大象传媒

The 大象传媒 Scottish Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Andrew Manze, performs Schumann and Copland, and is joined by Steven Osborne for Beethoven's 3rd Piano Concerto.

Live from City Halls, Glasgow
Presented by Ian Skelly

Copland: Quiet City
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No 3 in C minor

8.20 Interval
Although Irwin Shaw's play Quiet City is largely forgotten, Copland's evocative music survives. During tonight's interval, in a specially written response to the music, performed at Glasgow's City Halls, Scottish writer Louise Welsh explores the city at night and the blurred lines between the natural world and the built environment.

8.40
Schumann: Symphony No 2 in C major

Steven Osborne (piano)
大象传媒 Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Andrew Manze (conductor)

As its bluesy trumpet and cor anglais melodies dialogue against gentle string harmonies, Copland's theatre music for Quiet City can be heard as an evocation of the isolation and loneliness of city life in the 1930s. In a more cheerful vein, conductor Andrew Manze, renowned for his work in the classical repertoire, continues the complete Beethoven Piano Concerto cycle with Steven Osborne and the 大象传媒 Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Tonight they perform the 3rd Concerto, in which the joyful C-major conclusion seems to pre-echo the finale of this evening's concert.
And in spite of Schumann's troubled mental state at the time of writing, his Symphony No. 2 seems to sing with optimism. The great C-major work journeys over the course of its four movements from an exploratory chorale-like opening, through a vivacious scherzo, and a tender and searching Adagio, towards its ebullient and uncompromisingly triumphant conclusion.