BBC Proms 2018 Prom 47, Elgar, Prokofiev and Venables (320kbps .mp3)
Live at BBC Proms: BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sakari Oramo in Elgar and Prokofiev. Plus soloist Pekka Kuusisto premieres a quirky new violin concerto by Philip Venables.
Maverick Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto made a memorable Proms debut in 2016. Now he returns to premiere a new violin concerto written especially for him by award-winning young British composer Philip Venables. The piece grows out of a recording the composer found of himself as a teenager playing one of Bartok’s Hungarian Sketches to his teacher’s teacher, Rudolf Botta, a Hungarian refugee – and the journey that ensued.
The concerto is framed by two works suffused with sunny optimism – Elgar’s lovely Introduction and Allegro for strings and Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony, a piece that rejoices in ‘the strength and beauty of the human spirit’.
01. Elgar - Introduction and Allegro for Strings
01i. Introduction to BBC Proms 2018 Prom 47
02. Philip Venables/Bartók - Venables Plays Bartók (BBC Commission World Premiere)
02i. Introduction to Venables/Bartók
03. Trad - Vi Salde Vara Hemman
03i. Kuusisto dicusses the encore
04. Prokofiev - Symphony No.5 in B flat Op.100
04i. Introduction to Prokofiev’s Symphony No.5
Pekka Kuusisto (violin)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sakari Oramo (conductor)
05. BBC Proms 2018 Prom 47 Interval, Proms Plus.
Presenter Hannah Conway talks to composer Philip Venables about his new work, premiered in this concert, 'Venables plays Bartok'. Recorded earlier at the Imperial College Union.
Live from the Royal Albert Hall, London
Presented by Ian Skelly
Broadcast: 17 August 2018, BBC Radio 3
