At 7:30 pm on Saturday 24 November, for our third piece, we will be performing no not Brooks’ but Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 5. But it will be the last symphony we will be playing under Bill’s baton.
We have played this work before, in the spring of 2016, but our conductor wanted us to play this work for his last concert – and we are only too happy to do just that.
This symphony is very popular with orchestras, there are billions of versions (we only exaggerate slightly) to listen too. The recurring main theme is used as a device to unify all four movements of the symphony. This motto theme, sometimes dubbed “Fate theme”, has a funereal character in the first movement, but gradually transforms into a triumphant march, which dominates the final movement.
There is a lot more about the Symphony and the other pieces in our excellent Programme, available on the night. But if you can’t wait, there is an excellent article on the symphony complete with the audio of these main themes. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._5_(Tchaikovsky).
We hope you will come and join us at 7.30 pm Saturday 24 November at the Frances Bardsley Academy to give Bill Brooks a fabulous send-off.