(Winter Series)
Franz Osborn (piano)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
(Leader, Paul Beard )
Conductor, Sir Malcolm Sargent
Bach—Brahms—Beethoven
From the' Royal Albert Hall, London Tickets, price 7s. 6d. to 3s. 6d. (Promenade-Arena or Gallery-2s. at doors only), may be obtained from the Royal Albert Hall or usual agents
Of Bach's seven concertos for keyboard and strings, six are believed to be arrangements of violin concertos. The original form of the one in D minor, however, does not exist: with its vitality and striking ttiemes, therefore, it has now an honoured place in the repertory as a concerto for harpsichord or piano. Bach made use of the opening Allegro in the Sinfonia of his Church Cantatas Nos. 146 and 188; the Adagio also appears, with voice parts added, as the second movement of the former Cantata.
Bach is recalled in the finale, the Passacaglia, of Brahms' Fourth Symphony, since the theme on which it is based closely resembles one in Bach's Cantata No. 150 (' Lord, for thee my spirit longs'). The Symphony, completed in 1885 when Brahms was fifty-two, is at once monumental and impassioned: it is no exaggeration to describe it as the crown of his achievement in the symphonic field. Harold Rutland