Prom 29: Chopin, Franck, Saint-Saens and Casella

Afternoon on 3 with Verity Sharp

The BBC Philharmonic and their Conductor Laureate, Gianandrea Noseda, recorded last Friday at the BBC Proms, in works by Casella, Chopin, Franck and Saint-Saëns. The orchestra is joined by a former BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist, pianist Benjamin Grosvenor.

Presented by Andrew McGregor at the Royal Albert Hall, London

Casella: Elegia eroica
Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11

Franck: Symphonic Variations
Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 in C minor, 'Organ', Op.78

Benjamin Grosvenor (piano)
David Goode (organ)
BBC Philharmonic
Gianandrea Noseda (conductor)

Casella's powerful "Heroic Elegy", dedicated to the "unknown soldier", opens the concert and continues this year's Proms series of works written in the shadow of the First World War. Former BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist Benjamin Grosvenor joins the orchestra for Chopin's lyrical but virtuosic First Piano Concerto and, after the interval, returns as soloist in Franck's Symphonic Variations. Saint-Saëns's thrilling journey from darkness to blazing light, the "Organ" Symphony, closes the programme.

First broadcast 8th August 2014.