Join BBC Radio 3 for a FREE lunchtime invitation concert with the Ulster Orchestra providing escape, sunny climbs and musical mastery at the Ulster Hall, Belfast on 11 September 2024.
The programme opens with a short work by the Grammy award-winning American composer, Libby Larsen. She is well-known for writing music that evokes the earth and the elements, and her Deep Summer Music – premiered by the Minnesota Orchestra in 1982 – does exactly that. It’s a verdant piece, with the xylophone and harp delivering the effect of water drops.
Copland’s Appalachian Spring follows, capturing the spirit of a young couple setting out on married life. Set in early nineteenth century Pennsylvania, its use of sparce textures and the Shaker tune “Simple Gifts”, give a real sense of the American landscape.
Instruments like the clarinet have key roles to play and there’s joy and gratitude in this music.
Dvořák's Symphonic Variations round off the concert – one of the three most frequently played of all sets of orchestral variations, alongside Brahms’ Variations on a Theme by Haydn and Elgar’s Enigma Variations. The Symphonic Variations were written between 06 August and 28 September 1877, with the conductor Hands Richter describing it as a “magnificent work” and writing to Dvořák: “At the hundreds of concerts which I have conducted during my life, no new work has ever had such success as yours”
There are 27 variations in total, all based on a theme from one of the composer’s earlier works.
The English conductor James Burton joins the Ulster Orchestra.
Libby Larsen: Deep Summer Music – 8’
Copland: Appalachian Spring – 23’
Dvořák: Symphonic Variations Op. 78 – 21’
