Radio 3 in Concert

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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

BBC Radio 3

Radio 3

Music: Classical

The best concerts from across the UK and Europe. Available to listen online for 30 days

Experience the best concerts from across the UK and Europe. Available to listen online for 30 days

Radio 3 in Concert: Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony

Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony

BBC Radio 3 - Radio 3 in Concert, Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony

Edward Gardner conducts the LPO in Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra plays Beethoven's Egmont Overture and Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony, along with Bartok's Violin Concerto No 2 with soloist Christian Tetzlaff.

Edward Gardner conducts the London Philharmonic Orchestra in Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony.

Presented by Martin Handley, from the Royal Festival Hall, London. 

Beethoven: Overture, Egmont
Bartók: Violin Concerto No. 2

Interval

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4

Christian Tetzlaff, violin
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Edward Gardner, conductor


For Tchaikovsky, the fanfare that opens the Fourth Symphony symbolised "Fate", this being "the fatal power which prevents one from attaining the goal of happiness. There is nothing to be done but to submit to it and lament in vain". As he further explained, the first movement suggests that "all life is an unbroken alternation of hard reality with swiftly passing dreams and visions of happiness". 

Beethoven’s Egmont Overture tells a tale of oppression and liberation, in which the hero’s craving for justice is confronted by a despot’s inflexibility. He too accepts the fate that awaits him with courage and honesty.

Between these fate-laden romantic works, Christian Tetzlaff joins the orchestra for Bartók’s Second Violin Concerto, evoking the folk music of Transylvania, which the composer heard in the Carpathian Mountains in the early years of the 20th century.

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