Bristol University Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Neal Farwell
The University's leading auditioned orchestra presents two great dramatic works from opposite ends of the 19th century.
Beethoven, Coriolan Overture, Op.62 (1807)
Tchaikovsky, Symphony No.6 (1893)
Please note that this is an early-evening programme.
Tickets can be purchased in advance, online via the University Shop.
Tickets are also available to purchase on the door, via card payment (subject to availability). Box Office opens 45 minutes before the event start time.
Prices (excl VAT)
Balcony and Stalls standard rate £15
Balcony and Stalls concession rate £10
£3 for UoB students (with presentation of student ID card)
Please note, we are unable to accept cash payments.
Welcome!
In our concert today, the University's leading auditioned orchestra presents two great dramatic works from opposite ends of the 19th century. Each has fire and passion, lyricism and drama, and not a little darkness. Beethoven’s Coriolan marks a pivot into the period of Western art music commonly known as the Romantic era. Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.6 comes from the height of that era. Today, in the 21st century, this remains utterly compelling music
We hope you enjoy the early-evening format of today’s concert. It is a new experiment for the Orchestra. Please let us know!
Our next performance is on Friday 29 May 2026, when our plans include the premiere of a brand-new suite of student compositions from our project Science / Fiction, and a performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No.2 with Bristol-based maestro Paul Israel.
Neal Farwell
BUSO Conductor
The concert will be performed without an interval.
Programme
Ludvig van Beethoven Coriolan Overture, Op.62
Beethoven wrote this overture in 1807 for Heinrich Joseph von Collin’s 1804 stage tragedy Coriolan. Coriolanus is a (possibly mythical) Roman general, courageous, war-like, furious and resolved. Exiled from Rome, he plans to invade the city with an army of his former enemies. His mother pleads with him not to do this. He eventually gives in to her; but since he cannot undo his actions in leading an army on his own city, he kills himself.
Less complex and bloody than Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, von Collin’s play perhaps appealed to Beethoven as a vehicle for the musical developments he was exploring at this time, mid-way through his “heroic” middle period. The overture combines a taut musical organisation, Classical in its basic parameters, with a strong extra-musical story boldly and emotively depicted, pivoting towards a Romantic worldview.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Symphony No.6 in B minor,
Op.74, Pathétique
I Adagio – Allegro non troppo – Andante
II Allegro con grazia
III Allegro molto vivace
IV Adagio lamentoso – Andante
The first performance of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.6, conducted by the composer, came only nine days before his death on 6 November 1893 (Gregorian calendar). The cause of Tchaikovsky’s death, most likely cholera, has been the subject of theorising and speculation as to whether it was in fact suicide, consequent on depression or on a failure to come to terms with his sexuality. The sombre tone of the opening and close of the music have led to claims of the “symphony as suicide note”. Yet, acknowledging that historical baggage, it seems best to set it aside. The practical business of writing a symphony of this scale and substance, which occupied Tchaikovsky from February to August 1893, rather rules out the notion of a long planned self-epitaph. The customary French title Pathétique – “evoking pity” – is a mistranslation of the title the composer gave the work, in Russian Pateticheskaya: “passionate”. His life story, certainly with its emotional traumas and impasses, nonetheless shows a broad trajectory towards popular success and artistic and personal self-assurance.
The music of the Symphony No.6 is so well known, so much part of the popular consciousness of the concert-going public, that for purposes of this programme note I will give the merest mnemonic outline. The first movement opens from darkness, and moves through complex moods from tenderness to near-brutality to uneasy repose. The second movement, in 5/4 time, is a not-quite waltz, lyrical, easy-going, yet somehow also almost ghostly. The third, a scherzo in initial quality, becomes a bold, even strident march. The final movement, in its slow impassioned intensity, offers the most surprising aspect of the large-scale structure. The work ends, not in triumph, but back in darkness.
As familiar as it is, this symphony deserves its popular status. It is wonderful music, closely wrought, thematically rich, with an understated sophistication in orchestration, and a voice that can only be Tchaikovsky’s.
© Neal Farwell 2017
Conductor
Neal Farwell is a passionate advocate for the music of our time, and for the great works of our musical past. His work as a conductor builds on his life as a professional composer, teacher, and former violinist. Neal’s conducting teachers include Colin Metters (RAM), Benjamin Zander (Boston Philharmonic), Robert Gutter (UNC), Ovidiu Balan (Bacau Philharmonic) and Paul Sarcich (Morley College, London). Neal’s own music is performed worldwide, and spans works for instruments and voices, for electronic media, and for the meeting points of humans and computers in live performance. Since 2002, Neal has taught at the University of Bristol, where he is Professor of Composition.
Bristol University Symphony Orchestra
* Beethoven only † Tchaikovsky only
Flutes
Amy Cleverley
Poppy Squires
Emilia McKinney (piccolo)†
Oboes
Ellen Hall
Eleanor Flower
Clarinets
Lucas Dick
Charlie Kay
Bassoons
Thomas Groves
Leo Huang
Horns
Louis Pike
Sam Barclay
Tom Lofmark†
Jack Bloomer†
Trumpets
Will Chapple
Laura Kee†
Alvin Pun*
Trombones†
Tanya Ng
Dan Taylor
Finlay Cooper
Tuba†
Oscar Purrington
Timpani
Elliot Ransome
Percussion†
Keir Inglis
Louis Lermite
String players are listed alphabetically, after section leaders.
Violin 1
Gil Nowak
Joe Blyth
Zara Buckley
Shayna D’Silva
Sarah Hallam
Saskia Hill
Yasmin Hussain
Sammi Li
Wilf Patten
Shuri Sasaki
Phoebe Smith
Emma Stent
Violin 2
Rhia Thomas
Isaac Boxall
Kennedy Byrne
Jasmine Chatwin
Anna Chilcott
Enya Chui
Kate Coleman
Eloise Hurford
Sehyung Hwang
Liza Kasyansky
Charlotte Kelleher
Christian O’Conor
Liyen Ong
Gien Poon
Ryan Power
Viola
Honor Mival
Timoni Javadi-Anstey
Alicja Klak
Ambar Madhok
Henry Murphy
Emilie Pelling
Joyce Yuen
Cello
Neve Humphreys
Dyllen Bramble
Thomas Fagg
Jess Fogden
India Hill
Avril Chloe Hsu
Felicity Lloyd
Alex Lockyer
Monty Short
Adam Valabhji
Ned Watts
Double Bass
Conway Chan
Theo Hurrell
Orchestra Managers
Charlie Kay
Sam Barclay