Combining the music of Cassandra Miller with that of Dmitri Shostakovich would never have seemed a likely programming choice for any classical concert. But that’s the unusual experience that was BBC Proms 16 last Wednesday, with the BBC Philharmonic under the baton of John Storgårds. It was an evening which promised much, and mostly delivered.

Miller’s viola concerto, I cannot love without trembling, written in 2022 as a BBC co-commission, began the evening. Folk-inspired gestures clearly played a part in the admittedly excellent work of violist Lawrence Power, swimming up and down with wailing vibrato, but the overall piece was hard to penetrate, and felt overly long.

Not for the first time though, it’s Dimitri who saves the day!  Shostakovich 4 has a chequered past, and at times it does feel as though the composer is warming up to his more popular 5th — a piece so clearly his sound. The 4th — which pinches, so humbly, from Mahler, several times — is its own beast, though, and, under Storgårds baton, it is well done. As always, dramatic strings take centre stage, not to mention Shostakovich’s signature Russian-sounding woodwind section, which thrills and delights in equal measure. Masterclass territory — the audience loved it.

It’s hard to think of a more unusual ending to a symphony than that of Dimitri’s 4th: its quiet resolve and distant fade away makes it contemplative, and almost scary. As good as it was, it’s still left this reviewer scratching his head at to what all that viola folk business was about earlier on?!  But then, they do say variety is the spice of life!

Tickets for all 73 Proms are available from just £8 on the BBC Proms 2024 website.