Farnborough Symphony Orchestra

Brahms : Academic Festival Overture
Elgar : Three Bavarian Dances
Rachmaninov : Symphony No 2 in E Minor

Our 2015/16 season culminates in a symphony which is generally considered as the most touching and thrilling ever written. It also seems to have more notes than any other symphony in the main repertoire! However, not one note is wasted as the music never fails to lift the human spirit to higher and higher poetic spheres. The first half of the concert deliberately contains two more concise and light-hearted works to whet the appetite. Brahms composed the overture during the summer of 1880 as a musical "thank you" to the University of Breslau, which had awarded him an honorary doctorate the previous year. In typical Brahms humour, the overture incorporates a series of student drinking songs! By contrast, the Three Bavarian Dances were written as a memento of a holiday the Elgars had enjoyed in Upper Bavaria in the autumn of 1894. We hope that you enjoy this varied conclusion to the season.