The Proms are back! Opening night , with a packed house, was a joyous celebration of fresh voices and new perspectives – and if you wanted to overturn all the false assumptions about classical music at a stroke, this surprising, inspiring concert was the way to do it. The conductor was Elim Chan, a rising star from Hong Kong ; the Black British pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason played a virtuoso concerto by a 19 th -century female teenage prodigy; and there was a world premiere that was clever, engaging, and humorous. Moreover, the evening began with Handel on full modern symphony orchestra.
The overture to his Music for the Royal Fireworks, in a 1959 edition by Charles Mackerras and Anthony Baines, was an inspired choice. One unintended consequence of the Historically Informed Performance (HIP) movement has been that symphony orchestras began to shy away from 18 th century music. If this uplifting delight – with eight double basses – marks its return, it’s about time.
Clara Schumann was only 13 and still Clara Wieck when she began writing her Piano Concerto (it took her a couple of years). In three interconnected movements, it’s influenced by Mendelssohn and Chopin, with lashings of lyricism and long-spun virtuosity, plus a polonaise finale; the slow movement, in which the pianist duets with a solo cellist, is particularly fine. Kanneh-Mason brought the solo part steely flair and a tender intimacy in which she seemed to treat the Royal Albert Hall as her own living room; .