FROM ENGLAND WITH LOVE

PROGRAMMEDWARD ELGARCOCKAIGNE (In London Town) concert overture FREYA WALEY-COHENVIOLIN CONCERTO WILLIAM WALTONBalthasar's Feast

Conductor YOEL GAMZOUViolin TAMSIN Waley-Cohenbass-baritone TOMASZ KoniecznyChoir and Orchestra of the Teatru Wielkiego - National Opera

Among the streets that the swarm of usurpers has bought, along with the murky Thames, I wander — and I see in every face the stigma of weakness and misery.

William Blake, London, 1794 (trans. Stanislaw Baranczak)

London can have many faces. In William Blake's vision, it is a dark and depressing city — full of inequality, suffering and moral turmoil. However, Edward Elgar, who in the concert overture of Cockaigne, saw him quite differently. In London Town op. 40 (1901) he portrayed the English capital with distinct tenderness and humour.

The title of the work refers to the land of abundance and earthly pleasures — a place where gluttony, drunkenness and everyday pleasures reign. Elgar took this theme with a grain of salt. His London is buzzing with energy: the inhabitants are busy but happy; proud but humorous; immersed in the hustle and bustle of the city and noble at the same time. The character of the city is especially echoed in the main, “London” theme, in which the section of brass instruments plays an important role.

Another contemporary London voice is Freya Waley-Cohen, a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music. Her work is distinguished by an expressive, almost vitalistic rhythmic, juxtaposed with elegant, clear melodies. Did she treat the musical material in her Violin Concerto in the same way? As he says in the preview ahead of the premiere of the work, which will take place on June 20, 2026 at the Aldeburgh Festival:

When I went to bed as a child, Tamsin [the composer's sister] was practicing the violin in the next room, so I fell asleep to her playing. When I write on the violin, her sound is what I hear in my head: her phrasing, her breathing, the different registers of the violin's sound come to life in her hands. When writing my first violin concerto, I think about its musicality and the sound of the instrument in my dreams.

The composer's sister, Tamsin Waley-Cohen, will premiere the song with the eloquent subtitle Dreamer with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under the baton of Kevin John Edusei. The audience of the Teatr Wielki — National Opera will hear the second performance of the work, as well as its Polish premiere. The solo part will be performed again by Tamsin Waley-Cohen.

London's musical tales will be crowned with William Walton's Belshazzar's Feast. The work was commissioned in 1931 by the BBC, but its momentum quickly exceeded the modest capabilities of the studio, which expected a small composition intended for radio and television broadcasts. Finally, the work sounded for the first time on October 8, 1931, during the Leeds Triennial Festival.

The canvas of the cantata was the biblical story of Balthazar, king of Babylon, who, despite the siege of the city, indulged in lavish feasts and debauchery. When he defiled the vessels plundered from the Temple of Jerusalem, a punishment befell him: Babylon fell under the onslaught of enemies, and the ruler himself perished. Walton conveyed the pride and monumentalism of this tale not only through an impressive cast, but also through a demanding, glamorous solo baritone part. This role will be played by the irreplaceable Tomasz Konieczny.