The Classic FM Concert with John Suchet

John concludes his week-long showcase of British composers with a masterpiece of dramatic music: Holst’s The Planets, heard in a recording from some of the country’s brightest young musical talents, the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.

There’s also music by Grace Williams, who in 1949 was the first British woman to score a feature film, and the world premiere recording of Alice Mary Smith’s Symphony in A minor from the London Mozart Players. Whilst Smith was celebrated during her lifetime, many of her compositions have since disappeared from public performance.

John Stanley
Trumpet Voluntary Opus 6 No.5
Trumpet: Maurice André
Organ: Jane Parker-Smith

Frederick Delius
La Calinda
Neville Marriner conducts the Academy of St Martin in the Fields

Gustav Holst
The Planets Opus 32
Edward Gardner conducts the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Youth Chorus

Craig Armstrong
Love Actually – Glasgow Theme
Studio Orchestra

Grace Williams
Fantasia on Welsh Nursery Tunes
Andrew Penny conducts the Royal Ballet Sinfonia

Hamilton Harty
In Ireland
Proissias O’Duinn conducts the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland

Alice Mary Smith
Symphony in A minor
Howard Shelley conducts the London Mozart Players

Across the next five evenings, Classic FM celebrates the Royal Scottish National Orchestra; first established in 1843, and one of the country’s oldest ensembles.

The celebrations get off to a rip-roaring start, with Elmer Bernstein’s thunderous theme to The Magnificent Seven, before Saint-Saëns Danse Macabre conducted by the orchestra’s longest-serving principal, Alexander Gibson, who directed the orchestra from 1950 to 1984. Later, his successor – Neeme Järvi – conducts Dvořák’s Symphony No.6, which was one of the first of the composer’s works to earn him international attention.

Elsewhere, Benjamin Frith is the soloist in Field’s Irish Concerto, and there’s jazz influenced music by Gershwin.

Elmer Bernstein
The Magnificent Seven – Theme
Joel McNeely conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Camille Saint-Saëns
Danse Macabre Opus 40
Alexander Gibson conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra

John Field
Irish Concerto
Piano: Benjamin Frith
Andrew Mogrelia conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra

George Gershwin
An American in Paris
José Serebrier conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Antonin Dvořák
Symphony No.6 in D major Opus 60
Neeme Järvi conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra

John features more of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra’s finest recordings, including Bruch’s own tribute to the highlands, his Scottish Fantasy, heard in a critically acclaimed recording by Tasmin Little, conducted by Vernon Handley.

The Royal Scottish National Chorus, which was actually founded before the orchestra, then joins the stage for a moving performance of John Williams’ Hymn to the Fallen, and there’s a full performance of Glazunov’s Symphony No.2, which he dedicated to the memory of Liszt.

Edward Elgar
Pomp & Circumstance March No.4 in G major Opus 39
Alexander Gibson conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Max Bruch
Scottish Fantasy Opus 46
Violin: Tasmin Little
Vernon Handley conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra

John Williams
Hymn to the Fallen
Frederic Talgorn conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra & Chorus

Dmitri Shostakovich
Ballet Suite No.1
Neeme Järvi conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Alexander Glazunov
Symphony No.2 in F-sharp minor Opus 16
José Serebrier conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Classic FM’s showcase of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra continues with a lively Khachaturian dance conducted by Neeme Järvi.

The centrepiece of the evening is a multi-award winning performance of Chopin’s Piano Concerto No.1 with young star Benjamin Grosvenor as soloist. Ahead of that is a rendition of Saint-Saëns’ virtuosic Introduction & Rondo Capriccioso – but not in its usual form.

The programme culminates with Rachmaninov’s Symphony No.3, which he wrote at his peaceful retreat in Switzerland and was described by critics at the time as “a disappointment” but has regained popularity in recent years.

Aram Khachaturian
Dance of the Young Maidens
Neeme Järvi conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Camille Saint-Saëns
Introduction & Rondo Capriccioso Opus 28
Flute: Katherine Bryan
Jac van Steen conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Richard Wagner
Tristan & Isolde - Prelude to Act I
Neeme Järvi conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Frédéric Chopin
Piano Concerto No.1 in E minor Opus 11
Piano: Benjamin Grosvenor
Elim Chan conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Dmitri Shostakovich
Tahiti Trot (Tea for Two)
Neeme Järvi conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Sergei Rachmaninov
Symphony No.3 in A minor Opus 44
Owain Arwel Hughes conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra

The week-long showcase of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra continues with performances from more of the ensemble’s esteemed conductors.

In 2003 Marin Alsop was appointed the orchestra’s first female principal guest conductor, so John selects her performance of Barber’s moving Adagio for Strings, and later there’s an appearance from 2012-17 music director Peter Oundjian, joined onstage by Xiayin Wang in Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.2.

Concluding the programme is Vaughan Williams’ Serenade in A minor, one of his earliest substantial works for orchestra.

Samuel Barber
Adagio for Strings
Marin Alsop conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Aram Khachaturian
Masquerade Suite
Neeme Järvi conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra

James Horner
Apollo 13 – The Launch
Joel McNeely conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky
Piano Concerto No.2 in G major Opus 44
Piano: Xiayin Wang
Peter Oundjian conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Ralph Vaughan Williams
Serenade in A minor
Martin Yates conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra

The week-long celebration of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra concludes with a critically acclaimed recording by Tasmin Little of Elgar’s Violin Concerto, released in 2010 to celebrate 100 years since the concerto’s premiere.

Elsewhere, there’s musical contrast from Dvořák’s melodic Slavonic Dance in E minor to Debussy’s balmy Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, and a recent recording of the beautiful Invocation from Massenet’s music for the stage play Les Errinyes, played by Aleksei Kiseliov.

Franz von Suppe
Poet & Peasant – Overture
Neeme Järvi conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Claude Debussy
Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune
Stephane Deneve conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Edvard Grieg
Symphonic Dances Opus 64
Bjarte Engeset conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Antonin Dvořák
Slavonic Dance in E minor Opus 72 No.2
Neeme Järvi conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Edward Elgar
Violin Concerto in B minor Opus 61
Violin: Tasmin Little
Andrew Davis conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Jules Massenet
Les Errinyes – Invocation
Cello: Aleksei Kiseliov
Jean-Luc Tingaud conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra