The 50th anniversary of the death of Ralph Vaughan Williams has occasioned a timely reappraisal. Tony Palmer’s film O Thou Transcendent and a number of critical studies have set the familiar idyllic pastoralism against a much darker backdrop. Anguish in the composer’s personal life and a sense of existential despair combine in some of his greatest works to produce a far more varied and interesting creative impulse than he is often given credit for.

Last night Andrew Davis, one of Vaughan Williams’s most dedicated interpreters, conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra in a programme that offered the quirkily original masque Job and the enigmatic Ninth Symphony, with the emblematically pastoral Tallis Fantasia and the exquisitely lyrical Serenade to Music.

The latter is reserved for special occasions, if only on account of the 16 soloists required. On the occasion for which it was written — Henry Wood’s 50th anniversary as a conductor — the solos were taken by distinguished British singers. Here they were rising stars but no one could complain when the prominent part of Isobel Baillie was so ably taken by the silvery-toned Sarah Tynan.

For the Tallis Fantasia the smaller ensemble was ranged along the top step of the orchestra; the use of minimal vibrato further suggested a sense of historical separation. The overall execution may not have been flawless but such touches made this performance rather special.

If the Ninth Symphony is often unsettling, it is partly because of the scoring, which includes three saxophones and a flugelhorn. Davis brought out the latently sinister nature of the Scherzo, which suggests a Sorcerer’s Apprentice with diabolic potential. He had the full measure of the finale, visionary and disturbing.

The expert realisation of the ambiguous closing bars, alternating beatific string and harp washes with defiant bass drum, cymbals, timpani and gong, perfectly encapsulated this composer’s intriguing complexity.