BBC SSO: Manze & The Best of British

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Andrew Manze has orchestrated three string pieces by Purcell, the Fantasia upon one note, the Pavan in B flat minor and the Chacony in G minor, to open a programme that challenges any notion that English music tends to be pastoral and unchallenging: Britten's Cello Symphony was written for the great Msistlav Rostropovich and its brooding intensity suggests Britten and Rostropovich's mutual friend Shostakovich; Purcell's In nomine (in seven parts) provides a brief interval before Vaughan Williams' fierce and discordant Symphony No 6. Alban Gerhardt is the cellist and Andrew Manze conducts. In a post-concert coda, Gerhardt plays Britten's Suite No 1 for solo cello.