Elder conducts Brahms
Norwich
London
Saffron Walden
08 – 10 Nov 2017
Mahler arr. Britten
What the Wild Flowers tell me
Finzi
The Fall of the Leaf
Mahler
Rückert-Lieder
Brahms
Symphony No. 1
Artists
Sir Mark Elder
conductor
Elisabeth Kulman
mezzo-soprano
Summary
Brahms’s First Symphony, one of the greatest of all Romantic symphonies, was first performed with considerably smaller musical forces than we are used to hearing today. Sir Mark Elder conducts Britten Sinfonia in a performance that returns to the spirit of those early concerts and allows the details of Brahms’s extraordinary lyrical masterpiece to shine through.
To accompany the work, Elder has chosen Mahler’s sublime Rückert-Lieder, with mezzo Elisabeth Kulman, and Finzi’s soaring elegy for orchestra. Benjamin Britten’s arrangement of the second movement of Mahler’s Third Symphony completes the eloquent programme.
Download the programme notes here ahead of the concert.
Find out more about Elisabeth Kulman in this Q&A.
Listen to Sir Mark Elder talk about the concerts in our free podcast:
Norwich, St Andrew’s Hall – Pre-concert talk, 6.30pm
Sir Mark Elder discusses tonight’s programme with Roger Rowe (free to ticket holders)
Saffron Walden, Saffron Hall – Pre-concert talk, 6.30pm
Sir Mark Elder discusses tonight’s programme with Germaine Greer (free to ticket holders)
Related News / Blog
Reviews
Bachtrack
"In Elder's hands and with the Sinfonia's relentlessly incisive tone, Brahms' much celebrated First Symphony sounded astonishingly fresh."
Read MoreClassical Source
"Elder led a refreshing reading, at once urgent and classical, also flexible"
Read MoreThe Financial Times
"This programme opened with 'What the wild flowers tell me' from Mahler's Third Symphony in an arrangement by Britten, which sharpens its edges and polishes its glinting detail."
Read MoreThe Guardian
"The playing, with every solo line beautifully teased out and an instinctive sense of ensemble give and take, was exemplary throughout the evening."
Read MoreOpera Today
"There was an exciting and uplifting sense of joy in the final movement without the sound ever becoming self-indulgently or weightily pompous; and, one could sense the players’ intellectual and emotional engagement with the arguments that they were being asked to consider, explore and articulate."
Read MoreSeen and Heard
"The resplendent conclusion by Mark Elder and the Britten Sinfonia whetted the appetite for their future exploration of Brahms’s other symphonies yet to come."
Read More