It’s the most wonderful time of the year in classical music journalism. The BBC Proms programme has dropped and it’s time to put the boot in. “It’s clichéd to be cynical at Christmas,” sang Half Man Half Biscuit, but this is Planet Classical and we’re never going to let the sheer predictability of a target stand in our way.
From the first apoplectic splutter as the brochure lands in late April — it’s like they don’t even care about the Joachim Raff bicentenary! — to the final spasm of confected outrage over the Last Night of the