BBC Philharmonic/Collon review – an evening of considerable distinction

Royal Albert Hall, London
Stormingly brilliant Mozart is followed by a French-themed programme of Ravel, Messiaen and Stravinsky, conducted with style by Nicholas Collon

This excellent BBC Philharmonic Prom began with a surprising rarity. Mozart’s ballet from Idomeneo is normally cut in the theatre, where it comes at the end of what is already a long opera. But it is nearly half an hour of music from the early, mature Mozart and is worth anyone’s attention. The highlights were a big chaconne, a delicious gavotte that was recycled in the K503 piano concerto years later and a stormingly brilliant pas seul, which rounded out a resequencing selected by Nicholas Collon , who conducted with notable style throughout the evening.

The rest of the programme had a French theme, particularly if you accept Stravinsky as an honorary Frenchman. Jean-Efflam Bavouzet was the thoroughly engaged yet idiomatic soloist, living every bar in Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major. This was very much a communal effort, with Collon’s more measured than usual opening movement tempo allowing orchestral detail and interplay to flower very rewardingly, so that one caught every shimmer in the percussion and harps and each gurgle in the woodwinds. Bavouzet then raised the roof with a fleet and fantastic encore, Pierné’s Etude de Concert, op 13.

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