Haydn brings good weather

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Despite his years spent in London, Haydn never quite caught the English obsession with weather and balked at the idea of writing a full-scale oratorio with sun, wind and rain at its heart. If The Seasons, his setting of James Thomson's bucolic epic poem, has never matched the popularity of The Creation, it contains some of Haydn's most ingenious writing. A cockerel-oboe squawks the dawn. A lone flute conjures lightning with a brief, jagged flourish. Every note plays its part in a vivid taxonomy of nature.

Conductor Roger Norrington and the high calibre Handel and Haydn Society of Boston gave the work an outstanding Proms performance, with crisp period instrument ensemble and top soloists in Sally Matthews, James Gilchrist and Jonathan Lemalu. The chorus sounded fresh and well drilled.

Norrington has long championed Haydn, arguing for a brisker, leaner sound when fashion preferred a plumper, straitlaced approach. Yet the mysterious opening of Summer, depicting the veiled mist of dawn, has one's ears out on stalks. The bass aria in Winter which likens the dying season to old age, is as masterly a contemplation of death as any in music. Haydn dull? On the contrary, they hardly come more revolutionary.

Information: www.bbc.co.uk/proms

BBC Proms: Handel And Haydn Society Of Boston/Norrington - Haydn: The Seasons
Royal Albert Hall
Kensington Gore, SW7 2AP