The Hallé Orchestra

Programme:
Britten Courtly Dances from Gloriana
Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 3
Walton Symphony No. 1

Commissioned for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, Gloriana attracted controversy in exploring the hidden romantic life of the monarch’s namesake and predecessor. Britten’s music, though, brilliantly captures the spirit of Elizabethan dances and lute songs, whilst giving them an ironic 20th-century distance. The seven Courtly Dances that open this concert are an immediately appealing example.

Rachmaninov performed his Third Piano Concerto as part of his first tour of the United States in 1909, and the first concerts in New York set it on the road to becoming an essential part of the repertoire. Loved by millions for its waves of epic melody and exhilarating shifts of gear, it also tests the mettle of every concert pianist with its daunting technical demands. Facing the music in this performance is Belgian pianist Denis Kozhukhin, an artist with a great gift for performing big Russian repertoire. Now regarded by many as the finest British symphony ever, Walton’s First Symphony was written when he was just 30 and his turbulent relationships with two women – Imma von Doernberg and Alice Wimborne – drive its edge-of-the-seat emotions and partly explain why it took him five years to finish. Nevertheless it shows the young Walton at his ambitious best, his unbridled energy and impish wit running riot.