Programme
Hamish MacCunn – The Land of the Mountain and the Flood
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Violin Concerto in D major Op.35 – Soloist: Mabelle Young-Eun Park
Antonín Dvořák – Symphony No.7 in D minor Op.70
Conductor - Chris Morgan
Leader - Hywel Webley
Hamish MacCunn's Land of the Mountain and the Flood is a spirited, bold and yet charming Scottish overture that carries you over the hills and far away. It was composed in 1886 when MacCunn was only eighteen years old - a staggering acievement. It gained familiarity when it was used from 1973 to 1976 as the theme for the BBC television series Sutherland's Law.
The Violin Concerto in D major Op.35 was the only concerto for violin composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. While recovering from a shattered marriage and a near breakdown in 1878, he spent March and April in the Swiss resort town of Clarens, and it was there, in a sudden burst of inspiration, that he wrote one of the most brilliant and cheerful of all his works.
Dvořák's Symphony No.7 in D minor Op.70 was completed in March 1885 and is highly regarded by critics and musicologists as one of the greatest and purest examples in this art-form since Beethoven. Dvořák resolved that this symphony would reflect the political struggles of the Czech nation. It would also reveal something of his personal struggle in reconciling his simple and peaceful countryman's feelings with his intense patriotism and his wish to see the Czech nation flourish.
