Looking Forward and Back

About

Look forward to Wednesday 12 March, when the BSO will be performing the works of Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms. In a concert conducted by Principal Guest Conductor Chloé van Soeterstède, the BSO will take a symphonic voyage accompanied by award-winning pianist Pavel Kolesnikov who was described by Bachtrack as "A poet of the piano."

In this most lyrical, poetic and fantastical of his concertos, Beethoven does not abandon Mozart's concerto form but imbues it with a genuinely romantic voice. In a thrilling dialogue between soloist and orchestra, it is passionate and melancholy, heroic and ethereal, anguished and whimsical.

Schumann's Second Symphony was a personal triumph and marked the start of the final phase of his career. It is a reflection not only of his recent health issues but also the feeling of triumph at overcoming the despair that had gripped him for a year. It transports the listener towards redemption in a way that looks back to Beethoven but also predicts the future greats, like Mahler, who were to come.

A magnificent energy pervades Brahms' overture. Opening with two emphatic chordal exclamations its defiant strength is heightened by the return of a poignant little march, defining the 'Tragic' even more potently.