the arts desk, 13 September 2015

by Gavin Dixon

Last Night of the Proms, 2015, London, Royal Albert Hall

Last Night of the Proms, BBCSO, Alsop

A musically variable Last Night, but with plenty of Pomp and Circumstance

Ausschnitte: Jonas Kaufmann turned out to be the star of the show, and his Puccini selections that ended the first half were the highlight of the evening. Few singers can fill the Albert Hall as effortlessly as he, and everything came together for these arias, from his idiomatic Italian to the sheer heart-on-sleeve emotion - controlled, yes, but communicating so directly and clearly... ....Kaufmann returned for the Lehár ‘Dein ist mein ganzes Herz’, he too switching between styles with apparently effortless ease. .....Kaufmann was out of voice in Rule Britannia!, barely audible for most of it, though no one seemed to mind.