Paul Terracini  | conductor

David Pereira  | cello

BEETHOVEN     Egmont Overture
SAINT-SAËNS    Cello Concerto No 1 in A minor
MENDELSSOHN    Symphony No. 4 in A major (Italian)

Beethoven’s Egmont overture was composed as part of incidental music for Goethe’s play of the same name, commemorating the heroic sacrifice of a sixteenth-century Flemish nobleman whose execution for opposing political oppression sparked the national uprising that eventually led to the independence of the Netherlands. The first cello concerto of Saint-Saëns also defied convention (albeit with much less cataclysmic consequences!) when the composer eschewed traditional three-movement concerto form in favour of a continuous structure and playful dialogue between soloist and orchestra. Mendelssohn’s “Italian” Symphony, despite his lifelong dissatisfaction with the score, is one of his liveliest and most popular works, eloquently evoking the sunlight, jubilance and dance rhythms of Italy that he so enjoyed during his Grand Tour of Europe.