The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Ryan Wigglesworth, opened their Proms season with a mixed program at the Royal Albert Hall. The highlight was the world premiere of Brett Dean's orchestral song cycle The World's Wife, featuring soprano Claire Booth. However, Elgar's First Symphony, despite a handsome account, lacked the emotional lift that defines a great performance.
Elgar's First: A Missed Connection
Wigglesworth's approach to Elgar's symphony was thoughtful, emphasizing long structural lines from the hushed opening Andante to the finale's return. Yet the orchestra's execution felt choppy in transitions, particularly in the first two movements. The Adagio suffered from imperfect balance, and episodes in the final Allegro lacked context. While nothing was fatally wrong, the performance remained cerebral rather than visceral, failing to achieve the blend of heart and head that Hans Richter called "the greatest symphony of modern times."
Judith Weir's Moon and Star: Filmic Sweep
The first half offered more sensation with Judith Weir's 1995 Moon and Star, setting Emily Dickinson's poem. The piece gleams under layers of orchestral texture, described as less a traditional setting than a prismatic explosion of imagery, with the verse as its crystal center. The performance had filmic sweep and shimmer, captivating the audience.
Brett Dean's The World's Wife: Rich and Strange
Brett Dean's new work sets five poems by Carol Ann Duffy, offering wry, confessional, irreverent perspectives from women behind famous men—Icarus, Darwin, Perseus. Soprano Claire Booth, a stage animal, seizes the text, bending it into love-song, satire, prayer, and meditation. Dean pitches his monodrama between Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire and Walton's Façade, stylized and arch, yet richly and strangely textured. He creates new spaces in Duffy's tight, epigrammatic poetry, filling them with ambiguity and interest. The performance was theatrical and engaging, a standout of the evening.
The concert is available on BBC Sounds until 12 October. The Proms continue until 12 September.
