One of the pleasures of the BBC Proms is that they bring some of classical music’s biggest names from around the world to the Royal Albert Hall. But celebrity is always relative – and, for better or worse, most Proms artists don’t also headline stadium gigs.
But Japanese composer and conductor Joe Hisaishi does and, at 74, is a Proms debut artist like no other. He came on stage to waves of screaming and phones brandished to capture the moment. Never heard of him? You’re probably not part of the vast fanbase of the “cultural phenomenon” Studio Ghibli. Hisaishi is the John Williams of anime, responsible for the music in global hits from My Neighbour Totoro to The Boy and the Heron.
The European premiere of Hisaishi’s symphonic suite from the latter opened this Prom, with the composer switching between his own soulful piano part and conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Quacking produced by brass mouthpieces provoked giggles and the orchestra luxuriated in the expansive majesty of Hisaishi’s scoring. But this remained a short concert recap of one of Hisaishi’s blandest film scores.
Hisaishi’s suite The End of the World (another European premiere) was more ambitious. There were hints of Stravinsky, strictly atonal lyricism and big band jazz alongside symphonic landscaping that marshalled the RPO, BBC Singers and Philharmonia Chorus into sweeping waves of sound, all colourful post-minimalism topped by frothing strings. Countertenor John Holiday did double duty with a starkly beautiful solo in the central movement and a final, crooning rendition of Skeeter Davis’s 1960s pop number The End of the World, stratospheric violins providing eerie “wrong” notes that soured an otherwise saccharine texture.
In a flash of inspired programming, Steve Reich’s The Desert Music followed, led with tireless concentration by Hisaishi. This is epic minimalism, demanding immense stamina from the performers to sustain Reich’s vibrantly pulsing texture for 50 minutes. Two percussionists were allocated page turners, such is the score’s relentlessness. The BBC Singers and National Youth Voices – lightly amplified, as Reich demands – produced a remarkable, studio-mixed choral blend, while the RPO’s labour-intensive loops and licks were intricately moreish, the slow-spun fabric utterly hypnotic.
• Listen again on BBC Sounds until 12 October. The Proms continue until 13 September
