Performance on 3 - Bournemouth SO/Alsop

Presented by Petroc Trelawny The Variations on an Original Theme, commonly known as "The Enigma Variations", is a brilliantly varied portrait gallery of Elgar's friends, family and neighbours. They contain some of the most charming and deeply felt music Elgar ever penned, though the theme itself remains an enigma. Barber's gloriously lyrical violin concerto is frequently cited as a sort of turning point in Barber's output, a work whose first two movements reflect the ingratiating melodic-romantic style of his earlier compositions, and whose finale represents the first intimations of a new and tightened approach - leaner and somewhat more austere. From the beginning, Brahms' Third Symphony has proven to be his most evocative. With numerous acknowledgments to Wagner and allusions to the same Rhine-based mythology, it provides other fascinations as well, including a "Minuet" that is more funereal than dance-like, and a quietly mysterious theme heard all too briefly in the second movement, which returns in the finale to assumes unexpectedly heroic dimensions. Recorded last week at the Lighthouse in Poole. Elgar: Enigma Variations Barber: Violin Concerto Brahms: Symphony no.3 James Ehnes (violin) Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marin Alsop Followed by music of leading contemporary composers from around the world. Einojuhani Rautavaara: Cantus Arcticus, for orchestra and recorded seabirds, played by the RTVE Symphony Orchestra. SAARIAHO: Ballade Antti Siirala (piano) (recorded in New Ross, Ireland by RTE)