Only the day after the Qatar Philharmonic's debut Prom with its high-powered Korean music director, cellist-turned-conductor Han-Na Chang, Chang announced her resignation due to "persistent administrative difficulties, and irreconcilable artistic differences" with the orchestra's management.
All of this is a shame, because the concert gave every indication that theirs was something of a winning combination. Founded in 2007, the QPO came over as being, above all, an orchestra of enthusiasts, communicating tangible pleasure in what they do. Chang, a diminutive, dynamic firebrand, struck everyone as a natural choice for such an ensemble. If ever a Prom could be described as thrill-a-minute stuff, this was it.
Russian music – Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto, Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony – formed the bulk of the programme. They opened, however, with The Sunrise, the third section of Seemorgh, a trilogy by Iranian-born, US-based Behzad Ranjbaran.
The Seemorgh is a supernatural bird of Persian mythology, who protects the hero Zaal with the gift of a magic feather. The narrative similarities with Stravinsky's Firebird are obvious and Ranjbaran's scoring combines something of the latter's colouristic range with the more blatant orchestral opulence of Strauss's Salome. The sunrise itself, however, sounds not so much like the dawning of a new day as the convulsive bringing of light to the world at the moment of creation.
The full-throttle performance spilled, at times awkwardly, into the Rachmaninov. The soloist was Denis Matsuev, an exciting heavyweight, very percussive and sweepingly unsentimental in music that can so easily cloy. Things threatened to become over-emphatic in places, though concerns that Chang and the QPO couldn't – or wouldn't – calm down were dispelled by the Tchaikovsky. The ferocious drive was still present in the hair-raising first movement allegro and the elated finale. But there was also a beautiful, honeyed introspection in the andante, and real finesse and detail in the waltz. It was a hugely enjoyable Prom; it's sad that Chang feels she has no choice but to leave.
• The Proms continue until 13 September. Details: bbc.co.uk/proms
