Edward Gardner and Víkingur Ólafsson

RECORDINGS OF THE WORKS

Felix Mendelssohn: Symfoni nr. 3 i a-moll, op. 56 «Den skotske»

Whole work

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Edvard Griegs plass 1,
5015 Bergen

Edward Gardner and Víkingur Ólafsson

Description

Tonight's concert has the British Isles as a common thread. We know Berlioz and Mendelssohn, who in their time were inspired by Shakespeare and Scottish landscapes. Edward Gardner invites us to meet a leading British composer of today, Mark Simpson, whose new piano concerto is performed by Tamara Stefanovich. The concert opens with Hector Berlioz's colourful and richly detailed tone portrait of the mentally disturbed King Lear from Shakespeare's play. According to the composer himself, he wrote the music in Nice after reading the play at leisure, lying under a shady tree on the banks of the Arno near Florence. Mark Simpson is an award-winning composer and clarinettist, inspired by tone poets such as György Ligeti, Pierre Boulez and Thomas Adès. Mark Simpson's piano concerto was commissioned by the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra together with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Philharmonie Essen. Felix Mendelssohn sketched the opening bars of his Scottish Symphony when he visited England and Scotland as a twenty-year-old, in 1829. Only more than ten years later, in 1841, did he return to the symphony, and the following year, in 1842, the symphony was premiered in Leipzig. Mendelssohn was both a diligent and popular guest in the island kingdom, and it was here in Victorian England that he achieved his greatest success thanks to the elegance, lightness and concise structure of his music. It was probably no coincidence that the symphony was dedicated to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Our former chief conductor Edward Gardner has earned much praise for his recordings of all Mendelssohn's symphonies. Tamara Stefanovich replaces Víkingur Ólafsson as soloist in Mark Simpson's piano concerto. The change was announced on 2 September. Programme: Hector Berlioz / King Lear, overture Mark Simpson / Piano Concerto (commissioned work, Nordic premiere) Felix Mendelssohn / Symphony No. 3 "Scottish"