This was a Proms debut for the French conductor Jérémie Rhorer and his period instrument ensemble Le Cercle de l’Harmonie, but their thunder was stolen by their soloist, the soprano Rosa Feola. In this perfectly balanced programmed of Mozart and Mendelssohn, she featured in two concert arias – long, quasi-operatic pieces written for star singers. Her gleaming, supple soprano shone in Mendelssohn’s Infelice, riding the choppy waves of the stormy orchestra in the closing section, and she soared in duet with the oboe in Mozart’s Ah, lo previdi.
Feola’s arias were flanked by two symphonies, neither of which came off quite as well, with Rhorer’s soft-toned players struggling to get crisp details across the huge spaces of the hall. Mozart’s No 39 took a little while to settle down. The best movement was the Andante, in which the ensemble’s soft tone was used to advantage, as transparent layers of melody and harmony overlapped, combining and then clearing. Yet in the faster movements, even when Rhorer’s tempos had a swing, the phrasing had a certain flatness to it.
Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony came over a little better; but again, a lack of both definition and absolute rhythmic control sapped the music of some of its balmy warmth and exuberance. With its scampering opening passage throwing up the same problems, Mozart’s overture to The Marriage of Figaro wasn’t perhaps the ideal choice of encore, but at least here we found out how vital the strings could sound when they really dug in.
•The Proms continue until 10 September.
