What's On — Oramo events
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Great Romantics
Sat 13 Dec Symphony Hall
Last Christmas Sakari Oramo brought us all some seasonal cheer with highlights from The Nutcracker; this year it’s the turn of another of Tchaikovsky’s great ballets. It shares the first half with possibly the most popular of all piano concertos, played by the Russian pianist with whom the CBSO has made an acclaimed series of Rachmaninov recordings. Elgar said that his First Symphony expressed ‘a wide experience of human life with a great charity (love) and a massive hope in the future’ how better to celebrate the festive season?
Sakari Oramo - conductor Nikolai Lugansky - piano City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Tchaikovsky: Sleeping Beauty (highlights) 10’ Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2 32’ Elgar: Symphony No. 1 52’
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Celebrating Nielsen: The Inextinguishable
Wed 7 Jan 2009 Symphony Hall
After last season’s acclaimed cycle of Sibelius symphonies, this season we feature the equally impressive cycle by his exact contemporary Carl Nielsen. His varied output holds the same central place in Danish music as Sibelius does in Finland, and his six symphonies are full of struggle, reflection and strong emotion - just like real life. Principal guest conductor Sakari Oramo begins this series with a charming picture-postcard overture and the composer’s best-known work. Written at the height of the First World War, this symphony is a volcanic musical struggle between the forces of destruction and the energy of life itself, culminating in one of the most uplifting - and thrilling - endings in all music. 6.15pm Pre-concert talk - Nielsen: The Inextinguishable An introduction to the CBSO and the Hallé’s joint Nielsen Cycle and tonight’s concert.
Sakari Oramo - conductor Nikolai Lugansky - piano City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Nielsen: A Fantasy Trip to the Faroes 12’ Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 2 32’ Nielsen: Symphony No. 4 (The Inextinguishable) 36’
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Celebrating Nielsen: The Four Temperaments
Sat 10 Jan 2009 Symphony Hall
For Nielsen, music was all about exploring what it means to be human. And this second concert in the CBSO and the Hallé’s joint Nielsen Symphony Cycle does exactly that. Nielsen’s extraordinary Second Symphony, “The Four Temperaments”, is a musical attempt to paint an entire personality in wonderfully colourful music; his deceptively tuneful Sixth is a musical self-portrait as haunting and unforgettable as anything by Mahler. To these masterpieces Oramo adds Nielsen’s picturesque tribute to the sun, and Prokofiev’s equally warm-hearted violin concerto played by an outstanding soloist. 5.45pm Pre-concert talk - Nielsen: The Four Temperaments Find out more about tonight’s symphonies and overture by this great Dane.
Sakari Oramo - conductor Akiko Suwanai - violin City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Nielsen: Helios Overture 12’ Nielsen: Symphony No. 6 (Semplice) 31’ Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 1 22’ Nielsen: Symphony No. 2 (The Four Temperaments) 35’

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