Our Full Score concert today is almost symbolic: the established romantics and fellow composers Strauss, Wagner and Bruch gather around the musical portrait of the controversial ancient female figure Salomé, whom Mel Bonis portrays as an impetuous, passionate but also deeply torn character who struggles with the world. Mel Bonis (actually Mélanie Hélène Bonis) had a hard time making her way as a composer in a musical world dominated by men. Highly musically gifted, she received little support from her family but was encouraged by César Franck. She studied with Ernest Guiraud at the Paris Conservatory; one of her fellow students was Claude Debussy. She won numerous prizes and was nevertheless forced by her parents to abandon her studies and enter into a marriage of convenience. Presented by Shirley Keane.
Richard Strauss: Don Juan, Op. 20
Max Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Op. 26
Grazyna Bacewicz: Polish Caprice (encore)
Mel Bonis: Salomé Op. 100/2, from ‘Trois femmes de légende’
Richard Strauss: Tod und Verklärung, Op. 24
Richard Wagner: Overture to ‘Tannhäuser’
WDR Symphony Orchestra, Cologne
Bomsori Kim, violin
Cristian Macelaru, conductor
RTÉ lyric fm, Wednesday 23rd July, 1pm-4pm
