photo courtesy of Wikipedia – by Reijo Koskinen / Lehtikuva
by Ben Hogwood
On this day in 1970, the first performance took place of a remarkable new work from Witold Lutosławski. The Cello Concerto was written for the great Mstislav Rostropovich, who gave the premiere with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under Sir Edward Downes at the Royal Festival Hall.
Here is a more recent account from the fine cellist Nicolas Altstaedt, with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Dima Slobodeniouk:
Picture: By uncredited press photographer, public domain
by Ben Hogwood
On this day in 1872, the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams was born. One of the best-loved English composers, he is loved for quintessentially English portraits such as The Lark Ascending, while his cycle of nine symphonies is gradually getting the acclaim it deserves.
On this occasion Arcana would like to highlight an unusual piece, celebrating its centenary two days ago – the suite for viola, chorus and orchestra Flos Campi. It is set in six movements, each titled after a verse from the Song of Solomon.
The first performance took place at London’s Queen’s Hall, where soloist Lionel Tertis performed with a wordless choir from the Royal College of Music and the Queen’s Hall Orchestra, conducted by Sir Henry Wood.
In the words of the composer, its “unabashedly sensual and lushly orchestrated” qualities were “quite appropriate considering its subject matter”. You can listen to a classic performance below, with Frederick Riddle and the Bournemouth Sinfonietta Choir and Orchestra conducted by Norman Del Mar.
Picture: By uncredited press photographer, public domain
by Ben Hogwood
On this day in 1938, the premiere of Serenade to Music, one of Vaughan Williams‘ best-loved pieces, took place at the Royal Albert Hall. Conducted by Sir Henry Wood, the orchestra was a blend of players from the London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra and London Philharmonic Orchestra.
In the audience was a certain Sergei Rachmaninoff, who had performed his own Piano Concerto no.2 in the first half of the concert, and who was moved to tears by Vaughan Williams’ new work.
Serenade To Music is led by a group of 16 solo singers, a starry line-up including the likes of Isobel Baillie, Elsie Suddaby, Heddle Nash and Walter Widdop. The account below is conducted by John Wilson, from the Concordia Foundation 15th Anniversary Gala at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. 22nd November 2010:
Earlier this week we learned of the sad news of the death of choral conductor and organist Martin Neary. Neary was known primarily for his work with the choir at Wesminster Abbey, put in to perspective by this fine obituary of his work on the Presto website. I wanted to take the opportunity to put together a short playlist of some of Neary’s recordings, which you can find below.
The funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997 was an incredibly intense event, a memorable occasion where it seemed the UK – and especially London, where I was – ground to a halt for an hour. The music that stayed in our consciousness afterwards, as well as Elton John’s reworking of Candle In The Wind, was the remarkable Song for Athene by John Tavener. Neary ensured it was given the best possible performance, which speaks volumes for his musicality and temperament.
Song For Athene leads the playlist below, which concludes with Neary playing Widor’s effervescent Toccata:
Picture: National Library of France, France – No Copyright – Other Known Legal Restrictions
by Ben Hogwood
On this day in 1865 the composer Paul Dukas was born. Dukas is generally known for one work, and it’s a wonderful one – L’apprenti Sorcier (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice), but there are other treats in his small but very well formed body of work, as I discovered on a previous blog in 2014 about his music One of those discoveries is the overture Polyeucte, which you can hear below:
Published post no.2,674 – Wednesday 1 October 2025
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