Leader, ALFRED CAVE
Conducted by ADRIAN BOULT
From Coventry Cathedral
Despite the fact that Brahms's four symphonies differ from each other both in emotional impulse and in various details of design, they arc aesthetically of equal importance and belong to a symphonic style that may be described as romantic, though cast in a classical mould. The D major Symphony, for instance, is as lyrical and romantic in expression as any contemporary German music of the time.
If the Symphony No. I in C minor was a great success on its first appearance, the Symphony No. 2 in D with its happier and more idyllic feelings was an even greater one. Although conceived on just as big a scale as the C minor Symphony, the texture of the music is actually very much clearer, the melodies more cantabile in character, and the whole spirit of the music brighter-it has been called Brahms's ' Pastoral ' Symphony.
The Friends of Coventry Cathedral have organised a three days' Festival of the Arts. Features of it arc concerts, including serenading outside the West Porch on the evening of the opening day ; Choral Eucharist in the Cathedral ; organ recitals ; a play by the Coventry Repertory Company ; a Children's Festival with massed singing; a lantern lecture on Westminster Abbey, and exhibitions of antiquities, books, and pictures in the Cathedral Tower. the Crypt, and the King James Room in Palace Yard. The Choir for this evening's concert will be drawn from various organisations in Coventry, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Warwick.