Elgar : Symphony No. 1

Edward Elgar and Ralph Vaughan Williams: undoubtedly two of the most beloved and enduringly popular composers from the United Kingdom - and conductor Andrew Manze knows them like no other.

In 1938, Vaughan Williams set some famous verses from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice to music. The original composition of Serenade to Music, written for symphony orchestra and 16 specific British singers, soon proved difficult to replicate. Vaughan Williams thus provided a few alternatives himself, and was able to preserve the poetry that had so deeply moved in the original version, especially in the version for solo violin and orchestra. Following that, soloist Michael Barenboim will perform Robert Groslot's Violin Concerto, which showcases equally inventive music as his two English counterparts in this program.

The Enigma Variations, Land of Hope and Glory, the Cello Concerto: Edward Elgar wrote music that is now deeply engraved in the collective memory. Is it the way he was able to encompass his imagination and poetry in his music, or the emotional depth that you can scarcely pinpoint but can so deeply move the heart? Whatever his secret, he put his all into his monumental First Symphony.

Flagey, Brussels Philharmonic