Prom 70, BBC Symphony Orchestra/Canellakis, Royal Albert Hall, London, review: Missy Mazzoli’s Sinfonia it unfolds in slow-burning loops

American conductor Karina Canellakis makes her first visit to the Proms opening concert with with the European premiere of Missy Mazzoli’s 'Sinfonia' – music inspired by the shape of the solar system

Prom 70: The European premiere of Missy Mazzoli’s 'Sinfonia', inspired by the solar system, was a highlight (Marylene Mey)

Having made a memorable UK debut earlier this year, Karina Canellakis tonight made her first appearance at the Proms with a programme including her American compatriot Missy Mazzoli. Little of her music has been heard on this side of the Atlantic, but the European premiere of Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres) may well change that. Inspired by the shape of the solar system, it unfolds in slow-burning loops – with imaginative use of keyboards and percussion – towards an ending as teasingly understated as this piece when taken overall.

Bartók was rarely so equivocal, with the Second Piano Concerto being no exception. Jeremy Denk had the measure of its densely chorded solo writing; if balance with woodwind and brass in the first movement was not ideally in focus, its successor’s introspective nocturnal had the right ominous import, before the finale bounded forth with an exhilarating energy.

The immediacy of Dvořák’s Eighth Symphony tends to obscure its formal innovations, but Canellakis’s emphasising of this, along with her concern with phrasing, ensured a reading of conviction. If the outer movements lacked a degree of elan, the Adagio was ideally judged in expressive fervour, with the intermezzo’s melodic lilt kept buoyant through to its lively close.