When a friend of the composer John Woolrich remarked that his music reminded her of the Max Ernst painting The Elephant Celebes, it was like throwing down the gauntlet. Woolrich entitled his new work The Elephant from Celebes and, at 20 minutes long, it is a massive, not to say mammoth, score. Effectively a showpiece for the Britten-Pears Orchestra, it puts every instrument under the spotlight, exploiting every timbre.

Woolrich does not go so far as to offer Dada-dada tunes, though his juxtaposition of disparate elements often verged on the surreal. The work's most striking facet was the vivid colouring and characterisation of material, not least the witty writing for tuba and trombones, elephantine but sure-footed, and the cascading, cadenza-like string lines.

Despite Woolrich's disinclination to have distinct changes of tempo - at times the piece seemed in danger of lumbering too mechanically on - its rhythmic vibrancy and glints of Stravinsky and Bernstein suggested that it could make a brilliant dance-score, with Ernst's association with Diaghilev's Ballets Russes an added conceit.

While the young musicians of the BPO jumped through the Woolrich hoops with glee, they were pushed further in Ravel's Piano Concerto in G, where the jazz inflections and subtle palette of the orchestral accompaniment demands extraordinary control. Soloist Pascal Rogé often sounded uptight, so some of Ravel's magic was dissipated.

Shostakovich's 10th Symphony completed this hugely testing programme, the opening movement perhaps the most affecting, its probing search into anguished depths brilliantly sustained by conductor Paul Daniel. As Daniel went into the body of the orchestra to congratulate individually and collectively, the bond forged with his players was apparent. For them, the experience will clearly be formative.

· The Snape Proms continue until August 29. Box office: 01728 687110