The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra's visit to the Proms under principal conductor Kirill Karabits began with one of the most attention-grabbing openings in the repertoire – the prodigious brass fanfares that launch Janáček's Sinfonietta in stark yet stirring style. There was confidence in the playing, if not absolute security – traits that continued on throughout the piece and indeed the entire programme.
Karabits's lean, focused direction brought out much of the sharply individual character of each movement, displaying Janáček's alternation of relatively simple folk-derived ideas with more angular and often distinctively modernist gestures. His clear lead was carefully followed by the players, even if the more flamboyant aspects of what is a genuine orchestral showpiece felt contained – at least until the return of the brazen fanfares gave the close a consolidating sonic boost.
Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto followed, with Sunwook Kim as soloist. In 2006 the youngest ever winner of the Leeds piano competition, the South Korean pianist is now 25, and showed a commendable sense of drive and discipline in this unusually neat and ordered account, though there was a tendency towards prose rather than poetry, notably in the slow movement, which needed greater fineness of lyric imagination to take to the air. But the finale benefited from his energetic attack and immaculate fingerwork, while some historically informed touches gave individuality to Karabits's astute management of the orchestral accompaniment.
In a season that presents a cycle of Tchaikovsky's symphonies, it fell to Bournemouth to supply the Third, the so-called Polish, nicknamed for the dance rhythms of its hectic finale. If it often feels a good deal lighter than the others – perhaps significantly, much of it was requisitioned by choreographer George Balanchine for his ballet Jewels – there are plenty of attractive sections to offset a dearth of rigour and dynamic momentum. Once again there were moments when cleaner definition would have sharpened the music's overall outline; but Karabits played it for all it was worth – and maybe a little bit more.
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