THE BSO always shines in its appearances at the BBC Proms, and this year – on the brink of the orchestra’s 125th anniversary – it earned thunderous applause from a crammed Royal Albert Hall audience for this bold and varied programme.

Chief Conductor Kirill Karabits, who is noted for his happy rapport with the orchestra’s players, and for his deft control and his clarity of pulse and purpose, conducted his huge forces – including the National Youth Choir of Great Britain and two eminent British opera singers – in music reflecting revolutions, both musical and political.

The concert opened with a smart and finely-nuanced performance of Beethoven’s radical First Symphony and continued with the Symphonic Fantasy from Die Frau ohne Schatten by Richard Strauss, which the composer distilled near the end of his life from his fairy-tale opera.

We did not need to know anything about the original story to enjoy the colourful, romantic and tender melodies which Kirill Karabits drew from the players.

After the interval things heated up further. The short cantata Seven, They Are Seven by Prokofiev had never been heard at the Proms before. Despite requiring a large orchestra and choir as well as a powerful tenor soloist (the wonderful David Butt Philip) the work only lasts about seven minutes. The picture of seven malevolent all-powerful gods was Prokofiev’s depiction of the events of the Russian Revolution, the centenary of which is a theme in this year’s Proms.

Something special was needed to finish the evening after this and the orchestra combined with the National Youth Choir of Great Britain and the outstanding baritone soloist James Rutherford to give a totally jazzy and sparkling performance of Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast. The performance was suitably creepy, regretful and exultant by turns and the Proms audience loved it all. The dramatic orchestral and choral effects produced by these forces were quite stunning.

What a rousing way to conclude this very special evening when the south coast came once more to South Kensington.

TOM WICKSON