Sunday 24 November 2024, 3pm

Zoltán Kodály’s Peacock Variations are a veritable kaleidoscope of orchestral colours redolent of the bird itself. But it’s not just the sound that draws in the listener, it’s also the quirky rhythms and surprising twists between lush strings and bold brass that underpin the 16 variations.

In a first for the RTWSO we welcome Carol Jarvis who will play the trombone in Arrows of Time by Richard Peaslee. The work dates from 1993/94 and has three movements. As if playing this challenging piece wasn’t enough, Carol is also in high demand as a session musician, presenter and voice-over artist and we are thrilled that she has found time to introduce us to this work.

How appropriate that the RTWSO should be playing the third symphony by Brahms. The work was written in the summer of 1883 in Wiesbaden and, coincidentally, Royal Tunbridge Wells is twinned with this elegant German spa town! However, it is inconceivable to comprehend that when this symphony had its premiere in Vienna later that year, there were factions in the audience – Wagnerian fans – who demonstrated their displeasure by hissing! This very accessible symphony, the shortest in length of Brahms’s four symphonies, has the usual four movements but, fairly unusually does not end on a high in a flurry of majestic loud notes, instead fading away serenely.