This terrific programme was billed by the BBC Proms as “Impressions of Spain” but, with the exception of Manuel de Falla, the Impressionists here were French: Édouard Lalo, who composed his Symphonie espagnole for Spanish virtuoso Pablo de Sarasate; Maurice Ravel, whose mother was Basque; and Claude Debussy, whose first-hand experience of Spain amounted to a single afternoon when he crossed the border to San Sebastián and watched a bullfight. At least Josep Pons (conductor) and María Dueñas (soloist) were on hand to provide some Spanish authenticity.
Pons, dapper in a pale grey waistcoat, led a suave account of the Interlude from Falla’s La vida breve, the BBC Symphony strings warm and supple, the oboe weaving the habanera-like melody which then swirls into life as the Dance thanks to the lively brass and the obligatory castanets.
María Dueñas was making her Proms debut. The 20-year old violinist won the Yehudi Menuhin Competition in 2021 (playing the Symphonie espagnole), followed last year by signing an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon and the loan of the 1710 ‘Camposelice’ Stradivari violin, courtesy of the Nippon Music Foundation. Despite her slender frame, she has a strong bowing attack and her opening phrases rang out in declamatory manner. But quieter passages had a sweet, songlike quality, with silvery high notes that projected remarkably well.
There’s a strong dance feel to Lalo’s concertante work, written in five movements. Dueñas threw off the Spanish triplets boldly in the virtuosic opening Allegro non troppo. The second movement is a seguidilla (think of Bizet’s Carmen, which premiered just a month after the Symphonie espagnole), with harp and pizzicato strings imitating a guitar. Dueñas was especially persuasive in the earthy, sultry lower notes of the flamenco-like Intermezzo, while the unaffected sincerity of the Andante – with a particularly hushed solo entry – was a reminder that it was Lalo’s work that inspired Tchaikovsky to write his Violin Concerto. The bravura finale was beguiling, Pons injecting the punchy syncopations with vigour. As a coolant to the throbbing Spanish heat, Dueñas’ encore was a silky rendition of Fauré’s Après un rêve.
Debussy’s depictions of Spain in Ibéria are fragrant rather than pungent. Pons was especially good at teasing out the subtle colours in the second movement Perfumes of the Night from dusky flute to dappled strings. The finale didn’t really let rip. Remember that photograph of Debussy at the beach, holding a parasol and wearing a three-piece suit and bow tie? This fiesta felt similarly buttoned up.
Bow ties were tossed aside in the concert closer though. Ravel’s Boléro is the most unlikely hit. In the composer’s own words, it consists “wholly of ‘orchestration without music’ – of one very long, gradual crescendo”. But audiences love it – familiarity? – and this performance drew the evening’s loudest ovation. Pons set a lively tempo as, over a two-bar snare-drum ostinato, Ravel’s simple melody snaked its way hypnotically through the orchestra. So many instruments are thrown into the spotlight; highlights included a seductive clarinet, smoky tenor saxophone and a wonderfully louche trombone before Ravel slams the brake on with a brief key change and a crunching dissonance causing the piece to crash into an exhausted heap. Restorative sangrias all round, please.
