Vasily Petrenko’s first visit to Nottingham as the Music Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra begins with William Walton’s celebratory overture – in his words a ‘slightly crazy, non-stop gallop’, featuring African tunes and an impressive array of percussion. Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto also projects a positive mood, despite the composer writing it under siege in Vienna and frequently having to shelter from the bombardments of Napoleon’s forces. The most extrovert of his concertos, it’s also the grandest, written on an unprecedented scale and testing the soloist’s skills to the limit. Taking up the challenge, and making his Nottingham debut, is the brilliant Israeli pianist, Boris Giltburg.
Vaughan Williams wrote of his London Symphony that it "should rather be called 'Symphony by a Londoner'", seeming to downplay its descriptive qualities, but it’s hard to avoid imagining the capital’s grand vistas and soundscapes, so evocative is its writing. After the Westminster Chimes awaken the city from its hushed opening, Vaughan Williams gives us bustling crowds, moments of quiet contemplation, distant sounds of night-time revelry and an agitated march, hinting at more turbulent times ahead. And throughout, there’s the enduring presence of the Thames, captured in rich impressionistic colours reminiscent of the composer’s mentor, Ravel.
Free pre-concert talk, 6.20pm in the auditorium: Dr Katy Hamilton on Vaughan Williams’s A London Symphony.