Holst                          Jupiter (The Planets)

Ronald Binge             Sailing By

Elgar                         Nimrod

Shostakovich            Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major

George Lloyd            Symphony No. 4 ‘Arctic’ 

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This concert of Remembrance pays tributeto those brave men who served in the Royal Navy - in particularly on the Arctic Convoys during World War 2.

 

We are delighted to welcome pianist Maria Marchant, who makes her Worthing debut playing Shostakovich’s hugely popular Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Major, with its stunningly beautiful slow movement It was written in 1957 for the composer's son Maxim's 19th birthday. Maxim premiered the piece during his graduation at the Moscow Conservatory.  It contains many similar elements to Shostakovich's other composition, Concertino for Two Pianos - they were both written to be accessible for developing young pianists. It is an uncharacteristically cheerful piece, much more so than most of Shostakovich's works.

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Jupiter from Holst’s The Planets depicts the majesty of this heavenly giant and also its jovial astrological spirit.  As the round-faced cheery uncle of all the planets, and king of the gods, Jupiter is impressive and majestic. The swelling brass and slow waltzing strings are met with moments of poignant beauty in the glorious tune now known as ‘I Vow to Thee My Country’.

 

Ronald Binge’s Sailing By is a short piece of light music familiar to many as the prelude to the BBC Radio 4 Shipping Forecast. 

 

Elgar’s Nimrod (Enigma Variation No. 9) engages his best crossword style by linking Nimrod, the mighty hunter from the Bible, with his friend and musical adviser, A. J. Jaeger (Jaeger being the German for hunter). Perhaps it's due to the fact that the piece is always played at the Cenotaph on Remembrance Sundays that this piece of music captures - maybe more than even his celebrated Pomp and Circumstance - the essence of Britishness in a few pithy musical phrases.

 

George Lloyd served in the Royal Marines on the Arctic convoys in HMS Trinidad. His ship was torpedoed and he sustained severe shell-shock. His Swiss wife Nancy and he travelled to Switzerland after the war where he slowly regained his health, and where he wrote his Fourth Symphony. The score is inscribed 'A world of darkness, storms, strange colours and a faraway peacefulness."  The composer considered it one of his finest orchestral works.