WITH THE focus of many English-speaking nations on the Commonwealth Games in Scotland recently, it was appropriate that the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra gave last Sunday’s Prom. It brought with the joyful, celebratory ambience as well as the skills as it played with faultless timing, synchronicity, precision and speed. After the breathless finale of Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony, chief conductor Donald Runnicles bade the entire first violin section, led by Laura Samuel, stand in acknowledgement of its perfect articulation over the darting, shuffling, infectious semiquavers. The wind soloists did not go unnoticed. The bassoons stood out for their plaintive tone, especially on the sighing high notes at the start of the Beethoven, the sound rec0alling the opening of Stravin
07 August 2014, The Tablet
Scots on a high
BBC Prom 23, Royal Albert Hall, London
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