Ravel (orch. Colin Matthews)
La vallée des cloches
Nadia Boulanger
Fantasy for piano and orchestra
Rachmaninov
Symphony No.2 in E minor, Op.27
Alexandra Dariescu (piano)
Hallé Orchestra
Kahchun Wong
Reviewed by: Chris Caspell
Reviewed: 5 August, 2026
Venue: Royal Albert Hall, London
Hallé patron Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, sat in the royal box for a Prom that took a while to catch fire: hard-working but slight first half, thrilling second.
Ravel’s La vallée des cloches was the last of the five Miroirs for solo piano (1904-05). Ravel orchestrated two of the set himself; Percy Grainger took up this one in 1944; tonight it was Colin Matthews’s 2017 version, with Matthews himself in the audience. Wisely, he didn’t mimic Ravel: pure Matthews, and the better for it. Tubular bells, glockenspiel, vibraphone, celesta: present, but whispering, not pealing – more valley than bells. Gone almost before it began: too brief for the orchestra to dig in.
Nadia Boulanger fares better as Stravinsky’s champion and Copland’s teacher than as a composer – her own music long suppressed, only now rediscovered. The 1912 Fantasy, written for pianist Raoul Pugno with Boulanger conducting, is slow-burning and reflective, flaring occasionally into life. Another Proms premiere, and again not enough material to test the orchestra. Dariescu redeemed the half with an encore, joined by the Hallé’s excellent principal cellist Rachel Helleur-Simcock for the Three Pieces for Cello and Piano finale – taut, urgent, the best three minutes yet.
Then Rachmaninov’s second symphony, and everything changed. Written in 1906-08, still shadowed by his disastrous First Symphony a decade earlier and dedicated to his teacher Sergei Taneyev, it triumphed at its 1908 St Petersburg premiere, conducted by Rachmaninov himself – the confidence-restorer he needed. Divided violins either side of the platform suit this symphony, and under Wong’s sure hand the opening antiphonal exchanges were thrillingly matched. As a violist myself I’m contractually obliged to notice the viola writing, and here it sang: oh, those violas! The scherzo’s fugue crackled on that same antiphonal split, and the double basses produced a sumptuous sound. Best of all was principal clarinettist Sergio Caselló López’s slow-movement solo, its top register almost flute-like, over strings that never overpowered; the coda wandered before settling home. The finale galloped home on glorious string tone: the Hallé had saved its best until it mattered most.
There’s a new tradition taking hold: at the final bow the orchestra turned through 180 degrees to the choir stalls behind them. I like it – they’d earned that applause too.
Agree with all of the above, and thank you for identifying that lovely encore piece – I could not hear the not-miked-up pianist introducing it, and have never heard it before.
The turning 180 degrees bow is to pay homage to Henry Wood, the founder of the Proms, whose bust stands in front of the organ console.