Concert

The strict discipline of using a repeated bass pattern or creating variations on a fixed theme has resulted in iconic and highly inventive works by many composers. Think of Pachelbel’s Canon, Elgar’s Enigma Variations, or Rachmaninov’s Variations on a theme of Paganini for example. In his opus 1, Anton Webern takes an 8-bar ‘ground bass’ and writes 23 variations in kaleidoscopic instrumental colours, putting every section of the orchestra through their paces.

Arguably the most ‘romantic’ Russian piano concerto, and a perennial favourite with audiences, Rachmaninov’s second concerto was completed only after a crisis of confidence and a long struggle with depression. His hypnotherapist encouraged him: ‘you will work with great facility … the concerto will be of excellent quality’. Easily or not, Rachmaninov surely produced a masterpiece of warmth, dark passion and exquisite beauty, which revived both his spirits and his fortunes.

Born in 1867 in New Hampshire, Amy Beach displayed her prodigious musical talent from an early age, giving her first piano recital when she was 16, and having her first compositions published that same year. A great admirer of Dvorak, who was based in America at the time, Beach was inspired to use Gaelic folk songs in this, her first symphony. Several Irish melodies appear as themes, particularly in the inner movements of this accomplished work, premièred in Boston in 1896.

Ticket Information

Admission: £20, £10 (students), £6 (under 14)