Sir Simon Rattle guest-conducted the period-instrument Freiburg Baroque Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall for an all-Schumann Proms programme built entirely around the composer's neglected "problem" works. The concert paired an overture from a failed opera and a symphony written during a bout of depression with a violin concerto so poorly regarded by Schumann's executors that they had it locked away for a hundred years. The unusual programming, combined with the challenge of a period-instrument ensemble filling the hall's notoriously difficult acoustic, made for a daring evening that the review judges to have paid off handsomely.

The programme opened with the overture to Genoveva, its horn quartet praised as a highlight, before soloist Isabelle Faust gave only the sixth Proms outing of Schumann's Violin Concerto, a work performed far less often than repertoire staples such as Dvořák's New World Symphony (103 Proms performances by comparison). Faust's technical assurance and expressive phrasing drew close, attentive support from Rattle, who conducted without a podium. The evening closed with Schumann's comparatively overlooked Second Symphony, delivered with a "crisp" reading that emphasised its brighter moments alongside its turbulence, in a performance described as exceptional throughout. The concert is available on BBC Sounds until 12 October, with the Proms season running until 12 September.