Freak out! Spirit of Studio 54 grooves again at the Disco Prom

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Here comes Ludwig again. Beethoven’s Fifth had already been heard on the opening night, and now it cropped up once more, albeit in a funkier form. If you remember the Seventies, you may well recall hearing Walter Murphy’s breezily syncopated orchestral hit A Fifth of Beethoven in the era when Studio 54 was the world’s hippest nightclub.
Disco isn’t remembered with affection by every musician. It was, after all, a period when drum machines and assorted technology began to eclipse the human element — you could argue that we’ve been paying the price ever since. Still, this performance by the BBC Concert Orchestra and an array of singers dressed the hits up in seductive party colours. Glitterballs spun endlessly, the light show dazzled. If the Studio 54 ethos was all about exclusivity — even Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, who went on to create so many hits for Chic, famously couldn’t get past the doorman one night — this Prom offered an intelligent celebration of the music’s universal appeal.
The San Francisco Symphony conductor Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser made an engaging host; the four main vocalists, Vanessa Haynes, Vula Malinga, Cedric Neal and Elisabeth Troy, all soared effortlessly, and most of the arrangements were in the hands of Callum Au, the young trombonist who is one of our most resourceful orchestral writers. It’s only a few months ago that I heard him deftly rewriting the Sinatra songbook at Ronnie Scott’s alongside that charismatic singer Emma Smith.
It comes as a shock to be reminded that the songs we heard at the Albert Hall are now half a century old. In this setting even a number as kitsch as Boney M’s Daddy Cool can acquire a veneer of respectability. Disco Inferno provided the perfect statement of intent at the start of the show. The rest of the programme struck a fine balance between symphonic colour and propulsive dance rhythms. Au added a ripe fanfare to I Will Survive before Malinga segued into an equally dynamic version of Never Can Say Goodbye.
If Bee Gees fans might have hoped to hear more of their favourite hits, Night Fever at least provided a potent climax to the second half, Travolta-style dance moves erupting all around the venue. And it was good to see one of Britain’s most versatile songwriters, the late Rod Temperton, get his due on a setting of Boogie Nights with a jazz-tinged introduction courtesy of the arranger Scarlet Halton. Her colleague Benjamin Woodgates added a silky veneer to Odyssey’s Native New Yorker. Proof, all in all, that you can create a groovy atmosphere without the help of a DJ.★★★★☆Available on BBC Sounds. The concert is broadcast on BBC2 later in the season
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