The Full Works Concert - Wednesday 28 May 2014
Jane Jones introduces Beethoven’s Violin Concerto played by the brilliant Janine Jansen.
Tonight's Concert opens with an overture from Franz von Suppé, the Austrian composer of light operas. He wrote some 50 operettas all of which have sunk into obscurity, although a few of the overtures – particularly Poet and Peasant and Light Cavalry - have survived and remained popular. Listen out for the beginning of the cello solo which is nearly exactly the same to the start of the folk song 'I've Been Working on the Railroad'.
Written in 1806, Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D major, a work which is now so firmly accepted as one of the greats of the repertoire, was something of a slow burner. Unlike many other pieces by the great composer, it certainly didn’t become an instant hit. His only two other works of note for the violin were his Romance in G Opus 40, and Romance in G Opus 50, completed a few years before this concerto. Lyrical and spacious in tone, they couldn’t be more different from the Violin Concerto’s most famous movement: a zesty, spirited finale making dazzling use of the instrument’s melodic range.
Classic FM's Composer in Residence Howard Goodall's Love Divine was commissioned by the Choir Schools’ Association celebrating the arrival of the year 2000. It was first performed at the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford by the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, directed by Stephen Darlington. The work is a setting of words by Charles Wesley.
The light music composer Eric Coates is best-known for his march for The Dambusters. His suite, The Three Elizabeths begins with a piece called 'Halcyon Days', which was used as the theme to the popular 1967 TV series The Forsyte Saga. It was later used as a celebration of the Coronation of HM the Queen Elizabeth.
The most significant and internationally best-known Finnish composer before Sibelius was Bernhard Henrik Crusell (1775-1838), who rose to a prominent position in the Swedish music world. Crusell was employed for 40 years as principal clarinet with the Royal Court Orchestra and eventually attained fame as a renowned clarinet virtuoso, and went to Germany three times to study and perform; on the second occasion, his trips extended as far as Paris. Tonight we hear his Clarinet Concerto No.3 in Bb major.
Franz von Suppe: Poet & Peasant – Overture
Neeme Jarvi conducts the Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Ludwig van Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D major Opus 61
Violin: Janine Jansen
Paavo Jarvi conducts the German Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra of Bremen
Howard Goodall: Love Divine
Stephen Darlington conducts London Musici and the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford
Eric Coates: 3 Elizabeths Suite
Frederick Fennell conducts the London Pops Orchestra
Bernhard Crusell: Clarinet Concerto No.3 in Bb major Opus 11
Clarinet: Emma Johnson
Gerard Schwarz conducts the English Chamber Orchestra
