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BBC Proms: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Volkov

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Beethoven at the double

 

At a pace: Ilan Volkov

There's no regulating the speed at which peasants merry-make but last night, in Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony No6, performed by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under chief conductor Ilan Volkov, they were going for gold.

All very well for a Jamaican in Beijing but not for the bucolic third movement, Peasants Merrymaking. While the opening Allegro and the Andante "Scene by the Brook" had been brisk, this middle section risked squandering the aural detail which refines rustic drones into high art.

Fortunately the fine woodwind made light of this haste with nimble yet spacious solos. Lower strings sounded strong and solid but there's something awry in the violins. More than once, the vigorous Leader (Elizabeth Layton) and her colleague at the head of the Second Violins were alone audible, with the rest of the section seen but barely heard. Do a few players need whipping?

Last week Elliott Carter's Oboe Concerto was paired with Beethoven's Fifth. Last night, his Soundings (2005), a quasi-concerto written for Daniel Barenboim and the Chicago SO, proved an ideal match for the Sixth.

Pianist Nicolas Hodges made full display of the brief, sparky toccatas which alternated with the exuberant, fluid orchestral writing of this concise work.

Cellist Alban Gerhardt was the expressive soloist in Prokofiev's rarely played Symphony-Concerto - if only there had been more to express. The dithering oxymoron of the title suggests an uncertainty on the composer's part thatwas only too well conveyed.

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