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Amid this year’s crop of Proms premieres, one stood out a mile – long before any of us had heard a note of it. Out of the Darkness is a new bassoon concerto by the 98-year-old Scottish composer Thea Musgrave, whose music was first heard at the Proms in 1960. Sixty-six years later, Musgrave is one of classical music’s most eminent elder stateswomen; her next opera will make its debut next year. But bassoon concertos remain a rare breed.
The first performance of Out of the Darkness emerged from a dark grumble of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields’ percussion and bass instruments, which bassoonist Amy Harman answered from the back of the stage, weaving a warm, baritonal vocalise through the orchestral duskiness. Only the solo violin line of ASMF’s director Benjamin Marquise Gilmore offered a lighter, brighter sound, until it was picked up by the rest of the violins. The musical material was all beguiling loops and phrases ending in question marks, Harman’s tone deliciously lyrical. Nothing was spelled out, except her journey around the orchestra, the bassoon gathering rhythmic vitality as she walked to join the trumpets, then double basses, finally arriving at the front – a soloist’s standard spot – in time for the disarmingly near-tonal final chord.
The remainder of the programme mixed Mozart and 20th-century British music. A fast, ultra-precise performance of Britten’s Simple Symphony was followed by a pleasant take on Mozart’s Horn Concerto No 3 in E flat major, K447 with Felix Klieser the soloist. Klieser’s ability to play the instrument with his feet remains astonishing, but this surely should not be the most interesting feature of a performance. Harman returned to the stage post-premiere for Elgar’s charming Romance for bassoon and orchestra, allowing this period instrument ensemble a rare opportunity for voluptuous tone and a spot of Edwardian passion. In Mozart’s Symphony No 35 “Haffner”, K385, the ASMF were back on repertorial home turf, their playing neat, fleet-footed and tremendously classy. It was just a shame that the subtle drama of their approach could make only a limited impact in a space as cavernous as the Royal Albert Hall.
