The following correction was printed in the Guardian's Corrections and clarifications column, Friday 21 August 2009

An editing change caused the review below to attribute the song Teenage Dirtbag to Weezer when the group's name was actually Wheatus. This has been corrected.

Iván Fischer's Budapest Festival Orchestra and the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain have, it would seem, much in common. They pack houses, for starters: the Albert Hall was heaving for both Proms. And both make you listen to music differently, and consequently change the way you think about it.

Prokofiev, Bartók and Dvorˇák formed the BFO programme, and in each case you were conscious of an ongoing process of redefinition and revaluation. Prokofiev's Overture on Hebrew Themes, with its mix of klezmer and lyricism, was done as a mini concerto; its virtuoso clarinettist, Akos Acs, positioned like a soloist in front of the rest of the orchestra. Bartók's Second Violin Concerto, meanwhile, was a wonderful compound of glamour and threat: Leonidas Kavakos's playing was thrillingly beautiful – we're more used to abrasion in this work – and the orchestral textures were sinewy and exquisite. Dvorˇák's Seventh Symphony was powerhouse stuff, reminding us that the score is as formidable and articulate as anything by Brahms.

The eight-strong UOGB are all about obliterating perceived barriers between classical, pop and cabaret. Introducing their show from the platform, they play and sing arrangements of everything from Wagner to Bowie with a knowing humour that sometimes turns caustic. Pop songs are woven together in counterpoint to stress their almost plagiarist similarity. Wheatus's Teenage Dirtbag mutates into something akin to a Vivaldi aria accompanied by lots of baroque twanging.

More than 1,000 people, including Proms director Roger Wright, had brought their own ukes along for a communal performance of the Ode to Joy from Beethoven's Ninth. It sounded curiously Venetian, a bit like a serenade. As a non-uke person, I ended up rather wishing I played one. Tremendous.