Variations are simple. A composer takes a favourite tune (or makes one up) and then lets their imagination get to work. With each repetition, the tune evolves and transforms, until we’re listening to something completely new - and that’s where the magic happens. Brahms’s chosen tune wasn’t really by Haydn at all, but he didn’t know that, and filled his ‘Haydn Variations’ with all the wit and fantasy of his favourite classical master. His friend Dvořák invented his own melody, and let it grow into a masterpiece as characterful as any of his symphonies. As a contrast, young British tenor Stuart Jackson and Â鶹ԼÅÄ SSO principal horn Alberto Menéndez Escribano dive deep into Britten’s Serenade – great poetry meets incandescent music, united by an unspoken theme of its own: the timeless magic of night.
**Please note that John Wilson replaces Martyn Brabbins who is unwell.
To be recorded for future broadcast on Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio 3.
This concert is part of the 33rd Ayr Concert Series. It is promoted by Ayr Arts Guild for South Ayrshire Council.