大象传媒

Live from the Ulster hall, Belfast

Presented by John Toal

The Ulster Orchestra, conducted by their new Principal Guest Conductor Jac van Steen, live from the opening concert of the 52nd Belfast Festival, in a programme of Haydn, Strauss Wagner, and Bart贸k.

Haydn - Symphony No. 87 in A Major
R Strauss - Intermezzo: Four Symphonic Interludes

8.15: INTERVAL

Wagner - Lohengrin: Prelude to Act 1
Bart贸k - Violin Concerto No. 2

Valeriy Sokolov, Violin
Ulster Orchestra
Jac van Steen Conductor

The programme, themed "Four Moods in Music," features four contrasting works. It begins with Haydn's lively Symphony No.87 in A Major. First performed in 1787, it's one of the 6 "Paris" symphonies commissioned by Count Claude-Fran莽ois-Marie Rigoley d'Ogny. Richard Strauss's Four Symphonic Interludes from Intermezzo follows. Composed between 1918 and 1923, the opera is a bourgeois comedy which follows a composer's wife, who, upon opening her husband's mail, discovers a passionate love letter from a fan. The arc of the unfolding crisis can be felt across the Four Symphonic Interludes.
During the interval John Toal talks to the Director of the Belfast Festival, Richard Wakely, about this year's programme, and continuing the theme of the evening, Jac van Steen introduces his Ulster Orchestra recording of Stravinsky's 4 Norwegian Moods, written in 1942.
The concert continues with the Prelude to Act 1 of Wagner's Lohengrin, depicting the Holy Grail as it descends to earth in the care of an angelic host. This is music at its most serene. And to conclude the programme, the leading Ukrainian violinist Valeriy Sokolov joins the Orchestra to perform Bart贸k's Violin Concerto No. 2. Written for his friend the Hungarian Zolt谩n Sz茅kely, Bart贸k's well known knowledge and love of Eastern European folk music is especially evident in the dance rhythms of the outer movements of the work, with the instrument featuring prominently from the very outset.