| Main Performers | Noel Eadie,
Astra Desmond,
Parry Jones,
Norman Walker - vocals |
| Orchestra or Band | London Symphony Orchestra |
| Conductors | Charles Proctor,
Sir Henry Wood,
Basil Cameron |
| Set List | 'Rhapsody for Solo, Contralto, Male Chorus and Orchestra, Op.53', Brahms (Astra Desmond),
'Symphony No.9 in D Minor (The Choral) Op.125', Beethoven (Noel Eadie, Astra Desmond, Parry Jones, Norman Walker, The Alexandra Choir),
'Lohengrin Prelude' from Lohengrin, Wagner,
'Rigoletto Quartet - Un Di Si Ben', Verdi (Noel Eadie, Astra Desmond, Parry Jones, Norman Walker),
'Toccata in F', Bach, Wood |
| Performance Notes | "The balcony at the Albert Hall had been opened on Tuesday evening so that the house looked something like its old self in the upper parts, while the floor accomodated more people than used normally to fill the promenade at Queen's Hall. The huge audience, which puts a new complexion on the future of the proms, had come to hear the Choral Symphony. Thus one more proof is shown that Beethoven meets the mood of to-day more adequatly than any other composer, in spite of the word 'Frede' being somewhat fly-blown. Probably the reason is, as an eminent musician has suggested , because Beethoven is in a paramount degree both grim and gay.
Sir Henry Wood played the symphony with all his accustomed vigour and care for detail. His detail indeed, is not wholly commendable. Thus his pianissimo enunciation of the great tune is pereverse and makes nonsense of Beethoven's dramatic scheme for the finale. But apart from such disagreements it would be generally allowed that it was a nobly executed performance.
The Alexandra Choir sang capably and bouyantly in the symphony , and its male voices sympathetically in Brahm's Alto Rhapsody which had been given by way of overture, under Mr Charles Proctor. Miss Astra Desmond was the soliost in Brahms: in Beethoven she was joined by Miss Noel Eadie, My Parry Jones and Mr Norman Walker. " (The Times, 21 August 1941) |
| Related Archival Material | Proms Guide (RAHE/1/1941/3A),
Programme (RAHE/1/1941/34) |