Some slippery moments in the opening and closing movements do little to detract from this reading of Beethoven's Eroica Symphony from Andrew Manze and the Helsingborg SO. This is Manze's debut recording as a conductor and though the attack is occasionally clumsy, he succeeds in making the music new. Radical rubato, violent coups d'archets, beautiful woodwind detailing, and a strikingly slow "Marche funèbre" contribute to a sense of freshness and dynamism, while the "12 Contretänze" and the finale of "Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus" illustrate how one modest melody ignited a music revolution.

So it was farewell to the 2004 Prom season; farewell to Michael Davis, leader of the BBC Symphony Orchestra; and farewell to their chief conductor, Leonard Slatkin, after four eventful but far from harmonious years in the saddle.

RICHARD GOTT shares the popular misconception that the repertoire of the military band is confined to martial music (Essay, Culture, 6 June). Ceremonial occasions, while seeming to be the limit of his experience, are an infinitesimal part of the role of the military band. Most military bands spend more time in classrooms providing much needed musical tuition for young musicians. How many symphony orchestras provide a full day's free tuition with their musicians to grade-eight standard and beyond, or the experience of playing as part of a full wind band that carries a valuable certificate of work experience?

(Photograph omitted)