Bax.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tintagel          

Elgar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Violin Concerto  

Walton.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Belshazzar’s Feast  

David Hill.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Conductor

Simone Lamsma.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . Violin

James Rutherford. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Baritone

Bournemouth Symphony Chorus

Overtly romantic, Bax’s tone poem has a subtle atmospheric charm. As described in the foreword, it evokes “the castle-crowned cliff of Tintagel and more particularly the wide distances of the Atlantic as seen from the cliffs of Cornwall on a sunny but not windless summer day”. Sir Dan conducted the premiere in Bournemouth in 1921.

Elgar’s Violin Concerto, a highly personal and intensely lyric reflection of Elgar’s complex personality, was written between the First and Second Symphonies, and premiered on 10 November 1910 (one hundred years to the day of this performance!) with Fritz Kreisler as soloist and Elgar himself conducting. Within a week Sir Dan had brought down Kreisler to Bournemouth and conducted it himself!

In 1929 the BBC asked Walton to write an oratorio for small chorus, small orchestra and a vocal soloist. The result, was anything but small. Belshazzar’s Feast, to a libretto by Osbert Sitwell, turned out to be on an epic scale. It rejuvenated English oratorio writing, and audiences were surprised with a jazzy, perhaps slightly racy shocker. The BSO’s sumptuous recording with Andrew Litton won the 1997 GRAMMY for best choral performance.

Tickets: £29, £26, £21.50, £17.50, £14, £9, discounts available.