Why is the BBC intent on ruining the Proms?

The public service broadcaster behaves as though it is embarrassed by classical music

FIt’s the cultural cringe that is so depressing, as if classical music is some esoteric, elitist art form that has to be buttressed between more popular music to be able to hold its place

or me, summer only begins properly with the First Night of the BBC Proms. You can keep your beaches and your barbecues. Summer nights are for sweltering in the Royal Albert Hall, at what the BBC itself describes as “the world’s largest classical music festival”. It’s certainly large: 72 concerts, which started on Friday night and end on September 10. And it’s definitely a music festival. But a classical music festival?

This year’s programme – the first full season since Covid – takes a trend that has been developing for years for pop concerts and other forms of music to replace classical concerts, and pushes it close to breaking point.

Late-night Proms, for example, used to be a wonderful opportunity for smaller scale ensembles to perform, with a much smaller crowd giving a wonderful feeling of intimacy in the vast spaces of the Royal Albert Hall. Last night saw this season’s first: “Radio 1 Relax at the Proms… The Proms relaxes into a late-night decompression session with Radio 1 Relax – presented by Sian Eleri, host of Radio 1’s Chillest Show.” Yup, that’s the world’s self-billed “largest classical music festival” beginning with a Radio 1 programme.

Not that tonight is any different. Prom 4 is “Legendary Voice… vocalist Cynthia Erivo”, who will “salute the legendary women who have inspired her: artists such as Nina Simone, Shirley Bassey, Billie Holiday and Gladys Knight”. Roll over, Beethoven.

On and on it goes, from a Prom paying tribute to Aretha Franklin, “the undisputed Queen of Soul… featuring singer-songwriter Sheléa in powerful new arrangements of Aretha Franklin’s very greatest hits” to another featuring “The South African Jazz Songbook… A showcase for the most lively voices in contemporary South African jazz.”

Or there’s “the first ever Gaming Prom”, in which “an electronically expanded Royal Philharmonic Orchestra explores the musical universe of gaming: from the classic console titles of the 1980s to the European concert premiere of a suite from Battlefield 2042”.

Then, Prom 58 offers us the prospect of an evening with a group of “retrofuturist rockers”. No, me neither. A band called Public Service Broadcasting will perform “This New Noise: a joyously eclectic, albumlength celebration of 100 years of BBC Radio”. I’m sure all of these performers are masters of their craft and fully deserve to be featured in a music festival. But in the world’s largest classical music festival? It’s like the RSC showing the new Top Gun film one evening instead of King Lear.

It’s the cultural cringe that is so depressing – as if everyone knows that classical music is really some esoteric, elitist art form that has to be buttressed between more popular music to be able to hold its place.

Is it any wonder that those of us who have always valued the BBC’s unique contribution to our cultural life are now beginning to think that the game is up? For decades, the BBC understood the purpose of the licence fee and made wonderful programmes that celebrated high culture – especially classical music. Its archives are amazing. But now it behaves as if classical music has to apologise for itself or make itself relevant to earn its right to be heard.

It’s another demonstration of the truth of historian Robert Conquest’s third rule of politics: the simplest way to explain the behaviour of any bureaucratic organisation is to assume that it is controlled by a cabal of its enemies.

Because the BBC is really its own worst enemy. If it stood up for what it was founded for, it would pull the ground from under its critics’ legs. Instead, it behaves as if it no longer knows what its purpose is. And so neither do the rest of us.