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Santtu-Matias Rouvali conducts the Philharmonia in an all-American programme

Santtu-Matias Rouvali leads the Philharmonia in an all-American programme including classics by Copland and Stravinsky and less familiar music by Florence Price and Steve Reich.

Although it's not until next season that Santtu-Matias Rouvali takes over from fellow Finn and long-time Philharmonia Principal Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, he has already begun to make his mark as an original programmer - and performer - with his new orchestra.

Tonight's all-American programme is book-ended by two classic scores. In Appalachian Spring, Copland defined the sound of an idealised mid-century America, with broad, singable tunes, one famously taken from directly a Shaker source; Stravinsky's lively and engaging Dumbarton Oaks (commissioned by a wealthy Washington couple as an expensive wedding anniversary present to themselves) takes JS Bach's Brandenburg Concertos as its model. Less well known is African American composer Florence Price's Dances in the Canebrakes, which conjures up the Deep South of her childhood. And Rouvali steps off the podium to join four members of the Philharmonia's percussion section for Steve Reich's 1973 Music for Pieces of Wood, a compelling and mesmerising tour de force of shifting rhythms and sophisticated simplicity.

Introduced live from the Royal Festival Hall by Ian Skelly as part of Southbank Centre’s Inside Out season.

Copland: Appalachian Spring
Florence Price: Dances in the Canebrakes
Steve Reich: Music for Pieces of Wood
Stravinsky: Dumbarton Oaks

Philharmonia Orchestra
Santtu-Matias Rouvali (conductor)

Followed by:

Thomas Adès
Concerto for violin and orchestra
Pekka Kuusisto (violin)
Aurora Orchestra
Nicholas Collon (conductor)
Album: DG 4838228
18’23

Followed by music chosen by young people involved in the outreach programmes and artist development schemes run by Southbank’s Resident and Associate orchestras and Creative Learning Partners.

Photo - Camilla Greenwell

2 hours, 28 minutes

Last on

Mon 26 Oct 2020 19:30

Music Played

  • Aaron Copland

    Appalachian spring

    Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Santtu-Matias Rouvali.
  • Florence Price

    Dances in the canebrakes

    Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Santtu-Matias Rouvali.
  • William Grant Still

    Summerland (3 Visions)

    Performer: Bruce Levingston.
    • Citizen.
    • Sono Luminus.
    • 201.
  • Steve Reich

    Music for pieces of wood

    Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Santtu-Matias Rouvali.
  • Igor Stravinsky

    Concerto in E flat (Dumbarton Oaks)

    Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Santtu-Matias Rouvali.
  • Édith Piaf

    La Vie en Rose

    Composer: Louiguy. Music Arranger: Mack David. Performer: Louis Armstrong.
  • Mariah Carey

    Always Be My Baby

    Music Arranger: Brasstracks. Ensemble: Brasstracks.
  • Gustav Holst

    Mercury, the winged messenger (The Planets suite Op 32)

    Orchestra: New Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Adrian Boult.
  • Olivier Messiaen

    Turangalila-symphonie (No 6 & No 10)

    Orchestra: The National Youth Orchestra. Conductor: Vasily Petrenko. Performer: Cynthia Millar. Performer: Joanna MacGregor.
  • Jean Sibelius

    Symphony No 3 in C major Op 52 (3rd mvt)

    Orchestra: Philharmonia. Conductor: Vladimir Ashkenazy.
  • Thomas Adès

    Violin Concerto 'Concentric Paths'

    Performer: Pekka Kuusisto. Orchestra: Aurora Orchestra. Conductor: Nicholas Collon.
    • DG.
  • Béla Bartók

    Out of Doors

    Performer: Alexander Gadjiev.
  • Rob Luft

    Sad Stars

    Performer: Rob Luft. Performer: Corrie Dick. Singer: Tom McCredie.

Broadcast

  • Mon 26 Oct 2020 19:30