Between the vast audience armed with mobile phones and the acoustic quirks of its cavernous dome, the Royal Albert Hall can be a tough place to conjure a musical spell. The Hallé should know, having appeared at the Proms most years since the 1950s. Under their longstanding music director Mark Elder, this year’s programme was nonetheless all about orchestral atmospherics.
At times, it worked. As Elder launched into the opening oh-so-mysterious pizzicati of Dukas’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and the lights went down, there was electric suspense that even the crackle of a steward’s walkie talkie couldn’t shatter. Every ping, shiver, slither and parp of the score’s bag of tricks was present and correct. There was showstopping contrabassoon playing from Simon Davies and more high-gleam polish than a car salesroom. But I missed a sense of fun amid the precision.
