Natural elegance, glorious melody and colourful new sounds.
Of all the great symphonists, Mozart and Tchaikovsky inspire the most affection, and it’s easy to hear why. Mozart never failed to keep his audience’s pleasure in mind, and there’s a natural elegance in everything he wrote.
Meanwhile, Tchaikovsky speaks to us in a language of glorious melody that touches the heart. In his Second Symphony he draws on folk tunes from the Ukraine (the “Little Russia” of Tchaikovsky’s subtitle) and the music leaps for joy.
James Ledger’s new concerto for Principal Bassoon Matthew Wilkie won’t leap so much as fly. Inspired by a tiny William Blake poem, “Eternity”, the concerto will take the solitary bassoon on an ecstatic journey, high above an evolving blanket of orchestral colour.
MOZART Symphony No.34
LEDGER Outposts – Bassoon Concerto WORLD PREMIERE
STRAVINSKY Ode
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No.2 (Little Russian)
Hans Graf conductor
Matthew Wilkie bassoon
Pre-concert talk by Kim Waldock in conversation with James Ledger at 5.45pm in the Northern Foyer.
AUDIO PLAYER LISTING
Track 1 – MOZART Symphony No.34: 1. Allegro vivace
Track 2 – MOZART Symphony No.34: 3. Finale
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande conducted by Peter Maag
DECCA ELOQUENCE 476 969-2
Track 4 – TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No.2: 2nd movement
Track 4 – TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No.2: 4th movement
Russian National Orchestra conducted by Mikhail Pletnev
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 449 967-2
Audio kindly supplied by Universal Music.