Review: PROM 60: BERLIN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, Royal Albert Hall

Marking the Proms debut of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin), their artistic director Vladimir Jurowski conducted a lively and varied programme of works by Kurt Weill, Thomas Adès and Sergey Rachmaninov last night.

The sense of anticipation at the Royal Albert Hall was high, particularly in seeing both an orchestral debut at the Proms, but also the first performance here of the Adès Piano Concerto.

Opening with the Little Threepenny Music suite, with a core of sixteen musicians led by brass (notably saxophone), piano and accordion, we were invited into a smoky cabaret with jazz flourishes where the melodies are relaxed and the atmosphere is light. It is pre-war Berlin, where anything goes, the high life sizzles and the low life thrives.

Creative yet cynical, this set of extracts from Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera) was assembled for the equivalent of the theatrical pit band, and while including notable moments like "Mack The Knife" this ranges across the deeply satirical and political score of the opera, always retaining a skewed sense of fun.

The Adès Piano Concerto was written for pianist Kirill Gerstein, who introduced it in 2019 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and now returns to perform it again at the Proms. It is an intriging piece which invites both virtuosity and discordance, with a melancholy second section and a brash, fast-paced finale.

Percussion and strings are particularly vibrant in the opening allegramente, with the andante gravemente offering a slow, steady, and lyrical middle section with some graceful moments for the soloist. The mood is melancholic and out of sorts, with some harsh and repetitive moments.

By the third movement, allegro giojoso, the melody almost trips over itself, in a finale which races and dances in opposing themes to a fast-paced close. In Gerstein's assured hands the concerto feels fresh, strong, witty and, as the composer describes "in the style of a ball bouncing down stairs". A fascinating piece of 21st century classical music.

Finally, the main course is Proms favourite Rachmaninov and the Symphony No 3 in A minor. The composer never appeared at the Proms, but has been featured strongly through the years, particularly in this 150th anniversary of his birth, and this is a passionate piece in which the string sections come into their own.

As the video screens behind the stage transformed from the green/blue of act one to a fiery red, the string section came into their own together with harps, all kinds of percussion, and snippets of brass and woodwind. It opens with clarinet, muted horn and muted cello creating melody together, a sense of the sacred becoming the march of time.

Dramatic in its construction, epic in its delivery, and quietly mocking of its influences, the Symphony No 3 is a piece which yields many treasures, from the solo violin of the second movement, to the knowing nod to the Requiem Mass in the finale.

The Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra is celebrating its centenary this year and prove to be an accomplished and versatile ensemble who impress throughout this programme. As well as the Symphony No 3 we were treated to an encore of Rachmaninov's Prelude in C sharp minor, as arranged by Proms founder Sir Henry Wood, adding a sense of history to the collaboration of two musicians of notable distinction.

Prom 60 at the Royal Albert Hall as part of BBC Proms 2023 on 31 August.

Photo credit: Andy Paradise

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