Friday 7 Mar 2008

19.45, The Anvil, Churchill Way, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 7QR; Box Office: 01256 844244
Tickets: £16.50-£33 (subscriptions and discounts for under 16s & students available)

Programme

Robert Schumann: Overture to ‘Genoveva’, Op 81
Johannes Brahms: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No 1 in D minor, Op 15
Sergei Rachmaninov: Symphony No 3 in A minor, Op 44

After Schumann’s attractive overture to his unjustly neglected opera, we welcome John Lill (piano) to play Brahms’ titanic concerto. Written partly during the final years of his mentor Schumann’s mental breakdown and death, its stormy outer movements are separated by a slow movement of stillness and beauty.

Rachmaninov’s Third Symphony was written in exile in Switzerland and was one of the last works he completed. Like much of his later music, its taut construction and dramatic power make the many moments of lyricism throughout the score all the more telling.