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The ´óÏó´«Ã½ National Orchestra of Wales and their principal conductor, Ryan Bancroft, join forces once more for a programme that is heavily influenced both by Bancroft's native America, and also by rejections of traditional writing. The programme opens with two companion pieces by Charles Ives which he brought together as his contrasting ‘Two Contemplations’: Central Park in the Dark, or 'A Contemplation of Nothing Serious', and The Unanswered Question, an exploration of humanity's existence. In these pieces, Ives frequently writes in several keys at once, a style of writing for which he was a pioneer.

Closing the first half, Bomsori Kim joins the orchestra for Szymanowski's effervescent First Violin Concerto. The work is considered by many to be an impressionistic masterpiece, which pushed the boundaries of what a violin concerto could be, and acts as a perfect foil to the Ives pieces. The concert concludes with John Adams's Harmonielehre, a work which he intended as a treatise on harmony, in direct contrast to the atonal propensity of Arnold Schoenberg and his acolytes. Adams actively disliked the sound of "serial" music, and this incredible symphonic work is both a manifestation of his opposition to that system, and a love letter for post-romanticism, which also includes quotations from great symphonic works.

Recorded in St. David's Hall, Cardiff on the 20th of April, and presented by Verity Sharp.

7.30pm
Ives: Central Park in the Dark, S 34
Ives: The Unanswered Question, S 50
Szymanowski: Violin Concerto No 1, Op 35

8.20pm
Interval Music - Ryan Bancroft contemplates Charles Ives

8.40pm
John Adams: Harmonielehre

Bomsori Kim (violin)
´óÏó´«Ã½ National Orchestra of Wales
Ryan Bancroft (conductor)