Part of Stoke-on-Trent Classics 2018-19 festival, conductor Andrew Gourlay and pianist Martin James Bartlett the BBC Philharmonic for a concert of Mendelssohn, Mozart and Tchaikovsky.
Mendelssohn’s Overture: Ruy Blas serves as an excellent curtain-raiser before we hear Mozart Piano Concerto No. 9. Written in Salzburg in 1777 when Mozart was just 21 years old - tonight’s soloist, BBC Young Musician of the Year 2014 Martin James Bartlett, is only a fraction older.
Closing this evening is Tchaikovsky’s final completed symphony - a confident and supremely energetic work. Described many times by Tchaikovsky himself as “the best thing I ever composed or shall compose”, this ionate Sixth Symphony hears life and death collide in a thrilling exploration of the limits of human existence.