Mass for a secular age

Julian Anderson does not shirk his responsibilities. Faced with composing for chorus, he joined a choir so as to experience choral music from the inside, research that seems to have paid off.

Anderson describes Heaven is Shy of Earth, oxymoronically, as a "secular" Mass. An extended flugelhorn solo ( conjuring welcome comparisons with Miles Davis) set the mood: slow and intense, mournful and ecstatic.

The text juxtaposes familiar sections of the Mass with the Emily Dickinson poem that provides the title; this world is all we have, the piece seems to say, we better make the best of it.

The BBC Symphony Chorus formed a kind of vocal halo around soloist Angelika Kirchschlager, whose naturally melancholy voice fitted perfectly, even if words went missing.

Anderson tuned some of his instruments slightly awry, creating pleasingly off-colour harmonies, but more striking was his skill in foregrounding individual timbres: doleful flugelhorn, flatulent contrabassoon, slapped basses. Andrew Davis and the BBC Symphony Orchestra seemed fully inside the piece, which surely has a future.

To complete the programme, Ravel's Daphnis and Chloë, a work with a tendency to sprawl, albeit gorgeously. Davis, pushing the music forward with no sense of rush, skilfully balanced Ravel's cool detachment and slightly manufactured frenzy.

BBC Proms: Chamber Music 4 - Henschel Quartet