BBC Symphony Orchestra/Spano

Ritual, lament and incantation lie at the heart of this varied concert, moving from the purity of Arvo Pärt to the rich weave of Rachmaninoff’s most epic, passionate and virtuosic concerto.

A concert that lays down roots in ritual and lament, before tearing off into one of the most energetic and quixotic piano concertos ever written. After the meditative stillness of Arvo Pärt’s sonic sculpture in memory of a dear colleague, we hear the fruits of the first Greek composer ever commissioned by the BBC SO: Dimitrios Skyllas’s Kyrie Eleison.

Rachmaninoff’s third Piano Concerto begins with a theme chanted like a prayer, but the concerto soon becomes something altogether more immense, luxurious and heroic – a sensual experience for musicians and audiences alike played here by a pianist who cut his teeth on the work aged 14.

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Composer Focus – Episode 2: Benjamin Britten with Roderick Williams

In episode two, host Ed Seckerson is joined by baritone and composer Roderick Williams to discuss Benjamin Britten, a complex and often contradictory character, and one of the 20th century’s greatest opera composers.