The Full Works Concert - Friday 11 April 2014
Music inspired by Prince Charles' house, Highgrove, is the climax of tonight's Concert, which also features Elgar, Schumann and Haydn.
Tonight's Concert opens with one of the masterpieces of the modern cello repertoire, Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor. It's strange to think now that this work wasn't that widely performed until a certain Jacqueline Du Pré got hold of it in 1965. The premiere recording though was made by Beatrice Harrison, with Elgar himself conducting in 1920. Tonight the cello part is played by Zuill Bailey.
Kinderszenen or 'Scenes from Childhood' by Robert Schumann is a set of 13 pieces for piano written in 1838. In this work, the composer gives us an adult's view of his own childhood. He had originally written 30 pieces for this work, but chose 13 for the final version. The seventh, Träumerei, is one of Schumann's best known works.
The Symphony No. 98 in B flat major is the sixth of the so-called twelve London Symphonies written by Haydn. It was completed in 1792 as part of the set of symphonies composed on his first trip to London. It was first performed at the Hanover Square Rooms in London on 2 March 1792. The symphony's scoring is unique among Haydn's later symphonies. Although the harpsichord was often used as a continuo or solo instrument, it was rarely given a prominence of the kind it is here in purely orchestral works. Most likely, Haydn himself played the harpsichord at the premiere.
Patrick Hawes was commissioned by HRH The Prince of Wales to write the Highgrove Suite in 2009. It began as a one-movement work for harp and strings and was premiered at Covent Garden on the Prince’s 60th birthday by the royal harpist Claire Jones and the Philharmonia Orchestra. Three new pieces for the same forces completed the suite, each one inspired by an aspect of Prince Charles's garden at Highgrove House, pictured.
Edward Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor Opus 85
Cello: Zuill Bailey
Krzystof Urbanski conducts the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra
Robert Schumann: Kinderszenen Opus 15
Piano: Angela Hewitt
Joseph Haydn: Symphony No.98 in B flat major
Howard Shelley conducts the Orchestra of Italian Switzerland
Patrick Hawes: Highgrove Suite
Harp: Claire Jones
Patrick Hawes conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra
