BBC Concert Orchestra - Seeing The Light (recorded 26 Feb 2023)

Recent broadcast of a February concert from London's Queen Elizabeth Hall, themed around 'light'.  Starting off with Philip Glass' piece for the centenary of the Michelson-Morley experiment, the first half is rounded out with Peteris Vasks' Lonely Angel, introducing violinist Mari Samuelsen as the concert's featured soloist.  A great run of pieces after the interval, by Meredi, Guðnadóttir and Pärt further showcase Samuelsen, before the grand finale of Rautavaara's Angel Of Light symphony.  Great programme, brilliantly played.

link

pw: sgtg

BBC Concert Orchestra with Mari Samuelsen - Glass, Higdon, Taylor-West, Perivolaris (live in London, 5 May 2022)

Broadcast concert from a month ago held in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, South Bank, London.  As well as the main attractions of the programme, the Glass and Higdon concertos, two commissioned pieces were given their premiere and introduced by their composers.  First up is Liam Taylor-West's Making Space, inspired by non-repeating mathematical patterns; the bright, bustling music made me think of Steve Reich's cityscapes.  Gaelic call-and-response hymn singing and forest regrowth combine next in Electra Periovolaris' A Forest Reawakens, an intriguing four-minute introduction to another young and promising composer.

Philip Glass' Violin Concerto then takes us back to the 80s, and the beginning of his embrace of more traditional classical forms, but still with the trademark gradually-shifting repetitive strucutures and a great showcase for the featured violinist Mari Samuelsen.  The second half of the concert is taken up by Jennifer Higdon's Concerto For Orchestra (2002), getting off to a whirlwind start before passing the spotlight round the strings, the soloists and percussion.  It's a great finish to a highly complementary programme of first-class musicianship and composing.

link

pw: sgtg