Sibelius - Lemminkäinen's Return
Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto No.1
Dvorák - Symphony No.7
Conductor
Karl-Heinz Steffens
Featuring:
Yulianna Avdeeva*, piano
Nottingham’s season begins with a gallop, which marks the homecoming of the shaman hero of Finland’s epic poem, Lemminkäinen, whose excitement Sibelius captures in music of unstoppable momentum. Its powerful sense of anticipation is matched by the famous opening of Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto, which heralds a titanic face-off between soloist and orchestra. Dvořák’s reputation was riding high in 1884, so much so that the Royal Philharmonic Society commissioned him that year to write his Seventh Symphony. Inspired by the example of Brahms’s Third Symphony but also showing the strains of the death of Dvořák’s mother and the demise of his composer friend, Bedřich Smetana, the Seventh is his darkest yet most compelling symphony. Beginning with smouldering intensity, it shows Dvořák’s Slavic lyricism at its very best, dramatic and poignant by turns. The concert will be conducted by Karl-Heinz Steffens.
Free pre-concert talk, 6.30pm in the auditorium: Jonathan James on Dvořák’s Seventh Symphony.
(Image credits: Harald Hoffman)
*The Hallé Concerts Society is very grateful to Yulianna Avdeeva for replacing Simon Trpceski, who has had to withdraw.
This is an event managed by Nottingham Royal Concert Hall. For more information please visit this booking link.
