Brighton Philharmonic – John Bradbury (violin), Richard Balcombe (conductor)

This Sunday afternoon promenade around Britain began in full romantic flood with Mendelssohn’s Hebrides overture. It’s well-styled manner continued throughout an afternoon of glorious British music. Butterworth, Vaughan Williams and Coates evoked versions of the English idyll, with John Bradbury, the BPO’s leader, giving a sensitive interpretation of ‘The Lark Ascending’. I was charmed to discover that I already knew Hamish McCunn’s ‘The Land of the Mountain and the Flood’ and it was a joy to hear Sullivan’s overture to ‘The Pirates of Penzance’ played by a full orchestra. My favourite was the spirited romp through Malcolm Arnold’s ‘Cornish Dances’.

Dome Concert Hall, 7 December 2014

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