Photo, BBC/Chris Christodoulou
REVIEWED FROM LIVE RELAY ON BBC RADIO 3
Tuesday, September 8, 2026
Royal Albert Hall, London
A lonesome flautist opened this prom of music composed in 1936 (the year the BBC Scottish SO was founded), Matthew Higham playing Varèse’s Density 21.5, written for an instrument made of platinum, its density “being close to 21.5 grams per cubic centimetre”, music mysterious and enchanted, here seguing without audience interruption into Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta, equally mysterious, well-calibrated by Ryan Wigglesworth to a sinewy if slightly contained climax, the BBCS members also conveying the ‘night music’ third movement with much atmosphere, and while movements II and IV were rhythmically adroit there was a lack of fire at times however meticulous the execution of dialogue between the two string groups separated by percussion including piano and the named celesta, singled out by the composer for its melodic contributions.
It was a similar story for Rachmaninov’s great Third Symphony, covering a gamut of moods and emotions superbly orchestrated, which found Wigglesworth on top of structure (including observing the exposition repeat), well-judged tempos, and an overview that conveyed direction; yet, for all the expertise, there could be something of a shortfall in potency – although maybe a year on (below) I was anticipating a reading that had grown. Best if all the nostalgia of the middle movement interrupted by scherzo-like material, notated brilliantly, played deftly.
I imagine it was Mr Higham, now returned to the SSO, who led the coda that ended brusquely, even desperately.
Varèse: Density 21.5
Bartók: Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta
Rachmaninov: Symphony No.3 in A-minor
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0030w5w
Listening to Rachmaninov’s Symphony No. 3 on the radio last night, it seemed to me that the BBC Scottish strings had all the warmth, passion, sensuality, grandeur and sheer humanity that I have found missing in many of the performances by more famous orchestras in recent weeks. Surely it can’t just be a matter of microphone placement.