Well, they've started. Shortly off to watch Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra play Beethoven Symphonies 7 and 8, as well as Boulez' Anthemes 2. Depending on how nightmarish the heat-ridden journey turns out to be, I may also be attending Thursday's Prom, when Boulez conducts some of the same orchestra in his own Le marteau sans maitre and a Beethoven piano quintet.

Away from superstar conductors, the programme looks reasonably adventurous by Proms standards, with a fair sprinkling of new music.

That Boulez was pretty hard work. The bloke presenting made a lot of the main man playing "from memory". I'd be amazed if anyone could remember that piece from the last time they heard it.

One for wingco's "fear of music" theme, I think.

Though the crowd seemed to lap it up.

We're off to
Prom 34: Schubert, Dubugnon & R. Strauss
Prom 54: Davies, Delius & Shostakovich
Prom 68: Cameron Carpenter plays Bach

Booked late this year so all our first choices had already gone.

Oooh, Dmitri's Tenth, think that's my favorite of his.

I've got a recording of the LSO somewhere with Ms./Lady/Whatevs Thatcher on the cover looking like some sort of small burrowing mammal, in which she recites something about Lincoln -- anything like that this year?

Well I had to leave after the Boulez - which I did enjoy, especially the last couple of minutes - as I was feeling sick and horrible from the heat. Queuing for two hours to get cheap tickets might have contributed to that though.

Was very frustrated at how quiet the Beethoven sounded from the arena floor, think I will be queuing for the cheap gallery tickets in future. A disappointing experience from a concert I'd been looking forward to.

What were your first choices, hobbes? 54 is on my shortlist too.

alyxandr - there's something called Loch Ness - A Postcard From Scotland by Thea Musgrave in prom 31. However, I'm told that the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland are shit, so I can't really recommend it.

You sure it was the heat? The Boulez was the musical equivalent of Richard Tull's Untitled. It must leave a trail of migraines behind it.

Heh. I really like music like that.

What you might not have got from the broadcast was the way the electronic 'responses' to Michael Barenboim's playing pinged about from all over the place. It was fun seeing people look all around as if trying to locate hidden violinists.

Sorry, but anything with "Youth Orchestra" in its title is by definition awesome. I'm on it.

I was there last night. I went into the gallery for the first time. The sound is not as good up there, but considering how sweltering it was yesterday evening, it was certainly a lot more comfortable.

Anyway, you really can't go much wrong with Beethoven's 7th as it's such a glorious piece of music. And I did actually like that Boulez piece. I'm hoping to go along to the performance of Leonard Bernstein's Mass in a couple of weeks.

Wow. Tonight's Prom (44) was all kinds of awesome. Andriessen's De snelheid was the highlight, supercharged rhythmic brilliance. The composer himself came on stage for a bit of chat, which you don't get with yer olden days music Proms. Six pieces, really varied stuff. I strongly urge music-lovers to listen while it's available on the iPlayer (I assume for the next week). And Tom Service is a dish.