AND MUSIC TO YOUR EARS…
You tell us what you’ve been enjoying on disc and in the concert hall
Stuart Law Fleet
With a concert performance of Elgar’s Symphony No. 2 fresh in my mind, I decided to revisit Anthony Payne’s ‘elaboration’ of the sketches for the Third. It reminded me what a masterful job Payne did. Most of the orchestration sounds as if it’s come directly from the pen of Elgar himself. If the finale, which Payne admitted gave him the most problems, is maybe less satisfying, the quiet gong stroke that ends the work seems entirely appropriate.
Chris Davies Dorset
I recently purchased a recording of the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra performing Martin∞’s Symphonies Nos 3 & 4, so it was with great interest that I listened to Radio 3’s Composer of the Week programmes on him. Also on Radio 3, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s (BSO) live broadcast of Walton’s Symphony No. 2, conducted by Kirill Karabits was outstanding and, before that, the encore from pianist Simon Trpcˇeski of the Rachmaninov’s Vocalise with BSO cellist Jesper Svedberg was an absolute delight.
Aart Roest Amsterdam, Holland
Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique is one of my favourite works. Until recently, I preferred the recordings by conductors Ataúlfo Argenta, Charles Munch and Colin Davis. Then, Daniele Gatti conducted it in his first concert as chief conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra – it was subtle, elastic, comic and soft where needed. It gave me so much joy that I have relived it again online four times so far!
Roderick Ellem Melbourne
At the Stellenbosch Chamber Music Festival in South Africa earlier this year I heard the music of Péteris Vasks (right) for the first time – his violin concerto, called Distant Light, is absolutely entrancing. I have since listened to more of his music and am fascinated by it. Just recently, too, thanks to your Building a Library article on Vaughan Williams’s Fourth Symphony, I have been exploring all the composer’s symphonies (the Boult and Handley cycles) and Walton’s Symphony No. 1 (with Edward Gardner and André Previn) as well as the music of Bax and Bliss.
Tell us what concerts or recordings you’ve been enjoying by emailing us at musictomyears@classical-music.com