BBC Proms
Schnittke - Viola Concerto (UK premiere)
London Symphony Orchestra / Valery Gergiev
Royal Albert Hall / BBC Radio 3

Evening Standard
Fiona Maddocks

However much the gainsayers complain of his risky, whistle-stop approach to conducting, Valery Gergiev alone could command an entire weekend of Russian music at the Proms and ensure gripping performances. Not everything was perfect. Yet he proved himself, as he loomed over his players, fingers trembling, hand shaping each phrase into life, still the world's most exhilarating conductor, who lives every note as one possessed.

Friday's Prom was with the London Symphony Orchestra, whose chief conductor he becomes next year. Shostakovich's early ballet, The Golden Age, offered a witty starter. The evening's highlight was Schnittke's Viola Concerto, a subtle and lyrical masterpiece written for its peerless soloist, Yuri Bashmet. To hear a more authentic performance would be impossible, a finer one inconceivable.