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F<\/span>or many, the banner waving at classical music\u2019s annual jamboree evokes pride and a celebration of shared heritage. The discomfort felt by others may have been sharper this year as Promenaders heading to South Kensington shared the streets with the flag-draped hordes who had come to town in support of far-right activist Tommy Robinson.<\/p>\n Inside the Royal Albert Hall, however, all was good-natured inclusivity, with pennants from around the globe dotting a sea of bunting from the UK and EU. Perhaps that was the diversity organisers were hoping to capture in a hodgepodge programme where 20-or-so disparate composers battled for attention.<\/p>\n Inevitably there was good and bad. A definite plus was Hong Kong-born conductor Elim Chan making an auspicious Last Night debut. A firecracker on the podium, she piloted her forces through a series of orchestral and choral showcases. There was Mussorgsky\u2019s first attempt at A Night on the Bare Mountain, a riot of imaginative ticks and quirks for those familiar with Rimsky-Korsakov\u2019s interventionist rearrangement. Dukas\u2019 Sorcerer\u2019s Apprentice worked his magic, and there was a rip-roaring account of Shostakovich\u2019s Festive Overture whose Soviet Technicolor brilliance felt like John Williams on steroids.<\/p>\n