BSO: Imperial Majesty

Combining Tudor-style choral grandeur with modern, rhythmic energy, Walton’s vibrant and majestic coronation march is celebrated for its stately main theme, a lyrical trio, and a triumphant finale.

Beethoven’s final piano concerto is the largest in scale of all of his concertos – an epic tour de force, pitching soloist and orchestra in a musical argument of unprecedented breadth and scale.

It is written in a virtuosic style that looks forward to the grand pianism of Liszt in its full chordal textures and wide dynamic range.

A spirit of heroism infuses the music, whilst the sublime slow movement is one of Beethoven’s most profound.

However it might have acquired its name, it really is the ‘Emperor’ of piano concertos.

Tchaikovsky’s Suite No.3 is a finely crafted work of winning spirit, though one that rarely broaches the personal revelations of his late symphonies.

It is entirely idiomatic Tchaikovsky, nonetheless.

Nobody else could have written the opening Elegy, which traces a trajectory from the languid to the impassioned, with its gorgeous themes and fluttering accompaniments.