Proms 2012 Prom 23: Vaughan Williams, Ireland, Delius & Walton

Tadaaki Otaka, a notable enthusiast of British music, opens with Vaughan Williams’s much loved classic before revisiting a BBC commission that has fallen into neglect in the half-century since its composer’s death: Ireland’s These Things Shall Be is a mini-oratorio with a utopian text.

The massed choirs and the commanding bass baritone of former BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist Jonathan Lemalu return after the interval to animate Walton’s brazen Old Testament tale, but first we hear from another anniversary composer, here at his most poignant.

Discover the Music Download a short audio guide published on the day about a key work in tonight’s Prom: Stephen Johnson talks about Walton's Belshazzar's Feast.