The big foreign orchestras are queuing up as the Proms gets into its final fortnight, so it's good to hear that the BBC Symphony Orchestra, 'the backbone of the BBC Proms', doesn't give away much in terms of professionalism and virtuosity. Granted, the orchestra might lack the last ounce of tonal allure and shine, but in this Prom, featuring three works written in the middle two decades of the twentieth century, they were in their element. Starting with Britten's Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, this was a fascinating programme which, despite the chronological closeness of the works, was full of variety. It was also gratifying to see the Albert Hall reasonably full despite what, on paper, seemed a slightly forbidding programme.
The performance of the Britten opened with a beautifully atmospheric reading of 'Dawn', the opening played with real tonal richness by the strings and flutes, with interjections from bubbling clarinets and the sonorous, burnished brass building in power as the climax was gradually and expertly built up by Belohlavek. Unfortunately the conclusion of this movement, as well as the next two movements, was spoilt by some loud talking from the balcony, but Belohlavek and his players persevered. And if the spiky figures of 'Sunday Morning' were a bit laboured, 'Moonlight', with its cool, ethereal beauty was given a satisfyingly atmospheric reading, even if it lacked that sense of foreboding. The concluding 'Storm' was whipped up with expert control.
Next was a relative obscurity, Martinu's Piano Concerto no.4 ('Incantation' of 1955-6), and it says something for the commitment of the performers that it proved the highlight of the evening. Although the piece itself can be a touch episodic - not to say sometimes bordering on the bizarre in its twists and turns (where did that 'oriental' theme introduced in the work's final minute come from?) - the wide array of melodic ideas, of textures and colours Martinu produces and the sheer brilliance of his keyboard writing were more than enough to hold one's attention.
The novel admixture of the harp (special mention should go to harpist Manon Morris who performed her duties with aplomb) and piano was particularly interesting, especially as the confidence of the piano's first entry in the second movement dissipated, undermined by the harp's contribution. Pianist Ivo Kahánek was here making his Proms debut at what looks like the start of a very promising career. He has a charming stage manner, an impressive, Lisztian mane of blond and a little Mephistophelean glint in his eye which will take him far. And he's no mean pianist: his supremely confident playing and muscular virtuosity won over the audience and I marvelled several times at the sheer richness of sound he produced from his instrument, making the most of Martinu's big chords.
Prokofiev's Fifth Symphony appears quite regularly at the Proms; I was at the last performance here in 2005. I have to admit, as in 2005, that the performance, although difficult to fault technically, just didn't quite set the world on fire. It seems to me as though Prokofiev's own compositional mastery almost puts the piece at a disadvantage. The score is so complete that there is little room for interpretative manoeuvre and Belohlávek seemed too content not to push any of those boundaries.
In the opening Andante the brass were given free rein and dominated proceedings. Although this brass dominance can be seen to represent the empty bombast of the official Soviet line, I felt this could have been moderated slightly to be a little less demanding on the ear. That said, the BBC SO brass were at their best and the sound produced was consistently fine. The sarcastic Allegro Marcato was tossed off with aplomb and Richard Hosford delivered the goods in the big clarinet solos (as he did in the finale), played with a breathy urgency. The final reconstruction of the main theme, started off by three snarling, staccato trumpets and gradually cranked up, was excellently controlled by Belohlávek.
The third movement Adagio is really the only place in the work where Prokofiev removes his mask and plumbs the depths of genuine feeling. Although once again the BBC SO delivered the goods in pure sonic terms, the brass and woodwind excellent and the strings producing an admirable intensity of tone, the performance failed to wring as much tortured intensity out of the score as it should. The finale, again, was technically secure with moments of impressive virtuosity but lacked that extra dash of acidity and menace. I've come to think, if the orchestra's up to it technically, it's impossible to give a truly bad performance of this work. Although tonight's performance was much more than that, it failed to ignite.
By Hugo Shirley