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Wednesday 19, Thursday 20 and Sunday 23 September 2007, 7.30pm
Sibelius Valse triste 6'
Sibelius Violin Concerto in D minor 32'
Rachmaninov Symphony No.2 in E minor 50'
Cristian Mandeal conductor • James Ehnes violin
Melody from start to finish, Rachmaninov's Second Symphony covers the gamut of Russian soulfulness. It soars from glory to yearning, evoking at once Russia's vastness and an individual's dreams and desires. No music better conjures the splendour of a great imperial culture in its sunset age or more tellingly warns of its passing. Sibelius at this time was also a Russian subject (his native Finland was a Russian province) but his magnificent Violin Concerto stays close to the mysterious forests and lakes of Finland, to nature's growth and energy. The superlative Canadian violinist James Ehnes is the soloist under Cristian Mandeal, the Hallé's exceptional Principal Guest Conductor. The deliciously wistful Valse triste opens the Hallé's tribute to Sibelius, on the 50th anniversary of his death, this very week, on 20 September 1957. |
© Copyright The Hallé Concerts Society 2002. All rights reserved. |
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