Inviting Hallé

Bax Tintagel 17'
Barber Adagio for Strings 8'
Barber Songs 20'
Elgar Enigma Variations 32'

Sir Mark Elder conductor | Lesley Garrett soprano

Sir Mark Elder teams up with long-standing friend of the Hallé, Lesley Garrett, for what promises to be a very special opening to the 2013–14 season. It begins with Arnold Bax’s evocative Cornish seascape Tintagel, a work inspired by the composer’s love for the pianist Harriet Cohen and one with telling references to Wagner’s great opera Tristan and Isolde. 

Best known for his soul-searching Adagio for Strings, Samuel Barber was also a writer of exquisite songs, a selection of which Lesley Garrett performs tonight. 

Finally, that consummate Elgarian Sir Mark conducts the composer’s touching musical tribute to his wife and friends, Enigma Variations.

Bax Tintagel 17'
Barber Adagio for Strings 8'
Barber Songs 20'
Elgar Enigma Variations 32'

Sir Mark Elder conductor | Lesley Garrett soprano

Sir Mark Elder teams up with long-standing friend of the Hallé, Lesley Garrett, for what promises to be a very special opening to the 2013–14 season. It begins with Arnold Bax’s evocative Cornish seascape Tintagel, a work inspired by the composer’s love for the pianist Harriet Cohen and one with telling references to Wagner’s great opera Tristan and Isolde. 

Best known for his soul-searching Adagio for Strings, Samuel Barber was also a writer of exquisite songs, a selection of which Lesley Garrett performs tonight. 

Finally, that consummate Elgarian Sir Mark conducts the composer’s touching musical tribute to his wife and friends, Enigma Variations.

Bax Tintagel 17'
Barber Adagio for Strings 8'
Barber Songs 20'
Elgar Enigma Variations 32'

Sir Mark Elder conductor | Lesley Garrett soprano

Sir Mark Elder teams up with long-standing friend of the Hallé, Lesley Garrett, for what promises to be a very special opening to the 2013–14 season. It begins with Arnold Bax’s evocative Cornish seascape Tintagel, a work inspired by the composer’s love for the pianist Harriet Cohen and one with telling references to Wagner’s great opera Tristan and Isolde. 

Best known for his soul-searching Adagio for Strings, Samuel Barber was also a writer of exquisite songs, a selection of which Lesley Garrett performs tonight. 

Finally, that consummate Elgarian Sir Mark conducts the composer’s touching musical tribute to his wife and friends, Enigma Variations.

Sibelius En Saga 18'
Rachmaninov Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini 25'
Beethoven Symphony No.2 32'

Rory Macdonald conductor | Andrew Tyson piano

Rory Macdonald returns to conduct a captivating programme. Rather than tell a story, Sibelius’s tone poem En Saga is a depiction of a vast landscape and the forces of nature that govern it. The work is full of fascinating orchestral colours and very Finnish melodies. 

Andrew Tyson is a young American pianist whose brilliant performance of Rachmaninov helped him to secure the Terence Judd-Hallé Orchestra Prize at the 2012 Leeds International Piano Competition. He joins the Hallé for Rachmaninov’s scintillating Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, a musical experience both breathlessly fast-paced and magnificently melodic. Beethoven’s intoxicating Second Symphony gives the second half drama, humour and moments of sublime beauty.

Sibelius En Saga 18'
Rachmaninov Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini 25'
Beethoven Symphony No.2 32'

Rory Macdonald conductor | Andrew Tyson piano

Rory Macdonald returns to conduct a captivating programme. Rather than tell a story, Sibelius’s tone poem En Saga is a depiction of a vast landscape and the forces of nature that govern it. The work is full of fascinating orchestral colours and very Finnish melodies. 

Andrew Tyson is a young American pianist whose brilliant performance of Rachmaninov helped him to secure the Terence Judd-Hallé Orchestra Prize at the 2012 Leeds International Piano Competition. He joins the Hallé for Rachmaninov’s scintillating Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, a musical experience both breathlessly fast-paced and magnificently melodic. Beethoven’s intoxicating Second Symphony gives the second half drama, humour and moments of sublime beauty.

