Sakari Oramo conducts Grime, Arnold and Vaughan Williams

Sakari Oramo conducts Malcolm Arnold: his Seventh Symphony stands alongside British masterpieces by Vaughan Williams and Helen Grime.

“This symphony describes my children” was how Malcolm Arnold described his Seventh Symphony, and he never wrote anything more personal. By turns explosive, tender and hauntingly sad, it’s an unforgettable experience. There’s a reason why Arnold is regarded by many as Britain’s greatest postwar symphonist, and Sakari Oramo believes that it’s an unsung masterpiece.

Tonight, following his acclaimed performances of Arnold’s Fifth Symphony, Oramo places the Seventh alongside two very different works by two more great British originals. Images of angels by Paul Klee inspired the percussion concerto that Helen Grime composed for tonight’s soloist Colin Currie. And Vaughan Williams’s radiant Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis stands alone in its beauty; forever timeless, forever new.

Programme

Ralph Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis
Helen Grime Percussion Concerto
Malcolm Arnold Symphony No. 7

Performers

Sakari Oramo conductor
Colin Currie percussion
BBC Symphony Orchestra