Tonight, the Bath Festival Orchestra goes back to its roots, recreating one of its original programmes which was conducted by Michael Tippett with concertmaster Yehudi Menuhin, the founder of the Orchestra.
That concert featured Tippett’s Fantasia Concertante on a Theme of Corelli, a seductive, radiant piece that climbs from darkness to light, alongside the hugely influential Concerto Grosso that inspired it.
Completing the line-up was Britten’s breakthrough piece Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge, an affectionate musical portrait of his much-admired teacher.
And to that original programme tonight’s concert adds two pieces, giving a pleasingly symmetrical arch to this celebration of English classical music’s mid-century modern heyday. Britten’s Serenade, with its haunting prelude and prologue for solo horn, is an evocative setting of poems about the night as bringer of both tranquillity and malevolence.
And at the heart of the programme is the Suite for Strings by Britten’s contemporary and friend Elizabeth Maconchy.
