Aldeburgh Music

BBC Symphony Orchestra
George Benjamin conductor
Pierre-Laurent Aimard piano

Debussy Prélude a l’après-midi d’un faune
Julian Anderson Shir Hashirim
Elliott Carter Three Occasions
George Benjamin Duet for piano and orchestra (UK premiere)
Ravel Piano Concerto for the left hand

A UK premiere from one of the country’s leading composers, whose influence and reputation stretches far beyond these shores – the new work was commissioned by the Cleveland Orchestra.

George Benjamin’s Duet was described after its first performance as ‘music of startling concentration (and) … stark intensity, distilled to its essentials.’ The often crystalline beauty and laser-like precision of Benjamin’s music is set alongside Debussy’s iconic Prélude and Carter’s masterly miniatures.

Julian Anderson’s music shares a rhythmic propulsion, a mastery of orchestral colour and a sense of the pictorial with Ravel, whose virtuoso concerto is a moving tribute to pianist Wittgenstein who lost his right arm on the battlefields of the Great War.

Evening out: best available seat for the concert, food and a soft drink from the Oyster Bar with a reserved table, tea or coffee in the interval, £36.50.

Supported by The Lord and Lady Haskel Charitable Foundation

Due to the delayed premiere of Julian Anderson’s 'Fantasias’, we are unable to present the UK premiere of the work in this concert as planned. It will be replaced by his 'Shir Hashirim’ for soprano and orchestra, with soloist Susanna Andersson.