BBC Proms · Season 42 · Episode 4

Omnibus at the Proms

Friday, August 5

From Art Nouveau to Australia A triptych of exotically coloured music. The heavily perfumed and sensuous music of Debussy and Scriabin frames the world premiere of a new orchestral work reflecting the harsher colours and history of Australia. Debussy: La Damoiselle elue (to words by Dante Gabriel Rossetti) with Ann Murray, Elizabeth Laurence, BBC Singers (women's voices). Michael Finnissy: Red Earth. Scriabin: The Poem of Ecstasy. BBC Symphony Orchestra led by Bela Dekany, conducted by Lothar Zagrosek Sue Cook makes her debut as a Proms presenter and talks to Michael Finnissy about his new orchestral work, Red Earth: There is a red-ochre soil the Aboriginals use as a body paint in ritual ceremonies. In homage to them, 'Red Earth' could be described as a ritual chant.