Joy – that’s what the last movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony is really about, despite all the heavy lifting it’s been made to do over the decades. The Aurora Orchestra’s performance, with the Ode to Joy thrillingly sung by the BBC Singers and the 100-plus young adults of the National Youth Choir, had that as its overriding takeaway. And yet, as ever, there was much more to this Prom.
Aurora’s from-memory performances tend to make the music somehow more visible, in that what we see – in terms of both the stage blocking and the way in which the musicians can move freely as they play – reinforces what we hear. The idea of using eyes as well as ears aptly permeated the semi-dramatised exploratory introduction before the interval – another Aurora hallmark.
