How art can entertain
The contrast between art and entertainment is often wildly off-key. As this year’s London Proms and Venice Film Festival show, the gap between “high” and “low” art is exaggerated
TWO years after a new director with new priorities took over the BBC Promenade Concerts, London's premier music festival is flourishing. Nicholas Kenyon is a touch more populist than Sir John Drummond, his predecessor: this year's season, which ends on September 13th, has included a Gilbert-and-Sullivan night, a Junior Prom and the King's Singers doing the Beatles—though less hummable songs by the contemporary Gyorgy Ligeti and the 16th-century Lassus did share the bill. There have been rather fewer premieres of new music, and rather more “authentic” orchestras.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “How art can entertain”
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