Review – BBC Proms 2026: Berlin Philharmonic Plays Elgar and Tchaikovsky

Programme

Elgar ‘Enigma’ Variations
Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4 in F minor

Berlin Philharmonic
Conductor: Kirill Petrenko

Wednesday 2 September 2026 · 6.30pm–c8.25pm
Royal Albert Hall

Listen on BBC Radio 3 / BBC Sounds

Review

Fruity bassoons and a lot of accents from the cellos give the game away early on in this. Heartfelt and precise in the pianissimos; full-throttle in the fortissimos. Its resonant, responsive, disciplined. The Berlin Phil’s Enigma meets the brief, but I’m yearning the dusty, dog days of summer melancholy. The timps in Troyte feel oddly rubbery. The transition into Nimrod moves quickly, so too the principal material – if there’s a moment in classical music where permission is granted to linger, its here. Woodwind decoration in the Dorabella sounded odd with the alternative emphasis. The Romance before the Finale felt nervy too. Top marks for effort, but I’m not quite sure the greatest orchestra in the world quite managed to pull off Elgar’s greatest piece of homesickness at the ‘World’s Greatest Classical Music Festival’.

From the opening bars of the first movement, Tchaikovsky 4 feels like far more solid ground. Aside from moments when the wind and strings slip out of sync (similarly later in the horns), there’s more heart in this. The contrasting sequence with its woodwind interplay is playfully comforting; deeply satisfying bottom end string textures and clarion call horn cues secure the first movement amongst exacting listeners. Where it really matters towards the end, the strings are hearty, and the brass crisp. This is where the story heightens. Invigorating.

There’s something a little different in the second movement. Intrigue in the hesitation, sometimes nervy when it takes off, all of it rounded off with taut instinctive articulation. A world away from the comparatively disappointing Enigma. The third movement is more grounded, readying us for the fourth movement which feels hurried, rushed and, at the ends of phrases near the beginning, oddly raggedy. Pizzicato strings help regain composure. Electric articulation follows. When the concluding sequence crashes into view rattling strings do the job, so too brittle timpani rolls that tickle the collar bone.

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