Jeneba Kanneh-Mason
ASSEMBLY HALL, WORTHING
Sunday, 26 January 2025
2:45 pm
Conductor: JOHN GIBBONS
Leader: JULIAN LEAPER
Malcolm Arnold - Cornish Dances
Khachaturian - Adagio Spartacus
Florence Price - Piano Concerto
Coleridge-Taylor - Valse de la reine
Bernard Stevens - Symphony of Liberation
Klaus Badelt - Pirates of the Caribbean
This concert is packed full of fascinating gems.
Pirates of the Caribbean requires little introduction to film lovers whilst older listeners will remember The Onedin Line theme - aka the Adagio from the ballet Spartacus by the Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian.
Liberation is the key theme of the day with a chance to hear the complete Symphony of Liberation by Bernard Stevens and two pieces by composers undergoing dramatic reappraisals: Coleridge-Taylor was the favourite pupil of Sir Charles Villiers Stanford at the Royal College of Music and is most famous for his cantata Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast. His Valse de la reine is one of ‘Four Characteristic Waltzes’ composed in 1899 – the theme sent to his future wife during their courtship.
Jeneba Kanneh-Mason returns to Worthing to play Florence Price’s Piano Concerto, a piece she performed at the BBC Proms. Florence Price is one of the most important American composers of the last century but scandalous neglect of her work is only now being rectified.
Malcolm Arnold’s Cornish Dances brilliantly reflect his love of Cornwall with evocations of the desolate tin mines, the Helston flower dance and the county’s proud band traditions.