professional orchestra, making its Proms debut, has put together a fascinating programme of anniversary composers - CPE Bach, Birtwhistle and Maxwell Davies - and an adventurous combination of Sibelius’ soulful Romanticism, Bach’s brooding classicism, Honegger’s highly coloured, rhythmic structures and Birtwhistle’s more austere, modernistic aesthetic.

Birtwhistle’s bleak and moody trumpet concerto Endless Parade is a theatrical account of the passing of a carnival through the tight streets of the Italian city of Lucca, and we're given an account in sound of the various passing floats. Swedish trumpeter and soloist Håkan Hardenberger, for whom the piece was originally written, is one of the most exciting players around about as internationally celebrated as it's possible for a classical trumpet soloist to be.

Maxwell Davies’ Sinfonia dates from 1962, and is one of three pieces he based on the structures of Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers . Forty years later, the Sinfonia still convinces, its four movements terse and intriguing in their echoes of the original. The concert concludes with Finnish composer Sibelius’ piece Rakastava (“The Beloved”), a delicate expression of shy, reticent love. A smorgasbord of mainly Nordic modern delicacies, this is a great opportunity for those curious about contemporary classical music to try a wide range, including pieces by the two anniversary stars of British music, Maxwell Davies and Birtwhistle.