Bristol Classical Players

Tonight’s concert pairs two of the greatest, grandest works in musical history: Beethoven’s 5th Piano Concerto, nicknamed ‘the Emperor’ for its sheer magnificence and scale, and Brahms’s 1st Symphony, for many years regarded as ‘Beethoven’s 10th’.

Programme

Weber Overture to Der Freischütz
Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat, ‘Emperor’
Brahms Symphony No.1 in C Minor

The concerto begins with a dazzling, improvisatory display of pianistic pizazz – “as if God himself were warming up”, as one contemporary put it. The tranquil slow movement and joyous, bounding finale remain among the most loved pieces of classical music and are never far from Classic FM’s annual top 10. BCP are delighted to welcome Rupert Egerton-Smith, artist in residence at OSJ, as tonight’s soloist.

Before that, BCP will perform Weber’s equally revolutionary overture to Der Freischutz: a work of ghosts, love songs and dark woodlands, that set the pattern for Romantic opera and which Wagner regarded as the wellspring of his own work. Finally, the Brahms: under Beethoven’s shadow, Brahms laboured for 20 years to produce this perfect masterpiece, a fusion of Romantic passion and Classical structure, that set a new level for sophistication and excitement. The arresting opening, with its pounding timpani, set the stage for every kind of tension until, finally, a triumphant blast of trombones brings this great work to a towering conclusion.

“This is an orchestra that can do it all” Bristol 24/7
“a breath-taking experience” Bristol Evening Post