Prom 5: Hayden, Bernstein and Ives

The original venue for the Proms, The Queen's Hall on Langham Place, was taken out by a single incendiary bomb in 1941. It was considered to have exemplary acoustics, unlike the Royal Albert Hall where they resumed for the latter years of the war.

When my father returned in 1943 after his evacuation to Kansas City, he spent a couple of summers watching the concerts from high up in the gallery until he turned 18 and had to sign-up.

These days the audio experience at the RAH has been slightly improved by the large fibreglass acoustic diffusing discs (AKA "mushrooms" or "flying saucers") which were installed in 1969 - pictured.

This Prom was mostly American-themed and attracted a sparser yet slightly less sandalled audience.

It began with the world premiere of Sam Hayden's Substratum. Of it the post-minimalist/newly complex composer says, "I try and find a metaphor that says something meaningful about the structure of the piece itself … In Substratum there's a sense of there being an underlying layer of material, on top of which everything else is generated, and is related to, in some fundamental sense". A complex din.

This was followed by Bernstein's Symphony No 2, The Age Of Anxiety, which apart from one or two flourishes from the piano soloist sounded rather dated. I know this is a criticism that could be levelled at all 'Classical' music, but somehow this piece just didn't seem to have any of the requisite timeless relevance.

Then there was Charles Ives's Fourth symphony, which I think I might have enjoyed more with my eyes shut as the rather awkward stageing it seems to require was constantly grabbing my attention during the performance. (Two pianos, two conductors and a 'distant' ensemble of harps and violins.) It evokes both the transcendental grandeur of many of the great symphonies that came before it and the reduced accessibility of those that were to follow during the rest of the twentieth century. Its final movement is especially compelling.