Though he was born in Sheffield and went to Bangor University before studying in Italy with Berio and Dallapiccola, Bernard Rands has lived in the US since 1975. Once a regular part of the UK's new-music scene, performances of his works are now increasingly rare on this side of the Atlantic. But Rands is 80 this year, and the Proms marked his milestone with the UK premiere of his Concerto for Piano and Orchestra. It was written for Jonathan Biss, who gave the world premiere earlier this year in Boston; he was the soloist here, too, playing with the BBC Scottish Symphony under Markus Stenz.
The concerto follows the traditional three-movement fast-slow-fast scheme, with a short solo cadenza just before the close of the finale, and the opening movement constructed around a series of varied orchestral ritornellos, which the piano comments upon and elaborates. It's an easy-going dialogue, not a heroic struggle between soloist and orchestra, and that continues through the slow movement, in which the sense of reflection resembles the mood of late Brahms. It's all assembled without any flashiness or flaunting; even the finale, which is obsessed with trills and ornaments, seems almost apologetically virtuosic, and perfectly tailored to Biss's understated pianism.
The rest of Stenz's programme was a curious mix. A suite of dances from Rameau's first opéra-ballet, Les Indes Galantes, prefaced the concerto, while Mozart's First Symphony K16, which was composed in 1764 during the Mozart family's stay in London, came before Strauss's Ein Heldenleben. The 18th-century works were affectionate and soft-grained, the Strauss thoughtful rather than bombastic, more the life of everyman than superhero in this performance.
• On BBC iPlayer until 12 September. The Proms continue until 13 September.
