For its latest Prom, the BBC Symphony Orchestra under conductor Josep Pons gave us an intriguing programme that spoke to the best of what it can do, pairing two ballets, Dukas’ La Péri and Bartok’s The Miraculous Mandarin, separated by Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. It’s a canny menu with thematic links between the dishes, but plenty of contrasts to highlight the individual flavours of each.
The Dukas -– a Poème dansé – has a certain whimsy to it which reflects its subject: an encounter between Alexander the Great and an Iranian spirit, the Peri. Pons took a spacious and relaxed approach, adopting tempi that allowed the work to breathe without serious detriment to the heady swirl of Dukas’ writing, though there were points, particularly in the second half, where his interpretation felt just a little too polite. Pons kept the orchestral sections in balance, and some particularly fine horn-playing, amber and mellow, gave the piece a certain crepuscular beauty.
The inevitable ‘heave-ho’ preceded the arrival of Beatrice Rana to the piano for the Rachmaninov, in a well-judged reading of the piece which saw both soloist and orchestra in total harmony of approach. Rana’s playing at times elicited the most delicate of sounds, yet still audible – no small feat in the Royal Albert Hall – as she veered between an impressionist blur and pinpoint definition between the notes. It was those light moments, rather than her dynamic fortissimi, that gave the greatest pleasure and demonstrated a quiet virtuosity. The famous eighteenth variation, now so familiar from cheesy romance films, was sketched out in bold colour but didn’t descend into the maudlin, and was the better for it. Pons led his forces in a tightly controlled reading: the attack at the first variation was crisp, the woodwind and particularly plangent bassoons fragrant and clean. A surprising encore, a transcription from The Nutcracker Suite, was terrific fun and further bound together the balletic elements surrounding the Rachmaninov.