Orchestras join forces to break boundaries

Apr 28 2008 by Karen Price, Western Mail

TWO of Wales’ finest orchestras are joining forces to celebrate the work of two giants of classical music – Beet- hoven and Bartok.

Welsh National Opera and BBC National Orchestra of Wales will perform the two Breaking Boundaries concerts at St David’s Hall in Cardiff on Friday and Saturday.

The two orchestras last collaborated in January 2006 in a celebration of the works of Mozart and Shostakovich.

While Beethoven and Bartok produced very different work, both were seen as pushing the artistic limits of their day to break musical boundaries. This will be reflected in the two concerts staged over consecutive evenings.

On Friday, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales’ conductor laureate, Tadaaki Otaka, returns to conduct Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony alongside Bartok’s Divertimento and Violin Concerto No 1 with Olivier Charlier as soloist.

Both works reveal the warmth of the Hungarian composer’s music and the vibrancy of the folk music that inspired him.

Otaka is one of Japan’s leading conductors and has always enjoyed a special relationship with the orchestra, initially as principal conductor of BBC National Orchestra of Wales in 1987, becoming conductor laureate in 1996.

Charlier has been a Professor of Violin at the Paris Conservatoire since 1981.

Carlo Rizzi will be conducting the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera on Saturday when the international Welsh pianist Llyr Williams takes to the stage to perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 4. The concert also includes his Egmont Overture, concluding with Bartok’s last great work, Concerto for Orchestra.

Tickets for both concerts start at £10 and are available from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales audience line on 0800 052 1812.