Brighton Philharmonic perform Elgar's 'orchestral masterpiece'

Brighton Dome Concert Hall, Church Street, Sunday, November 2

THE Enigma Variations, a series of musical portraits of ‘my friends pictured within’, is an orchestral masterpiece.

It established Edward Elgar’s reputation, laying out his musical credentials in a series of variations on his ‘enigmatic’ opening theme (Elgar was a great lover of riddles and japes).

The brilliant final variation, a self-portrait, was intended to show the world exactly what he was capable of.

Elgar’s later achievements in combining large choral and orchestral forces were influenced by Sir Hubert Parry, the composer of Jerusalem and a resident of Rustington.

I Was Glad, Parry’s processional anthem for the coronation of Edward VII, is a shining example of ceremonial music.

The orchestra will be joined by Brighton Festival Chorus for this and Parry’s choral and orchestra setting, Blest Pair Of Sirens, which reflects and illuminates the text from Milton’s Ode At A Solemn Musick. The marriage of music and verse (the “blest pair of sirens”) symbolises man’s desire for union with the heavenly music of the spheres.

Richard Strauss’s Oboe Concerto was suggested to the composer in 1945 by a young American GI, “in view of the numerous beautiful, lyric solos for oboe in almost all of his works”. It is the work of an ageing composer amusing himself, at a time when there was little to be amused by.

Soloist Nicholas Daniel, who is also a successful conductor, was recently awarded the prestigious Queen’s Medal For Music. The concert opens with a rousing orchestral version of Schubert’s Marche Militaire.

Starts 2.45pm, tickets from £11. Call 01273 709709.

Peter Back