To mark the start of Astronomical Spring, Moira features a complete performance of Beethoven’s uplifting ‘Pastoral’ symphony. A lover of nature, Beethoven spent much time away from his home in Vienna to work and walk in the countryside, writing of his Sixth Symphony that it was “more the expression of feeling than painting”. Moira selects a notable recording from the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle.
Elsewhere in the programme, there’s another work inspired by the outdoors— Delius’ Florida Suite—and Maria Joāo Pires plays Robert Schumann’s only piano concerto.
Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky
Swan Lake — Waltz
Santtu-Matias Rouvali conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra
Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No.6 in F major Opus 68
Simon Rattle conducts the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
George Frideric Handel
Zadok the Priest
Martin Neary conducts the English Chamber Orchestra and Westminster Abbey Choir
Frederick Delius
Florida Suite
Vernon Handley conducts the Ulster Orchestra
Johannes Brahms
Academic Festival Overture Opus 80
Claudio Abbado conducts the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Patrick Hawes
Quanta Qualia
Soprano: Janet Coxwell
Patrick Hawes conducts the English Chamber Orchestra and Coventus
Edward Elgar
Pomp & Circumstance March No.4 in G major
Giuseppe Sinopoli conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra
Robert Schumann
Piano Concerto in A minor Opus 54
Piano: Maria Joao Pires
John Eliot Gardiner conducts the London Symphony Orchestra
Max Bruch
Kol Nidrei Opus 47
Cello: Alisa Weilerstein
Daniel Barenboim conducts the Staatskapelle Berlin
Moira celebrates the music of Sergei Rachmaninov, born on this day in 1873 — 150 years ago — by selecting three of his most beloved works from the Classic FM Hall of Fame.
Young pianist Daniil Trifonov is the soloist in Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No.2, which brought the composer to global fame after its 1901 premiere: a great relief to Rachmaninov after the disastrous premiere of his first symphony, four years previously.
Later in the programme, Mariss Jansons leads the Philharmonia Orchestra in a critically acclaimed performance of Rachmaninov’s Symphony No.2, and another young pianist, Martin James Bartlett, features in the beautiful ‘Andante Cantabile’ from the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.
There’s also a lively Mozart overture, and star violinist Nicola Benedetti takes to the stage in Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Così fan Tutte — Overture
Simon Rattle conducts the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Sergei Rachmaninov
Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor Opus 18
Piano: Daniil Trifonov
Yannick Nezet-Seguin conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra
Maurice Ravel
Bolero
Paavo Järvi conducts the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Johann Strauss Jr
Die Fledermaus — Overture
Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducts the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Sergei Rachmaninov
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Opus 43 — Andante Cantabile
Piano: Martin James Bartlett
Joshua Weilerstein conducts the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Richard Strauss
Der Rosenkavalier — Waltz Sequence No.1
Vladimiar Ashkenazy conducts the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
Felix Mendelssohn
Violin Concerto in E minor Opus 64
Violin: Nicola Benedetti
James MacMillan conducts the Academy of St Martin in the Fields
Sergei Rachmaninov
Symphony No.2 in E minor Opus 27
Mariss Jansons conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra
