Live from the Royal Albert Hall, Carl Orff's Carmina Burana provides the thrilling climax to this concert which opens with two British works - the Overture to a Picaresque Comedy by Arnold Bax and Sir Malcolm Arnold's Second Symphony, written for tonight's performers, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.

Richard Hickox conducts with Janice Watson (soprano), James Bowman (counter-tenor) and Donald Maxwell (baritone), the Highcliffe Junior Choir, the Waynflete Singers and the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus. Presented by James Naughtie.
See today's choices.
(Simultaneous broadcast with Radio 3)
(Stereo)

8.15-8.35* During the interval
David Pearl presents this week's edition of The Score. Tonight, a look at why Cart Orff and Carmina Burana found such favour with the German Third Reich.
Historians and musicologists discuss the nationalistic elements in Orff's work and allegations of his criminal opportunism under the Third Reich.
Series Editor Jane Thorburn
(As Proms coverage is live, the subsequent schedule may change)

BBC Proms 1994 7.30pm BBC2
Carl Orff's Carmina Burana was an instant hit on its premiere in 1937, and since then, thanks to the good offices of advertising executives, has become the only piece of 20th century choral music that everybody can hum. The opening song, O fortuna!, will forever conjure up images of a well-groomed surfer enjoying the fragrance of Old Spice aftershave.
Adverts aren't the only reason why Carmina Burana is so popular. The Latin lyrics, written in the 13th century, deal with the finer things in life: sex, drinking and more sex. "It's great fun to perform," says tonight's conductor Richard Hickox. "I remember Tom Allen fainting during a performance of this at the Proms 20 years ago and his place taken by a member of the audience. Fingers crossed tonight!" The concert opens with Bax's Overture to a Picaresque Comedy and Arnold's Second Symphony which, says Hickox, boasts "the loudest finale in all music."

(The performance is in our panellists' Proms Choice on page 41)