Sibelius En Saga 18'
Rachmaninov Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini 25'
Beethoven Symphony No.2 32'

Rory Macdonald conductor | Andrew Tyson piano

Rory Macdonald returns to conduct a captivating programme. Rather than tell a story, Sibelius’s tone poem En Saga is a depiction of a vast landscape and the forces of nature that govern it. The work is full of fascinating orchestral colours and very Finnish melodies. 

Andrew Tyson is a young American pianist whose brilliant performance of Rachmaninov helped him to secure the Terence Judd-Hallé Orchestra Prize at the 2012 Leeds International Piano Competition. He joins the Hallé for Rachmaninov’s scintillating Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, a musical experience both breathlessly fast-paced and magnificently melodic. Beethoven’s intoxicating Second Symphony gives the second half drama, humour and moments of sublime beauty.

Dvorák Legends 24'
Tchaikovsky Variations on a Rococo Theme 18'
Debussy Prélude à l’après midi d’un faune 10'
Stravinsky The Firebird: Suite (1945) 33'

Eduardo Portal conductor | Philip Higham cello

‘It is a delightful piece, and the fresh, joyous and rich invention of the man is simply enviable’, enthused Brahms after hearing Dvorák’s wonderfully poetic Legends. Equally delightful is Tchaikovsky’s tuneful tribute to the composers of the eighteenth century. His ‘Rococo Variations’ are performed by rising star of the cello, Philip Higham. Then for the exotic, erotic atmosphere of Debussy’s Prélude à l’après midi d’un faune in which a faun dreams of two beautiful nymphs and wonders how best to savor the memory.

Glowingly orchestrated and replete with Stravinsky’s characteristic rhythmic drive and sense of colour, The Firebird – a setting of a popular Russian fairy tale –established him as the major new voice in twentieth-century music.

Dvorák Legends 24'
Tchaikovsky Variations on a Rococo Theme 18'
Debussy Prélude à l’après midi d’un faune 10'
Stravinsky The Firebird: Suite (1945) 33'

Eduardo Portal conductor | Philip Higham cello

‘It is a delightful piece, and the fresh, joyous and rich invention of the man is simply enviable’, enthused Brahms after hearing Dvorák’s wonderfully poetic Legends. Equally delightful is Tchaikovsky’s tuneful tribute to the composers of the eighteenth century. His ‘Rococo Variations’ are performed by rising star of the cello, Philip Higham. Then for the exotic, erotic atmosphere of Debussy’s Prélude à l’après midi d’un faune in which a faun dreams of two beautiful nymphs and wonders how best to savor the memory.

Glowingly orchestrated and replete with Stravinsky’s characteristic rhythmic drive and sense of colour, The Firebird – a setting of a popular Russian fairy tale –established him as the major new voice in twentieth-century music.

Chopin Piano Concerto No.1 41'
Berlioz Symphonie fantastique 49'

Louis Langrée conductor | Denis Kozhukhin piano

A truly revolutionary statement when it first appeared in 1830, Berlioz’s great ‘Fantastic Symphony’ retains an ability to surprise, enchant and excite. Subtitled ‘Episode in an Artist’s Life’, it is in part an autobiographical work inspired by its composer’s hopeless ardour for the English actress Harriet Smithson. It begins with innocent daydreams but leads to opium-fuelled visions of murder, execution and a witches’ Sabbath! Louis Langrée will draw out every nuance of this remarkable score. 

In 2010 Russian pianist Denis Kozhukhin won the coveted Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. His performance of Chopin’s First Piano Concerto – another love-inspired work from 1830 with one of the most exquisite slow movements ever written – is hugely anticipated.

Chopin Piano Concerto No.1 41'
Berlioz Symphonie fantastique 49'

Louis Langrée conductor | Denis Kozhukhin piano

A truly revolutionary statement when it first appeared in 1830, Berlioz’s great ‘Fantastic Symphony’ retains an ability to surprise, enchant and excite. Subtitled ‘Episode in an Artist’s Life’, it is in part an autobiographical work inspired by its composer’s hopeless ardour for the English actress Harriet Smithson. It begins with innocent daydreams but leads to opium-fuelled visions of murder, execution and a witches’ Sabbath! Louis Langrée will draw out every nuance of this remarkable score. 

In 2010 Russian pianist Denis Kozhukhin won the coveted Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. His performance of Chopin’s First Piano Concerto – another love-inspired work from 1830 with one of the most exquisite slow movements ever written – is hugely anticipated.