BSO Past Concerts - Saturday 8th November 2003  

Khachaturian/Tchaikovsky/Stravinsky

The Firebird by Andrey Anisimov. See more via our links section.

Khachaturian Adagio of Spartacus and Phryggia

The Adagio from the ballet Spartacus of 1954 will be better known to many as the theme of The Onedin Line. 

Tchaikovsky Swan Lake Suite Opus 20a (excerpts)

Swan Lake is the story of Prince Siegfried who falls in love with Princess Odette, who had been turned into a swan by the evil Rothbart. It was first performed in Moscow in 1877, but the form was much more advanced than the company was used to and the performance was not coherent and not well received. The version choreographed by Pepita and Ivanov, premiered in St Petersburg in 1895 is the one that survived. Swan Lake contains some of Tchaikovsky's most memorable music.

Stravinsky The Firebird (Complete, 1910)

The Firebird, written for the Ballets Russes, shows the influence of Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and other Russian masters as well as Debussy. It is full of the most wonderful, exotic orchestral colour, much of it familiar from the popular suite. In the 3 years following his use of rhythms and folk songs became more advanced resulting in the ballets Petrushka and the Rite of Spring.

BSO Past Concerts - Saturday 24th January 2004  

Sibelius Symphony No. 7

Nielsen Flute Concerto Burak Besir Flute

Beethoven Symphony No. 2 op 36 in D Major

Two contrasting symphonies sandwich Nielsen's delightful concerto, which has been described as “piquant, fluent and with no dearth of humour”. Beethoven’s Second Symphony is very much an example of pure “classical” style, whereas Sibelius described his own later works as offering the public “pure cold water”, while other composers were engaged in manufacturing cocktails.

Burak Besir (flute) is a 2003 winner of The Philip and Dorothy Green Award for Young Concert Artists. This scheme, run by "Making Music" (formerly known as the National Federation of Music Societies) has been instrumental in launching the careers of many of today's stars. Burak Besir was born in Cyprus. After early training in Cyprus and Ankara, he moved to the UK and took his MMus Performance Degree at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. He has given recitals in Cyprus and Istanbul as well as in England.

BSO Past Concerts - Saturday 20th March 2004  

Dvorák Serenade op 44 in D minor

Wagner Wesendonk Lieder

Vaughan Williams Symphony No. 3 (Pastoral)

Dvorák’s D minor Serenade is one of the really great works in the repertoire for wind ensemble. We are delighted to welcome back Malmfrid Sand to sing the Wesendonk Lieder. Wagner had an intense relationship with the German poet and writer Mathilde Wesendonk, and set five of her poems to music. A wordless soprano also features in the last movement of the ‘Pastoral’ Symphony, which is close to the spiritual centre of Vaughan Williams and has intense passions running deep below its largely dispassionate surface.

BSO Past Concerts - Saturday 15th May 2004  

Franck Le Chasseur Maudit

Bruch Scottish Fantasy

Dvořák Symphony No. 9 From the New World opus 95 in E minor

Franck vividly depicts an “accursed huntsman” who is damned because he goes hunting on a Sunday. The ‘Scottish Fantasy’ is Bruch’s “other” great work with solo violin, and incorporates portions of Scottish folk tunes in each of its four movements. To finish our season we celebrate the centenary of Dvorák’s death in the best possible way, by performing the ‘New World’, his most famous and popular composition.

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