ALDEBURGH FESTIVAL: 1948 FESTIVAL OPENING NIGHT
Performers
- Katherine Dienes-Williams
- organ
- Matilda Lloyd
- trumpet
- Nick Pritchard
- tenor
- Jessica Cottis
- conductor
- Britten Sinfonia
- Aldeburgh Voices
Programme
- Purcell
- Chaconny in G minor (5’)
- Handel
- Organ Concerto in D minor, Op.7 No.4 (15’)
- Robin Haigh
- LUCK (world premiere)
- Britten
- Saint Nicolas, Op.42 (50’)
This landmark event recreates the first ever Aldeburgh Festival concert and premieres a new commission: Robin Haigh’s trumpet concerto for Matilda Lloyd and Britten Sinfonia.
The first Festival concert took place in Aldeburgh Church on 5 June 1948. The Chaconny in G minor by Purcell, one of Britten’s major musical influences, and Handel’s Organ Concerto in D minor were paired with two new works: God’s Grandeur by Martin Shaw and Britten’s cantata Saint Nicolas. For this significant 75th Festival recreation, the Shaw is replaced with the premiere of Robin Haigh’s LUCK, a trumpet concerto written for Matilda Lloyd.
Britten's Saint Nicolas tells the story of the eponymous saint, glowing with legend and mystery, and the programme is completed by Purcell’s haunting Chaconny in its version for chamber orchestra and Handel’s Organ Concerto in D minor, described in the 1948 Festival Book as being “distinguished by its noble grandeur”.
