Happy birthday, Prom Queen

Inevitably, the work deploys enormous forces: not only the BBC Symphony Orchestra under its new chief conductor, Jiri Belohlavek, but trumpeters from the Scots Guards (complete with busbies) and no fewer than eight children's choirs. Andrew Motion's text seems to propose The Queen as a bulwark against ecological disaster, an unlikely suggestion that Maxwell Davies undercut by setting the final words of the refrain ("your constancy survives") on a falling cadence.

The opening brass fanfare quickly became a wonky phrase for strings; woodwinds turned it into a melody while ominous percussion interludes kept celebration at bay. A quasi-ceremonial melody tried to break through, eventually having its way in a passage of almost Arcadian serenity; timpani ushered in the choirs.

The sing-song rise and fall of Maxwell Davies's setting became a real tune during the refrain, and flourishes from the Scots Guards, intonation somewhat wayward, raised the spirits. The mood brightened as, on the final repetition of "your constancy survives", Maxwell Davies at last allowed an upwards inflection, signalling a radiant crescendo: less "happy birthday" than friendly warning, perhaps.

The performance of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto that followed was soft-grained and smooth, but soloist Julian Bliss deserved sturdier orchestral support. After the interval, bass-baritone Bryn Terfel received the Queen's Medal for Music before delivering an unannounced rendition of My Little Welsh Home, his sincerity at odds with its oleaginous sentimentality.

Finally, Dvorak's New World Symphony, if it did not live dangerously, at least had the vigour that went missing in Mozart.

BBC Proms: BBC Philharmonic/Sinaisky