Today at the Proms - Prom 11

Continuing our daily coverage of what's on at The Proms 2019, Susan Omand has a quick look at the programme for Prom 11: 1969 - The Sound of a Summer ...

Reminder: Watch Prom 7: Schumann, Schoenberg & Mozart and Prom 10: Public Service Broadcasting tonight on BBC Four

You already know how much not a fan of "not classical" proms I am so I won't go on at length about it again, suffice it to say that today's prom, for me, is no exception. However, if this is your kind of thing, you'll get music inspired by the Woodstock festival, excerpts from the films Battle of Britain, The Italian Job, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Midnight Cowboy, and ‘Here Comes the Sun’ from The Beatles’ final album Abbey Road among other things... all of which are great (well, apart from The Beatles imho but, again, you know that).

The one saving grace for this prom, and the thing I might listen to it for, is the wonderful Moog synthesiser as The Will Gregory Moog Ensemble are due to take part. 1969 saw the instrument break into the mainstream with a modern take on a classical theme in the album Switched-On Bach by composer Wendy Carlos, who also composed the score to two Stanley Kubrick films, A Clockwork Orange (1971) and The Shining (1980), and also Tron (1982) for Disney. Incidentally, and just as an interesting sidenote, Carlos was one of the first public figures, back in 1979, to disclose that they had had gender re-assignment surgery seven years previously, apparently paid for thanks to the success of Switched-On Bach!

So what's a Moog synth look like? Watch this from Tomorrow's World back in the day.

You can listen to Prom 11 live from 19:30 on Radio 3 or on the iPlayer 

Image - Photo © Chris Christodoulou