Berlin Phil and Philadelphia Orch join dumbed-down BBC Proms

The BBC Proms, announced this morning, feature such highlights as ‘the first-ever video game Prom’, Art-rock band Public Service Broadcasting with a new album; ‘ Radio 1 Relax ‘ and an Aretha Franklin evening.

You have to dig deep to find classical limelighters.

The Berlin Philharmonic with Kirill Petrenko will play Mahler 7 and Shostakovich; Klaus Mäkelä arrives with the Oslo Phil; Marin Alsop leads Vienna Radio; the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra; and Yannick and the Philadelphia play Beethoven’s Eroica and Florence Price.

That’s about all, folks.

Proms director David Pickard said: ‘How quickly music is moving…What might have been appropriate 10 years ago is very different from what we can do today. Back then, there wasn’t the wealth of fantastic music for us to do a gaming Prom. But this year, with so many film composers turning to the genre, we can put on something really special that reaches a completely new audience.’

Remember when the Proms were classical and no special pleading was required?