Pole Position

Click here to listen to Principal Conductor Kirill Karabits talk about the programme for this concert and the musical relationships it explores.

 

 

Boris Lyatoshynsky, a composer, conductor and teacher, was a leading member of the new generation of 20th-century Ukrainian composers and is today honoured as the father of contemporary Ukrainian music. The symphonic ballad Grazhyna is an emotionally charged tone poem and recognised by many as one of his true masterworks. It was composed in 1955 to commemorate the centenary of the death of the great Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz.

 

Lutoslawski’s Cello Concerto was commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Society with the Gulbenkian Foundation and first performed at the Royal Festival Hall by Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under Edward Downes on 14 October 1970. The soloist was Mstislav Rostropovich, for whom the work was written and to whom it is dedicated. After the performance, BSO president Sir Arthur Bliss presented Rostropovich with the RPS Gold Medal. The work consists of four linked movements - introduction, four episodes, a cantilena and a finale. It is built on the principle of conflict, in form and in expression, with the soloist continually attacked by orchestral interruptions but ultimately emerging triumphant.

 

Tchaikovsky’s Third Symphony, written during the summer of 1875, is a neglected gem. Perhaps it is because it has few of the agonised outpourings characteristic of his three symphonies to follow. This is unashamedly cheerful (it is the only one of his symphonies in a major key) and is without any programmatic content. The mood is stately and confident, with development sections that demonstrate technical mastery rather than tension and conflict. At its centre is one of the most romantic pieces of music that Tchaikovsky ever wrote.

 

This concert is part of a wider series, The Virtuoso Cello, which celebrates the instrument's magnificence and diversity.