The seoul Philharmonic came under the Proms’ spell for the first time on 27 August. Under conductor Myung-Whun Chung, it played Debussy’s La Mer with a sense of power unleashed and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Pathétique, with such thrilling third-movement drive that the impromptu applause would not stop until Chung had taken a bow. It boasted a virtuoso in Wu Wei who played Unsuk Chin’s Su, a concerto for sheng, panting into this 2,500-year-old wind instrument at extreme speed and blowing Messiaen-like dissonances that the Far East has known since the birth not of electricity like us, but of gunpowder.The BBC Symphony Orchestra, host of the Proms, meanwhile electrified the Royal Albert Hall last Sunday with its performance of Richard S
04 September 2014, The Tablet
Charged with energy
Proms 55 and 59, Royal Albert Hall, London
Get Instant Access
Continue Reading
Register for free to read this article in full
Subscribe for unlimited access
From just £30 quarterly
Complete access to all Tablet website content including all premium content.
The full weekly edition in print and digital including our 179 years archive.
PDF version to view on iPad, iPhone or computer.
Already a subscriber? Login