BBC Proms live online: Viennese Night review - sophisticated pleasures

★★★★ BBC PROMS LIVE: VIENNESE NIGHT Lehar's 150th birthday bash goes retro

Lehar's 150th birthday bash goes retro, and ends up sounding fresher than ever

Viennese operetta is like that other great Central European treat, goulash. It comes in many forms. In Vienna it’s coffeehouse comfort food; in Slovenia they add bacon for a smoky tang. And in the marketplaces of Transylvania it comes in bubbling iron cauldrons, practically fluorescent with paprika. But it’s all goulash. You know it when you taste it, and all that matters is that it tastes good. And when it’s really good, it tastes even better when warmed through and dished up second time around.

BBC Proms live online: Uchida, LSO, Rattle review – eclectic concert makes good TV

★★★★ BBC PROMS LIVE: UCHIDA, LSO, RATTLE Eclectic concert makes good TV

Simon Rattle and BBC Four both make a virtue of some Covid necessities

Sunday night’s Prom by the London Symphony Orchestra was Simon Rattle’s 75th and surely his strangest. But, in his best style, it was eclectically programmed, balancing novelty with tradition, responded imaginatively to the restrictions in place, and was very well played in the circumstances.

BBC Proms live online: Jonathan Scott review - the organ as orchestra

★★★★ BBC PROMS LIVE ONLINE: JONATHAN SCOTT The organ as orchestra

We may not feel the vibrations at home, but nimble camerawork enriches the experience

“Did you bring any Bach?” was not a question to ask of Jonathan Scott before he launched into his jaw-dropping Prom on the Royal Albert Hall's 1871 Henry Willis organ – the largest in the world at the time. augmented in its 2002-4 overhaul to 9,999 pipes. What Stokowski did for the Toccata and Fugue in D minor Moore achieved, in reverse as it were, for four orchestral classics in a feat of stamina live on Saturday evening.

BBC Proms live online: BBC Singers, BBCSO, Oramo review – threnodies to an empty hall

★★★ FIRST NIGHT OF THE PROMS ONLINE Threnodies to an empty hall

No joy in Beethoven without an audience, but reflective moods work well

So the bubble of reactionary brouhaha over the Last Night of the Proms quickly burst: there can be no argument about singing “Land of Hope and Glory” or “Rule, Britannia!” when they’re to be presented in their original Proms forms (Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance March No.

Rapture captured: instrumentalists and singers at the 2019 BBC Proms

RAPTURE CAPTURED Chris Christodoulou snapped instrumentalists and singers at last year's Proms

A second selection of Chris Christodoulou's more telling shots from full houses last year

As two weeks of livestreamed Proms begin tonight, we just want to be there in the Royal Albert Hall. The exuberance of our lead picture tells one story of a Prom which had to be witnessed live to be believed: the annual visit of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain last year, with brilliant Auerbach and Prokofiev under Mark Wigglesworth, and much-loved Nicola Benedetti uniting with them in Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto.

Antics before an audience: conductors at the 2019 BBC Proms

ANTICS BEFORE AN AUDIENCE Chris Christodoulou's shots of conductors at the 2019 BBC Proms

Chris Christodoulou's gallery capturing the heat of the moment last year

What a difference a year makes. Live Proms will be back from Friday, but the very essence of the world's biggest music festival will be missing: the audience, and especially the Prommers whose rapt attention while standing has taken so many visiting orchestras by surprise. No doubt the rapport between conductor and players will be electric at times, but the third point of what Britten called the "magic triangle" of composer, performers and audience will be notable by its absence.

New Music Lockdown 8: Take That, Moby, Kaiser Chiefs, Róisín Murphy and more

NEW MUSIC LOCKDOWN 8 Take That, Moby, Kaiser Chiefs, Róisín Murphy and more

The latest eclectic selection of musical treats available to enjoy from home

From the biggest man band of all time to a rising Doncaster DJ, from the lofts of New York to the garage studios rooms of Scotland, the best of current musical lockdown life is here. Dive in!

Take That/Robbie Williams: Meerkat Music Concert

New Music Lockdown 3: FKA Twigs, Janelle Monáe, The Breeders, Korn and more

NEW MUSIC LOCKDOWN 3  FKA Twigs, Janelle Monáe, The Breeders, Korn and more

The latest musical viewing and listening stay-at-home recommendations and previews

As we unwillingly become used to lockdown, most of us are regularly looking for juicy tidbits to pass the time online, so here's another selection that should be well worth a look. Dive in.

Sea Change Goes Online

Sondheim at 90 Songs: 2 - 'Epiphany'/'A Little Priest'

SONDHEIM AT 90 SONGS: 2 'Epiphany' and 'A Little Priest' make a grand Act 1 finale

Is there a better climax to a musical first act than the terror-plus-wit in 'Sweeney Todd'?

Two numbers, one hair-raising slice of music-theatre. When Sondheim's paying homage to the older, revue type of musical, you can extract a string of top hits: Follies, from which Marianka Swain chose "I'm Still Here" yesterday, could yield at least half a dozen more choices, Company almost as many. When his aim is a more through-composed kind of story-telling, with leading motifs recurring and transformed, "highlights" are less easily detached.

Music for Youth's Judith Webster: '91% of the young people we work with are from state schools'

MUSIC FOR YOUTH '91% of the young people we work with are from state schools'

As their big Albert Hall Proms approach, MFY's CEO explains the essentials

Music resonates with everyone. It plays a powerful and evocative role in people’s lives; it punctuates our memories and changes our mood. We can all remember our first album and the songs our parents and grandparents listened to. One of the first ways that we teach very young children is through singing and nursery rhymes. From that point onwards music continues to soundtrack our lives.