The BBC National Orchestra of Wales, under the energetic baton of Italian-Turkish conductor Nil Venditti, delivered a stirring performance at the Royal Albert Hall, blending 20th-century British classics with rarer works. The programme, a throwback to earlier Proms traditions, juxtaposed staples like Vaughan Williams's The Lark Ascending and Elgar's Enigma Variations with premieres by John Rutter and others.
Bulgarian violinist Liya Petrova gave a poetic reading of The Lark Ascending, soaring with elegant phrasing and silvery tone over the orchestra's velvet-cushioned accompaniment. Venditti's account of Britten's Four Sea Interludes teemed with atmosphere, though the Sunday Morning bells episode felt muddied at a hectic pace. Elgar's Enigma Variations was a painterly tour de force, with ideal tempi and a breathtakingly controlled Nimrod, despite interruptions from overeager applause.
The rarities, all Proms premieres, were a mixed bag. William Mathias's syncopated Dance Overture proved a crowd-pleaser, while Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Edwardian part-songs and his daughter Avril's haunting The Shepherd were fine discoveries. John Rutter's Bird Songs, receiving its world premiere, felt schmaltzy and derivative. Grace Williams's Elegy for Strings, with Lesley Hatfield's heartfelt violin solo, closed the programme affectingly.
