In the Brighton Phil’s Remembrance Sunday concert at the Dome on 12 November music by some of Britain’s greatest 20th century composers sits alongside a vivid re-imagining of an 18th century masterpiece.
The orchestra is joined by the violinist Matthew Trusler who performs Benjamin Britten’s emotionally and technically demanding Violin Concerto, mysterious, martial and melodic by turns. Written in 1939 the concerto was heavily influenced by the escalation of hostilities in Europe.
The concert opens with Bach’s Toccata & Fugue (arranged by Leopold Stokowski) familiar to many from the opening scenes of Disney’s Fantasia (1940) when Mickey Mouse shakes hands with The Conductor, Stokowski himself.
Then we have George Butterworth’s evocative A Shropshire Lad which was written in 1913, based on poems by AE Housman. This sumptuous orchestral rhapsody conjures up the rural idyll of Edwardian England that was to change forever in the First World War, where Butterworth was to lose his life in the trenches.
The concert ends with Vaughan Williams’ powerful Symphony No.4 which was written in 1935 as the storm clouds of war gathered over Europe. This craggy and at times ferocious piece is shot through with the composer’s rage, humour and poetic nature.
Tickets (from £12-£38) are available from Brighton Dome Ticket Office in Church Street, Brighton, (01273) 709709 and online: www.brightondome.org 50% discount for students and Under 18s.
Discounted parking is available for BPO concert-goers at NCP Church Street – just £6 between 1-6pm.