Last Night of the Proms evaluation – star turns, good-natured flag waving and a wealthy Rule, Britannia! | Proms 2025

For many, the banner waving at classical music’s annual jamboree evokes satisfaction and a celebration of shared heritage. The discomfort felt by others might have been sharper this yr as Promenaders heading to South Kensington shared the streets with the flag-draped hordes who had come to city in help of far-right activist Tommy Robinson.

Inside the Royal Albert Hall, nevertheless, all was good-natured inclusivity, with pennants from across the globe dotting a sea of bunting from the UK and EU. Perhaps that was the range organisers have been hoping to seize in a hodgepodge programme the place 20-or-so disparate composers battled for consideration.

Inevitably there was good and unhealthy. A particular plus was Hong Kong-born conductor Elim Chan making an auspicious Last Night debut. A firecracker on the rostrum, she piloted her forces by means of a collection of orchestral and choral showcases. There was Mussorgsky’s first try at A Night on the Bare Mountain, a riot of imaginative ticks and quirks for these aware of Rimsky-Korsakov’s interventionist rearrangement. Dukas’ Sorcerer’s Apprentice labored his magic, and there was a rip-roaring account of Shostakovich’s Festive Overture whose Soviet Technicolor brilliance felt like John Williams on steroids.

Another asset was British soprano Louise Alder who, with limber tone, beautiful high notes and a relaxed, communicative method, delivered a glowing Jewel Aria from Faust and a deeply felt Vilja from The Merry Widow. In Rule, Britannia!, the vocal line was extra richly embellished than her stylishly restrained Union Jack gown. She even turned in a creditable Eliza Doolittle in a medley from My Fair Lady.

There was a poignant farewell from trumpeter Alison Balsom who, at simply 46, has put her retirement down partially to lack of repertoire. Hummel’s amiable concerto confirmed her at her greatest within the galloping finale. There have been finds too, together with Arthur Benjamin’s Elgarian Storm Clouds’ Cantata, composed for Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much with a climactic cymbal crash designed to masks the sound of an murderer’s bullet.

On the minus facet, new music felt considerably marginalised. At six minutes, Camille Pépin’s Fireworks did what it mentioned on the tin, however whereas Rachel Portman’s The Gathering Tree boasted a catchy fake folks tune, it was dogged by some clumsy phrase setting. A souped-up classical association of Queen’s 50-year-old Bohemian Rhapsody raised extra laughs than goosebumps regardless of that includes Brian May on guitar and Roger Taylor banging Britain’s largest gong.

For movie star turns, it was left to comic and Strictly winner Bill Bailey to save lots of the day, enjoying a imply typewriter in Leroy Anderson’s eponymous bonbon. “This is in A, right?” he joked, earlier than popping up later for Auld Lang Syne on the Albert Hall organ. Is there something the person can’t do?