BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
T06135382
Archive :: production:T06135382, concert:S0290029393, venue:V02053675466
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Concert 6: Osborne Plays Beethoven's 'Emperor' Concerto
Few composers were more aware than Ralph Vaughan Williams of what it meant to write a Ninth Symphony - and few have been less daunted. The composer may have been 85 years old, but 1950s audiences heard a symphony of astonishing power, ambition and imaginative fire: a contemporary prophet looking forward, not back. It's a strikingly equal match for Beethoven's mighty ?Emperor' concerto, here performed with the grace and intelligence we have come to expect from Scottish pianist Steven Osborne. And for once, Richard Wagner doesn't quite steal the show, though his visionary Lohengrin prelude burns with the same inner light. The orchestra's Associate Guest Conductor, Andrew Manze conducts.
