A programme bringing together two aesthetic and musical universes two hundred years apart: J.S. Bach (the sublime Violin Concerto in A minor, with Academy Director Tomo Keller as soloist), seen as a historical model against which all musicians lay the foundations of their own language.
Britten and Tippett, two of the most brilliant representatives of twentieth-century British music, are represented in works that are typically ‘neo-classical’: in his famous Simple Symphony (1934), Britten has fun imitating classical Viennese models while Tippett’s Fantasia Concertante is a marvellous homage to Corelli for the 300th anniversary of his birth (1953).
These three pieces are paired with Walton’s Sonata for Strings (1971), a work which has a special connection to the orchestra having been adapted from his String Quartet in A minor at the request of our founder Sir Neville Marriner.
Tippett Fantasia Concertante on a Theme of Corelli (Omaggio a Italia)
Britten Simple Symphony Op.4
Bach Violin Concerto No.1 in A minor, BWV 1041
Walton Sonata for Strings