Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

The Royal Philharmonic play Walton, Delius, Finzi and Ireland

Michael Seal conducts the Royal Philharmonic in an all-English, 20th-century programme including Gerald Finzi's serene Eclogue with Mark Bebbington.

The Royal Philharmonic conducted by Michael Seal play an all-English programme of well-loved and less familiar music.

William Walton's Fa莽ade, settings of Edith Sitwell's eccentric poems, was the witty piece that made Walton's name as a young composer in the early 1920s. The RPO play it in one of the orchestral versions he made to capitalise on its catchy tunes and bring it to a wider audience. For many, Delius's On hearing the first cuckoo in spring is a quintessential evocation in music of a certain sort of English landscape. But this nostalgic and pastoral work was premiered in Germany in 1913 and has always had an international appeal. Mark Bebbington is the soloist in Gerald Finzi's beguilingly serene Eclogue for piano and strings and plays two short, impressionistic and wistful pieces for solo piano by John Ireland. The orchestra returns for Ireland's Concertino Pastorale for strings. Written on the eve of World War II, it's easy now to imagine in this music a combination of foreboding prescience and a vision of a never-the-same-again English countryside.

Recorded last week at Cadogan Hall and presented by Ian Skelly.

Walton: Fa莽ade: Suite No. 2
Delius: On hearing the first cuckoo in spring
Finzi: Eclogue
Ireland: Month鈥檚 Mind; The Island Spell (Decorations)
Ireland: Concertino Pastorale

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Mark Bebbington (piano)
Michael Seal (conductor)

2 hours, 28 minutes

Last on

Tue 18 May 2021 19:30
成人快手 Radio 3

More episodes

Previous

Beatrice Rana plays Mozart

Next

Strauss Songs and Brahms in Bath Abbey

See all episodes from Radio 3 in Concert

Recipes

See all recipes from The Royal Philharmonic play Walton, Delius, Finzi and Ireland

Music Played

  • William Walton

    Facade: Suite no 2

    Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Michael Seal.

  • Frederick Delius

    On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring

    Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Michael Seal.

  • Gerald Finzi

    Eclogue

    Performer: Mark Bebbington. Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Michael Seal.

  • John Ireland

    Month's Mind

    Performer: Mark Bebbington.

  • John Ireland

    Decorations: The Island Spell

    Performer: Mark Bebbington.

  • John Ireland

    Concertino

    Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Michael Seal.

  • Jean Sibelius

    Symphony No.3 in C Major, Op. 52

    Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Owain Arwel Hughes.
    • Sibelius: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3.
    • Rubicon.
    • 5-7.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Concerto in D minor for two violins, BWV 1043

    Performer: Yehudi Menuhin. Performer: Christian Ferras. Orchestra: Bath Festival Orchestra. Director: Yehudi Menuhin.
    • EMI.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Cantata No 82, 'Ich habe genug'

    Singer: Janet Baker. Orchestra: Bath Festival Orchestra. Conductor: Yehudi Menuhin.
    • EMI.

Broadcast

  • Tue 18 May 2021 19:30
    成人快手 Radio 3