Royal Albert Hall, London
A jubilant and light-on-its-feet performance of Mahler’s monumental 5th symphony made this Prom an emotionally charged occasion
‘There won’t be a dry eye anywhere, certainly not on stage,” said one of the musicians before this, the first – and probably the last – performance by the Proms Festival Orchestra. UK musicians have had a relentlessly hard time during the pandemic, but freelance orchestral players have had some of the worst of it, and many have been forced to find other ways of making a living: one of the double bassists on stage, for example, is currently working as an undertaker. The Proms put together an orchestra of around 80 of these freelancers for this one-off concert, and the result was indeed an emotionally charged occasion.
It all felt jubilant and a little bit defiant, and this was partly down to the choice of music. First, the players tore into Shostakovich’s noisily brilliant Festive Overture, responding to the blistering pace set by the conductor Mark Wigglesworth. Then came Mahler’s Fifth Symphony – and you could hardly find a work that traces a more monumental, more convincing journey from darkness into light, despair to hope.