Germaine Tailleferre
Little Suite
Jean Sibelius
Violin Concerto in D minor
Antonín Dvořák
Symphony No. 8 in G major
Alena Baeva
violin
Royal Northern Sinfonia
Dinis Sousa
conductor
Reviewed by:
Reviewed: 26 July, 2024
Venue: The Glasshouse International Centre for Music
Orchestras all over the world commissioned symphonies from the pre-eminent Czech composer Antonín Dvořák. But there was no such commission for one of his most popular, the Symphony No. 8, which he wrote for nobody but himself. For the opening of this weekend-long Proms residency in the North-East, the Gateshead-based Royal Northern Sinfonia brings us the symphony that one conductor described as ‘a work singing of the joy of green pastures’. It’s the climax of a programme also featuring the song of fire and ice that is Sibelius’s captivating Violin Concerto. The concert opens with the charming and typically French Little Suite by Germaine Tailleferre, the only female member of the group of composers known as ‘Les Six’ that emerged in 1920s Paris.
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