Prom 30 and 31 review: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and National Youth Orchestra of Scotland

'One seldom sees an audience erupt with such spontaneous delight'

Thomas Dausgaard coaxes wonderful moments of mystery from the BBCSSO (BBC/Chris Christodoulou)

Prom 30: Kolesnikov/NYOS/Volkov

★★★★☆

Prom 31: Gerstein/BBCSSO/Dausgaard

★★★★★

The first of these Proms saw the unveiling of the second part of Helen Grime’s diptych, Two Eardley Pictures, which was as elegantly contrived a tone-poem as the first part premiered in Prom 27. Otherwise, Proms 30 and 31 were designed to invite comparisons: between the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, both of which were playing Stravinsky classics; between Tchaikovsky’s first and second piano concertos; and between the pianists who were playing them.

And the first thing to say is that the young Scots under Ilan Volkov’s direction were clearly able to give their elders (under Thomas Dausgaard) a run for their money, even if they lacked the patina which comes with experience.

The BBCSSO’s Rite had some wonderful moments of mystery and terror, but the NYOS’s Firebird fully honoured the variegated beauty and tenderness of its score.

In being allotted Tchaikovsky’s bombastic second piano concerto, Pavel Kolesnikov got a raw deal, but with delicately refined playing made the best of it. Kirill Gerstein delivered the 1879 revised version of the first – whose every bar reflects Tchaikovsky’s inspiration at white heat – like the warrior-poet he is.

Technically flawless and imbued with benign authority, his performance was studded with moments of unexpected beauty; one seldom sees an audience erupt with such spontaneous delight.