Prom 4: Berio and Rossini

It was Italian night at the RAH. Which means gladly tapping your foot to a jolly tenor aria with lyrics like Christ above in torment hangs.

But those that essentially came for Rossini's sing-song sacred piece Stabat Mater had of course to endure 35 minutes of Luciano Berio's unusual Sinfonia from 1968 which is, in modern parlance, a mash-up.

Members of the BBC freeloaders club around me were none too pleased with the postmodern pre-interval entertainment. "It puts people off," one lady suggested. "I prefer something with a tune." Another piped up to say that she did in fact recognise the tune in the fourth movement of the Sinfonia...but then that's because it's been lifted from Mahler's second.

I would refer them all to The Modern World's review, which involves a bit of a metaphoric mash-up itself: "The syllables float above a layer of shimmering music, piling up like clouds of incense, with frequent spikes of brass and piano shooting through the haze like needles."

Antonio Pappano (great fun to watch) conducted the Academy of Santa Cecilia from Rome, an Italian orchestra, which meant there were a few lookers in the string section, but most of the blokes resembled either Umberto Eco or Umberto Eco with great hair. No Mexican waves from the chorus this time.

Years ago when I worked in the sheet music department at Foyles I had a conversation with an author who had produced an odd little book detailing the medical conditions of all the great composers. They were generally not a healthy bunch, with Chopin deserving a special mention for even making it out of childhood. But the one with the most known chronic illnesses at his time of death was in fact Gioachino Rossini.

As I was leaving I overheard a German visitor describing the Proms as "wery pricey koncertz for the dinosauer set." I'm rejoining the promosauruses tonight for the American-themed programme including Bernstein and Ives.

Berio's Sinfonia for 8 voices and orchestra: