Performance on 3 - Scottish Ensembles - RSNO/Deneve

Presented by Martin Handley The start of a week of concerts featuring Scottish music ensembles. Stephane Deneve, the musical director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra since 2005 has a great affinity with music from his native France and this programme includes typically two contrasting French works - the exhilarating and flamboyant showpiece for orchestra, Berlioz's Roman Carnival Overture and the equally dazzling work by the young French composer Guillaume Connesson called 'A Glimmer in the Age of Darkness' which the orchestra premiered in 2005. This is the first part in a stunning score entitled Cosmic Triptych. The colour and drama of both these works, using the full scope of this large symphony orchestra is matched in Respighi's masterpiece from his Roman Trilogy, The Pines of Rome - as grand an image of the great City as one can imagine painted with a huge range of percussion, brass, bells, celeste and organ and brass. On a smaller scale but equally dynamic in its own way, the Russian pianist Nicolai Lugansky, joins the orchestra to play Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto. Lugansky made his name overnight when he won the 1994 Tchaikovsky Piano Competition and has built a formidable international reputation for his interpretations. The concert is recorded at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall - the regular venue for the RSNO in Glasgow. Berlioz - Roman Carnival Overture Beethoven - Piano Concerto No 3 Connesson - Une lueur dans l'age sombre (A Glimmer in the Age of Darkness) Respighi - Pines of Rome Royal Scottish National Orchestra Stéphane Denève (conductor) Nikolai Lugansky (piano) Followed by performances by students past and present from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. Kabalevsky: Piano Sonata No 2, Op 45 Maciej Granat (piano) Grieg: 2 Elegiac Melodies (Wounded Heart; Spring) RSAMD String Ensemble Elizabeth Layton (director) Thea Musgrave: Voices from the Ancient World (3rd movt, Boreas) Scottish Flute Trio Tim Williams (percussion) METIER MSVCD92041