None of the works in Saturday's Prom is other than central repertoire. The "Ritual Dances" from Tippett's opera The Midsummer Marriage and the Sixth Symphony of Vaughan Williams are key works of English 20th-century music. Sibelius's First Symphony, though less well-known than his Second and Fifth, is not unusual. It would be rare, however, to hear them played together in a single evening, despite the historical links between them. Not just any old concerts of the kind of standard repertoire that orchestras always play, but rich, rewarding, brave concerts, programmed to feature unusual pieces or those that are often thought a technical challenge even to professionals. There's more than a dash of heroism about the National Youth Orchestra.

It meets three times a year for intense sessions of playing that last a fortnight and culminate in concert-giving. Still, there wasn't much doubt that even by Prom standards, the audience was pretty excited.For the record, Kissin's encores were: Beethoven's "Turkish" march arranged by Anton Rubinstein; Chopin's Waltz in A flat, Op 34, No 1; Liszt's La Campanella; Schubert's Moment Musical No 3 in F minor, arranged by Godowsky; Beethoven's "Rage over a lost penny"; Chopin's Mazurka in B minor, Op 33, No 4; and Chopin's posthumously published Waltz in E minor.. And for that matter, in this country, a slow hand-clap once meant the opposite of what it does today. They prepared the way for Chopin's epic Third Sonata, which Kissin played with sweeping panache as well as delicacy. It was momentarily disturbed when a few ignorant listeners started applauding the first movement. What's wrong with a bit of reticence or caution, even if they didn't know that it's traditional in this particular work to begin the scherzo virtually attacca? Why can't the BBC tell audiences not to clap between movements, since they tell them to turn pages quietly, or wait till the end of a song?And while we're grousing about the insensitivity of audiences, who was that too-well-travelled man behind me who actually booed loudly after about the fifth encore? I'm told there's a country where they do it to show approval. And the 12th Hungarian Rhapsody snarled, spat and roared quite undaunted by that yawning dome above and the hungry thousands around.After the interval, Chopin's two Op 27 Nocturnes, classics of their genre, were exquisitely spun, the first developing into a tumultuous climax.

Haydn would have been amazed, and delighted.The rather static middle movement was not so successful. It wasn't a question of intimacy, rather of the continuity of sound, for Liszt's Liebestraum, with its artful supply of sonic upholstery and sense of travel, worked a treat. True, the piano sounded distant - how could it not? But the revelation was how telling the vast acoustic was. It allowed Kissin to show off a fabulous range of dynamics and touch in the first movement of Haydn's last sonata, giving it a thrilling sense of the orchestral. Even so, the audience seemed more exhausted than he, still granting them the wan professional smile after two-and-three-quarter hours. As for sound, there was no shortage from my seat towards the back stalls behind Kissin. It barely left Kissin room to take bows either side of the piano. The audience, filling the rest of the arena, the usual orchestra space and every other part of the hall, must have been a record size.

Instead, Kissin trotted down from the loggia stalls, and did a lot more trotting by the time he gave his seventh encore. Sceptics said you wouldn't be able to hear much in The Barn, even though Evgeny Kissin is a pianist in the grandest style He's almost a Michael Jackson lookalike, tiny, doll-like. Assembly Rooms, Venue 3, 12.55-14.10.THE MC OF A STRIPTEASE ACT DOESN'T GIVE UP She's late and someone has to keep the audience occupied A tragi-comic foray into every MC's worst nightmare. Gilded Balloon, Venue 38, 14.15-15.30Note: start-time has been altered from that listed in the Festival Programme.WASP If you're a fan of such classics as Parenthood and Roxanne, this one's for you. I expected them to swing him in on a winch, and lower him, spotlit, on to his place of execution, a platform in the middle of the Albert Hall arena a bit higher than the front stalls. Steve Martin's new play, exploring family ideals in 1950s America, premieres at the Fringe. Assembly Rooms, Venue 3, 15.15-16.25.JUNIOR SIMPSON WORKS THE HALLWAY Luton's finest comedian who, no doubt, flew in to wow Edinburgh with his first solo fringe show Pleasance, Venue 33, 21.45-22.45.