A Wagner Overture, a Mendelssohn Concerto, a Schumann Symphony -... [Derived Headline]

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A WAGNER overture, a Mendelssohn concerto, a Schumann symphony - at first glance the BBC SSO's contribution to the new Lammermuir Festival showed no more than an old-fashioned approach to programme planning. On closer inspection, however, there was thought behind it. All three pieces dated from the early 1840s, which meant the youthful crudity of the Rienzi overture contrasted with the conspicuous maturity of the other works, by composers only slightly older.

What the concert could have proved, had it wanted to, was that within a year Wagner had changed out of recognition, but that would have meant including the Flying Dutchman overture as well. In fact, the orchestra's increasingly impressive young guest conductor Rory Macdonald made enough of Rienzi to ensure that it worked on its own rough-edged terms, but it was upon Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto and Schumann's Second Symphony that the concert's success rested, with Jennifer Pike a major asset as soloist.

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A Wagner Overture, a Mendelssohn Concerto, a Schumann Symphony -... [Derived Headline]

Here again was a chance to hea...

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