大象传媒

Katie Derham continues a week of programmes showcasing performances by the 大象传媒 National Orchestra of Wales.

In a recent concert from the Brangwyn Hall in Swansea, we hear Mozart's final symphony, the 'Jupiter' - a work whose complexity and ambiguity of mood continued to perplex critics long after the composer's death. This is paired with an overture by a composer sometimes known as 'the Spanish Mozart': Juan Crisostomo Arriaga. The programme begins in Hungary with two 20th-century composers who settled in the USA. Bartok's final work, his Third Piano Concerto, is performed by Welsh soloist Llyr Williams. Miklos R贸zsa led what he called a 'double life', composing both for Hollywood films (including Ben-Hur, El Cid and Hitchcock's Spellbound) and the concert platform.

In the Fourth Symphony by Sibelius, Danish conductor Thomas Dausgaard explores one of the composer's darkest works for orchestra. Composed during a period of personal and professional despair, it's a work that - as Sibelius said - has 'nothing of the circus about it'.