Berlioz, Blacher, Brahms
Kensington Symphony Orchestra
Russell Keable
Conductor
Berlioz
Le Roi Lear
Boris Blacher
Concertante Musik, op.10
Brahms
Symphony No. 2

Berlioz’s overture Le roi Lear (1831) – individual in style and tone, but bearing the influence of Beethoven – was written in Nice, shortly after the composer had visited Italy as the winner of the 1830 Prix de Rome. Berlioz had also recently discovered Shakespeare and based the work on King Lear.

The orchestra also performs Concertante Musik (1937) by the German composer Boris Blacher (1903-75). Known for his colourful, French-inspired instrumentation, Blacher was accused of writing “degenerate” music by the Nazis, but he became a key figure in the musical life of post-war Berlin.

Following the tortuous 20-year gestation of Brahms’s first symphony, his sunny, lyrical Symphony No.2 (1877) was written in the space of a single summer in the Austrian Alps and Bavaria’s Black Forest, in the bright, resonant key of D. Pastoral themes and a beautiful slow movement give way to a jubilant finale, frequently described as a Kehraus – the last dance at a ball.