RAMSBOTTOM RECORDED MUSIC SOCIETY

UNFORTUNATELY the presenter scheduled for our recent meeting was indisposed so we were very grateful to our General Secretary, Richard W. Hall, who stepped in at short notice and produced a very enjoyable concert programme.

Richard opened with the overture to The Mikado, the ninth collaboration between Gilbert and Sullivan.

The Royal Ballet Sinfonia was conducted by Andrew Penny.

Richard followed this with the Camille SaintSaëns Violin Concerto No.3 in B minor played by Phillipe Graffin and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Martyn Brabbins. Pablo de Sarasate, the Spanish Violin virtuoso, was the dedicatee of this concerto.

It is imbued with sensuous and passionate directness.

The first half of the evening ended with a work by Richard Wagner: his Dawn and Siegfried’s Rhine Journey (Prologue).

The Cleveland Orchestra was conducted by George Szell.

Wagner composed his last opera Götterdämmerung between 1869 and 1874.

It is the last of the four operas that make up his Ring Cycle, a project that had taken him over 25 years to complete.

The opera is much renowned for its orchestral sequences, and these are often performed as concert extracts.

Back from the interval, we were treated to the delightful Kol Nidrei by Max Bruch played by Janos Starker, cello.

The Philharmonia Orchestra was under the baton of Leonard Slatkin.

Bruch subtitled his Kol Nidrei “An Adagio on Hebrew Themes for Cello and Orchestra.”

It was composed in 1881, about the time when Bruch was Director of the Philharmonic Society in Liverpool.

The evening ended with the ever popular Piano Concerto in A minor by Edvard Greig in a stunning performance by Leif Ove Andsnes.

The Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra was conducted by Dimitri Kitayenko.

Greig devoted a large part of his life to the piano and conducting, and it was while he was still young and with the encouragement of Liszt, that he undertook the composition of his piano concerto, begun in 1868 and completed in 1870.

Chairman Roger Howarth thanked Richard for producing such an enjoyable programme at short notice.

The Society meets alternate Thursdays at Christ Church, Ramsbottom, the next meeting being on March 1.

Further details from Richard W. Hall on 01706 823490.