Prom 46 – The WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne

Part of the BBC Proms.

This season’s celebration of great international radio orchestras continues with Cologne’s WDR Symphony Orchestra and its Chief Conductor Cristian Macelaru. ‘From start to finish one is wrapped about with the mysterious charm of the woods and forests. I could not tell you which movement I loved most,’ wrote Clara Schumann of Brahms’ Symphony No. 3 – a work whose concealed musical motto, ‘Free but happy’, sets the tone for its striving energy and intimacy. Grammy-winning violinist Augustin Hadelich is the soloist in Dvorák’s Violin Concerto, whose forthright opening gives way to a luscious slow movement and, finally, a whirling dance of a rondo. Opening the Prom is Mendelssohn’s ever-popular concert overture The Hebrides, inspired by Scotland’s rugged coastline.