BSO past concerts - Saturday 10 November 2001

Tchaikovsky Capriccio Italien

Tchaikovsky was captivated by his stay in Italy in the winter of 1879-80. His popular Italian caprice begins with a trumpet call he heard every evening from barracks near his hotel in Rome.

Mendelssohn Italian Symphony

Arguably the most melodic of the five symphonies, the fourth was finished in London in 1833 after travels in Italy 1830-31.

Holst The Perfect Fool Ballet Suite

Gloucestershire-born Gustav Holst parodies other composers in his one-act comic opera, first produced in London in 1923. In the ballet music, published separately in 1920, we hear the dances of the magical spirits of Earth, Water and Fire.

Respighi The Pines of Rome

Respighi's portrayal of Rome's pines brings to life pictures of children playing, a mysterious catacomb, a night scene with a nightingale's song, and a ghostly approaching Roman army marching down the Appian Way.

One of three symphonic poems evoking the city of Rome, Respighi uses bold orchestral colours he developed studying with Rimsky-Korsakov during visits to Russia 1900-03.  

Background picture: the Coliseum in Rome, drawn by Vasi. Page design David Young.

BSO past concerts - Saturday 19 January 2002 at 7:45pm

Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a theme of Thomas Tallis

In the rich writing for double string orchestra and string quartet, we are simultaneously listening to something very old and new. First performed in Gloucester cathedral in 1910, the Fantasia is based on a hymn in the Phrygian mode contributed by Tallis to Archbishop Matthew Parker's Psalter of 1567. 

Check out a remarkable on-line guide to this sonorous and innovative work.

Haydn Sinfonia Concertante

Violin Bernard Brook, Cello Alice McVeigh, Oboe Sara Grint, Bassoon Stephen Fuller.

The delightful Sinfonia Concertante gives a showcase for our 'home' team of BSO soloists. It was composed in London in 1792 where Haydn also produced his last 12 symphonies, as well as arranging British folk-songs.

Bruckner Symphony No. 4

The first, and most popular, of his great major key symphonies, Bruckner called this majestic work in E-flat 'The Romantic', the only time he used a descriptive sub-title.

Background picture: Vienna Opera House. Page design David Young.

BSO past concerts - Saturday 9 March 2002 at 7:45pm 

Guest conductor Mark Fitz-Gerald

Schumann Konzertstück for 4 Horns

Soloists Gillian Jones, Oliver Tunstall, Mary Banks & Roy Banks

Schumann composed this showpiece exploiting the capabilities of the recently introduced valved horn while he was living in Dresden in 1849.  It demands extraordinary virtuosity and stamina from our 'home' team of soloists.

Janacek Taras Bulba

Janacek composed many of his finest and most original works when he was over the age of sixty. This portrayal of Gogol's story of the Ukranian Cossack partisan's campaign against the Poles is perhaps influenced by the Czech strive for independence during the first world war. Organ and bells augment the normal full orchestra.

Visit the Janacek Archive.

Dvorak Symphony No. 5

Although less often performed than the later symphonies, the F-Major symphony, first performed in 1879, has all their tunefulness and ebullience.

Check out the Czech Music dictionary.

Guest conductor Mark Fitz-Gerald

Mark Fitz-Gerald completed his studies at the Royal College of Music in 1977, where his professors included Norman Del Mar and where he won all the major prizes for both orchestral and operatic conducting.

From 1983 to 1987 he was Artistic Director of the RIAS Jugendorchester (West Berlin ) where his innovative Filmharmonic Concerts received much acclaim and were later made available on CD. He returned there to continue the series with the Berlin Rundfunkorchester in 1992.

Background picture: Brno station, towards the end of Janacek's life. Page design David Young.

BSO past concerts - Saturday 18 May 2002 at 7:45pm

Guest conductor Gerry Cornelius

Adrian Connell The Flower Will Bloom  (first performance)

The symphonic scherzo by Bromley's Adrian Connell was developed from an original commission for a small song cycle emanating from his association with the Bromley Oecumenical Singers.

Nielsen Violin Concerto Violin Natasha Elvin

Nielsen wrote his first concerto for Peder Møller of the Royal Danish Orchestra, who gave the première on 28 February 1912 in Copenhagen. Wonderful musical invention blends with pyrotechnics for the soloist.

Carl Nielsen wrote his Flute & Clarinet concertos for members of  the Copenhagen Wind Quintet.

Mahler Symphony No. 1

First performed in Budapest in 1889, the symphony embarks on a journey through the countryside. The second movement has a rustic feel in the style of a Ländler. Death is introduced by solo double bass in the third movement's ghostly canon based on 'Bruder Jakob, schläfst du noch' (Frère Jacques). The last movement bursts in with 'the cry of a wounded heart', but concludes triumphantly with the full, enlarged orchestra.

Background Picture: Egeskov, on the island of Fyn, Denmark. Page design David Young..

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