Bartók’s Third Piano Concerto

The BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Dinis Sousa performs Ravel's Boléro, Debussy's La Mer, Unsuk Chin's Alaraph and, with Bertrand Chamayou, Bartok's Piano Concerto No.3.

Unsuk Chin: Alaraph: Ritual of the Heartbeat
Béla Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 3

20.30 Interval

20.50
Claude Debussy: La mer
Maurice Ravel: Boléro

Bertrand Chamayou (piano)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Dinis Sousa (conductor)

Channel waves, folk rhythms and the heartbeat of the cosmos, as conductor Dinis Souza, pianist Bertrand Chamayou and the BBC Symphony Orchestra play Debussy, Bartók and Unsuk Chin.

Claude Debussy gazed at the waves of the English channel, and saw – and heard – a thousand glowing colours. Isolated and ill, the exiled Béla Bartók wrote a piano concerto for his beloved wife, and created rhythms that dance for joy. And in our own time, Unsuk Chin gazes into the infinite and finds a star that pulses in time with the human heart.

That’s actually true: Chin’s wondrous new orchestral work takes its cue both from Korean court music and the curiously human rhythm of the star Alaraph. It’s an unforgettable opening to conductor Dinis Sousa’s nature-inspired debut concert with the BBC Symphony Orchestra: and with the “remarkable” (The Guardian) French pianist Bertrand Chamayou also appearing for the first time with the BBC SO, there’ll be a regular constellation of stars in alignment tonight. The concert comes to a close with the insistent rhythms and drama of Ravel’s Boléro.