symphonyconcert09

According to Maurice Ravel, his “Valses nobles et sentimentales” engender “ ... the delightful and always novel pleasure of a useless occupation”. And Ralph Vaughan Williams commented on his sixth Symphony: “It never seems to occur to people that a man might just want to write a piece of music.” But why does the great sequence of waltzes by the French orchestral magician Ravel end in such a subdued, peculiarly distorted epilogue? And why does the Briton Vaughan Williams let his symphony end so bleakly and wanly? Many believe that Vaughan Williams testifies in his music to the horrors of the Second World War and sets out in the Finale the apocalyptic vision of a world lying in ruins. As Benjamin Britten in his only violin concerto makes his theme the Spanish Civil War, among other things. Were we not aware of the historical background, we would perhaps, however, hear only particularly emotional and virtuoso masterpieces of the 20th century. All the more so when youngsters like the British conductor Nicholas Collon and the brilliant Chinese “Echo Klassik” prize-winner Tianwa Yang are on the podium.