Prom 25

It was hard on the huge National Youth Orchestra of Scotland to come to London with a big programme, to be met by a small audience on the hottest night of the year in this notoriously un-air-conditioned hall. An Elgar symphony, a new work, and a piece by a virtually unknown Scottish composer were unlikely to attract the melting hordes. A pity, as this band of 14- to 22-year-olds deserves support. A great orchestra might have been taxed by the conditions; here, intonation was often approximate.

The evening began with a curio: the Overture 'A Comedy of Errors', written in 1911 by Cecil Coles. Coles, a Scot, joined the orchestra of Morley College, befriending its director, Gustav Holst. Martyn Brabbins, conducting the NYOS, is a champion of Coles, having recently recorded his large-scale works. His commitment seems justified even if the musical mixture of colonial British and 19th-century German seemed quirky.

Sally Beamish is a Scottish resident. She is also, alongside the Scot Judith Weir, arguably our most successful and much-performed woman composer. Two years ago, her large-scale Knotgrass Elegy, a BBC Proms commission, received its world premiere. Here her Trumpet Concerto, a commission of the NYOS, had its London premiere after its first performance two days before in Glasgow. Hakan Hardenberger was the astonishing soloist, whose notes emerged unscathed in the heat.

Beamish has written an effective three-movement work that always knows where it is going. Her pacing is good and architecture convincing. In the first movement there are moments of attractive "mirroring" between soloist and orchestral trumpet and playful colouring between soloist, piccolo and wood-blocks. The expressive slow movement is bluesy, with high trumpet notes in improvisatory mode. The third movement, aggressive and dissonant, features car parts and scaffolding pipes whacked with hammers. More drive and energy was perhaps required from the players. On a cooler night...

The following, slightly cooler evening brought the grown-ups - the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra with their new chief conductor, Ilan Volkov. The orchestra is in terrific shape, but whether that's down to Volkov or the legacy of Osmo Vanska is hard to tell. Certainly the UK premiere of Judith Weir's The Welcome Arrival of Rain was well sorted. Commissioned by the Minnesota Orchestra and premiered this year with Vanska at the helm, it sees something of a return to the sound and wry wit of Weir's "Chinese" works. The title is inspired by an ancient Hindu text.

Weir is not one to obfuscate. She invites the listener in with her clarity of thought: contrasting blocks of orchestral sound, transparent textures, and instrumental colours with an exotic tinge. And in what she calls "a rainy coda" a section of strings using col legno with the instruction to "tap body of instrument with fingertips" produces the closest effect ever to rain on a canvas roof. If only...