Symphonic Dances

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Enjoy another concert in the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra Poole concert series, with Symphonic Dances on Wednesday 5 March. The BSO are joined for Shostakovich's Violin Concerto by the brilliant Rosanne Philippens conducted by Adam Hickox.

The Symphonic Dances is an exhilarating summary of Rachmaninov's life's work – rhythmically animated and truly symphonic, nostalgic and sarcastic. He creates a wondrous kaleidoscope of instrumental colours, from the mellow crooning of an alto saxophone to the dry-bones clatter of a xylophone, and with its incisive dance rhythms inspired by folk and jazz the work finally explodes with visceral energy.

More akin to a symphony, Shostakovich's First Violin Concerto is a real tour de force of a piece, calling on everything in the violinist's technical arsenal as well as vast physical and emotional stamina. The wide emotional range of its four-movement structure encompasses brooding, elegiac melancholy with savage, mocking sarcasm before it gives itself up totally to a rhythmic energy and brilliance of colour.

Sibelius' gem of a miniature masterpiece, Valse Triste, portrays a dance of death between a woman and the Grim Reaper, and is both haunting and poignant.