NEXT CONCERTS

Our concert takes the listener on a musical journey of locations that inspired composers to write descriptive portraits of the landscape around them. Karl Goldmark was a much overlooked Hungarian composer, though the tuneful overture that begins his opera The Queen of Sheba is surely worth hearing more often. Despite writing only fourteen works before his untimely death in an avalanche, Polish composer Mieczysław Karłowicz had a gift for melody and musical story-telling, as exemplified in his best-known work Eternal Songs. Elgar's wonderful extended concert overture In the South was inspired by a holiday in Alassio on the Italian Riviera. Otto Respighi's unique and magnificent descriptive symphonic suite The Pines of Rome depicts pine trees in four locations in Rome at different times of the day.

The main work in this very tuneful concert is Dvořák's ever-popular Cello Concerto, with talented cellist Joshua Lynch. Dating from the composer's American period, it portrays both unrequited love and at the same time the homesick longing that Dvořák felt for his own country. The rarely-played effervescent Polonaise by Lyadov is also included in the programme, along with the American Suite which Dvořák composed immediately following his New World Symphony. The Overture di Ballo predates Sullivan's operetta works with WS Gilbert, and is – justifiably – his most-recorded orchestral work. Tunes aplenty are guaranteed!

The four contrasting movements of Coleridge-Taylor's Petite Suite de Concert are full of tuneful innovation and melody, with a compositional style much admired by Elgar. Emmanuel Bach then joins DCO to perform Dvořák's Violin Concerto – a piece requested by his publisher after the success of his Sixth Symphony and his popular Slavonic Dances. Though less frequently performed than others in the genre, this concerto remains an important piece in the violin repertoire. Max Bruch is perhaps best known for his Violin Concerto no 1, but his Second Symphony is no lesser work from his output of 200 pieces. The three contrasting pieces in this programme characterise DCO's mission to bring tuneful classical music to delight Didcot audiences.

The first of three Swedish Rhapsodies by the Swedish late-Romantic composer Hugo Alfvén is his most well-known piece – full of Swedish dance and vitality celebrating the return of long northern summer days, and with a musical evocation of a sunrise. Polyeucte Overture is the oldest surviving work by Paul Dukas - a captivating piece, more like a symphonic poem, that deserves to be heard more often in the concert hall. It is said my many that Elgar's First Symphony is the greatest symphony written by an Englishman – its four contrasting movements each containing memorable tunes, overlaid with an emotional intensity that makes a strong impression on listeners, whether hearing again as a favourite, or discovering it for the first time.

A few years ago we played the sparking Polovtsian Dances from Borodin's opera Prince Igor, and now we showcase the Overture. Then, in a moment of calm, we invite you luxuriate in the exquisite horn-laden Nocturne from a little-known Humperdinck suite. Taneyev was a lesser-known Russian composer, but no less tuneful, with an allegiance to Tchaikovsky – the stirring Overture to his only opera The Oresteia demonstrates melodic mastery from start to finish. Eclipsed by other Russian composers until the death of Tchaikovsky, Glazunov always wrote good tunes – as previous audiences will attest – and his Second Symphony certainly delivers.