This afternoon’s concert begins with three of Dvořák’s Legends from his cycle of ten lyrical pieces.
We also hear music Bartók composed before he fled Hungary and immigrated to America at the outbreak of the Second World War. The twists and turns of the brooding middle movement are nestled between the sunny optimism of the outer ones.
Hailed by Richard Morrison (The Times) as a "rising composer, conductor, pianist and heaven knows what else...", Alissa Firsova’s Die Windsbraut (‘Bride of the Wind’) is based on the story of Alma Mahler and Oskar Kokoschka, immortalised in an oil paintings by Kokoschka begun soon after they met.
We also hear Suk’s A Fairy-tale, described by Dvořák as “music from heaven”.
