Pearls of the season/BBC Symphony Orchestra/ Oramo/ Piedmontese

Concerts of guest orchestras at NOSPR have it in common that not only we, being in Katowice, can experience the sound, which is the musical showcase of distant cities. Also visiting bands can draw inspiration from the musical riches of Polish culture. In the case of a visit to the BBC Symphony Orchestra, this aspect may be particularly significant due to the series of recordings of Grażyna Bacewicz's orchestral works that they have been making for several years.

However, the British will bring a symphonic postcard of their capital to Silesia. And Ralph Vaughan Williams' London Symphony perfectly conveys the mood of a large, modern metropolis, in which, nevertheless, echoes of centuries-old traditions are heard from time to time.

The concert will begin with “a small piano concerto with a small, pretty scherzz” — as in a letter to Clara Schumann ironic about Johannes Brahms's own Second Piano Concerto. In fact, it is a monumental work that, with its four parts, broke the framework of the genre at that time, earning itself the nickname “symphony with piano obligato”.

Szymon Maliszewski

Duration of the concert (including the break): approx. 130 minutes

Performers: BBC Symphony Orchestra; Francesco Piemontesi — piano

Program: Johannes Brahms — Piano Concerto No. 2 in B major, Op. 83; Ralph Vaughan Williams — London Symphony No. 2