Battle proms success

There was a time at Saturday's Battle Proms concert when even the ever-embullient English National Orchestra conductor Jae Alexander seemed at a loss to know why the now-customary roar of approval wasn't coming back to him.

The usual massive crowd had begun to gather long before the Abbey gates opened at five. By that stage the queue had doubled around the car park.

Clearly, everyone had come prepared for a good time at the Observer-sponsored event. In addition to the usual plethora of rucksacks and picnic boxes, more seasoned campaigners than ever were wheeling trolleys groaning under the weight of food and drink.

By the time a cloudless evening began to dim into dusk Senlac's ancient battlefield was packed with partying humanity. Where King Harold's archers' arrows once flew, champagne corks had been arcing into the sky.

The scene was set for a perfect evening.

Don't expect innovation at a Proms night. The crowd know what they want - and Jae Alexander and the English National Orchestra give it to them.

Glinka's popular Ruslan and Ludmilla helped the party-goers settle.

Nobody wrote a prelude for the aircraft which shot down more of the enemy in the Battle of Britain than any other Thus, Walton's evocative Spitfire Prelude had to suffice as one of the few remaining airworthy Hawker Hurricane's swept over the scene.

There was a magic moment when the setting sun burnished the wings of this old warhorse with gold as the orchestra worked through Goodwin's Battle of Britain March and Coates Dumbusters' Theme.

But for a while there was an inexplicable flat-spot. Conditions could not have been better. Jae and the orchestra were on form. If Nimrod from Elgar's Enigma Variations can't create atmosphere, nothing can.

Sarah Ryan's delightful soprano voice filled the natural amphitheatre with Lehar's On My Lips Every Kiss Is Like Wine and Chanson Boheme from Bizet's Carmen.

Battle Proms-goers have a reputation as demonstrative audiences. Neither a mystical rendering of Mars from Holst's Planets Suite nor Wynne Evans' rich tenor in Granada produced the response they merited.

The slow fuse lit after the interval.

The party got into full swing with an rapturous response to Williams' Star Wars Theme. The crowd joined Sarah Ryan with gusto in a reprise of Vera Lynn's wartime We'll Meet Again.

Katchachurian's Spartacus Theme and Williams Harry Potter Theme paved the way for Wynne Evans to deliver O Sole Mio with the whole-hearted participation of the entire hillside.

We were building to the climax.

The surrounding Sussex countryside sent back booming echoes as pyrotechnic cannons blasted Tchaikovky's 1812 Overture into victorious action.

A sea of Union Flags bobbed through Rule Britannia and Jerusalem. More than 6,000 voiced were lifted for Land Of Hope And Glory as a starry sky was lit by bomb-burst after bomb-burst of fireworks.

Now that's the special magic of the Proms.