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European Premiere of Bernard Rands's Concerto for English Horn and Orchestra

Feb. 07, 2018

European Premiere of Bernard Rands's <em>Concerto for English Horn and Orchestra</em>

On February 28, the BBC Philharmonic presents the European premiere of Bernard Rands’s Concerto for English Horn and Orchestra, featuring soloist Gillian Callow. Ben Gernon conducts the premiere at the BBC Philharmonic Studio at MediaCityUK, Salford. Commissioned by the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, the three-movement work was given its world premiere in 2015 by The Cleveland Orchestra under the direction of Lionel Bringuier, with Robert Walters as soloist. Rands shares some insight into his work:


“Concerto for English Horn and Orchestra is in three movements – ‘Fantasia’, ‘Aubade’, and ‘Hommage (à C-AD)’, the titles of which are suggestive of the mood and character of each movement. The third movement is an overt tribute and reference to Claude Debussy whose music has been a life-long influence on [my] musical aesthetic. Quite specifically, Debussy’s Jeux is a subtext to the music of this movement though no quotations from Debussy’s music are used. Rather, the spirit of Jeux is evoked – sometimes quite overtly and at other times rather mysteriously.”


More BBC Philharmonic news: In 2019, NMC Records will release a disc of Bernard Rands's orchestral works recorded and performed by the BBC Philharmonic in celebration of the composer's 85th birthday year. The recording will include: Danza Petrificada (originally commissioned and performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Riccardo Muti); Chains Like the Sea (originally commissioned and performed by the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Lorin Maazel); and the Concerto for Cello and Orchestra (originally commissioned and performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra with Seiji Ozawa and Mstislav Rostropovich as soloist). Johannes Moser will be the solo cellist on the NMC disc.


Listen to a recording of Bernard Rands's Cello Concerto No. 1 (1996) performed by Johannes Moser and the BBC Philharmonic here:



(Cello Concerto No. 1/Bernard Rands/BBC Philharmonic/Clark Rundell, conductor/Johannes Moser, cello)

 

Bernard Rands

Concerto for English Horn and Orchestra (2015)

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25’

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