Ealing Symphony opens its 2018/19 season with Glinka's energetic overture to Ruslan and Ludmilla. While the opera in its entirety is not often performed today, the overture remains part of the common musical canon. The opera tells fantastical tales of wizards, magic swords, enchanted castles and of course, the fairytale hero Ruslan and princess Ludmilla.
We then welcome Poom Prommachart (Sussex International Piano Competition winner) for Bliss's lush piano concerto. After adjudicating a piano competition, the composer wished to write something new, different and difficult for similar competitions in the future ("I have heard twenty-two pianists play the same piece by Bach, the same piece by Scarlatti, and expect to hear them sixty-three times more. Never again!..."). Having recently completed the ballet Checkmate, Bliss received a commission from the British Council for a piano concerto, to be performed at the 1939 World's Fair in New York.
Brahms's Variations on a Theme of Haydn are also often called the St Anthony Variations. As the title suggests, it is a set of variations on a theme, the 'Chorale St Antoni', that Brahms found in an old manuscript attributed to Haydn. Interestingly, it is thought nowadays that the original theme was not in fact by Haydn, as it does not fit his style or output from the time. However, even if it was not originally by Haydn (hence the alternative title), Brahms' expert treatment of the theme with lush orchestration does it much justice.
We finish off the evening with one of the best-known works in the classical canon, Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. The famous 'V for Victory' motif naturally runs through the first movement. A lyrical, andante slow movement follows. The third movement's theme has the same opening as Mozart's Symphony No 40, interestingly (also an influential work, and much admired by Beethoven). Finally, a finale, played allegro, finishes with recapitulations of the whole symphony's themes over held, chorale-like chords.