Exploring major choral works is one of the themes of this year’s Proms, and the first of Thomas Søndergård’s concerts with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales was structured carefully around Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms and Haydn’s Te Deum No 2 in C Major. The two works inhabit opposite poles of the devotional spectrum. Stravinsky’s austere meditation contrasts sharply with Haydn’s celebratory piece for a grand public occasion, namely to celebrate Lord Nelson’s visit to Eisenstadt in 1800. Its elated mood dips only once, at the mention of Christ sitting in judgment at the end of time.
Both formed fine vehicles for the BBC National Chorus of Wales. Symphony of Psalms was clean, clear and admirably detached, the reiterated alleluias of the final psalm hovering with wonderful numinosity, the work’s neo-classical severities scrupulously underlined by the restraint of Søndergård’s conducting. The Te Deum was done with comparable clarity of focus, and with considerable panache. Haydn emphasises the festive mood by vastly expanding the orchestra’s brass section, with thrilling results. It served as a reminder of what a great choral composer he is, and that – The Creation apart – we hear his sacred works too infrequently.
Poulenc’s Organ Concerto and Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony formed the rest of the programme, both curiously hampered by problems of balance. The opening of Poulenc’s concerto has rarely sounded quite so arresting as when played full throttle by James O’Donnell on the Royal Albert Hall organ, but there were moments later on when the sheer immensity of the sound threatened to swamp the strings. The brass, meanwhile, seemed over-prominent in the Jupiter, an interpretation that gathered strength as it progressed. The opening movement felt a bit too reined in; the finale, its complexities nicely judged, was admirably majestic.
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The Proms continue until 12 September. Box office: 0845-401 5040.
