BBC SO and Chorus - Rachmaninov, Nielsen, Busoni

Live from the Barbican
Presented by Petroc Trelawny

BBC Symphony Orchestra & Chorus with Sakari Oramo: Rachmaninov's Spring Cantata and Nielsen's 2nd Symphony. Garrick Ohlsson joins them for Busoni's gargantuan Piano Concerto.

Rachmaninov: Spring Cantata
Nielsen: Symphony no.2 'The Four Temperaments' FS29, Op.16

8.25pm Interval: Schoenberg's Friede auf Erden (Peace on Earth) - a setting of a text by Swiss writer Conrad Ferdinand Meyer - is performed here by the BBC Singers and conductor David Hill. Plus the ensemble Diabolicus with Erwin Stein's arrangement of Busoni's Berceuse Elegiaque.
Busoni: Concerto for Piano in C major K247 Op.39

Igor Golovatenko (baritone)
Garrick Ohlsson (piano)
BBC Symphony Chorus
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sakari Oramo (conductor)

In Nielsen's Second Symphony, The Four Temperaments, we feel the full force of the mature composer's vision. Taking the medieval idea of the 'four humours' of the human constitution, Nielsen constructs a drama of vivid contrasts, from impetuous violence of the first 'choleric' movement to the irresistible dancing breeziness of the 'sanguine' finale. In between comes a 'melancholy' Andante of majestic expressive power, worthy of Rachmaninov, whose consoling cantata Spring opens the concert, performed with baritone Igor Golovatenko and BBC Symphony Chorus. The male chorus joins American master-pianist Garrick Ohlsson for Busoni's extraordinary concerto, once called 'a hymn to immoderation'.