Wagner

Richard Wagner conceived his lyric dramas as total works of art, intended to counteract the clichés of nineteenth-century Italian opera, especially bel canto. We often hear this music in concert format but, even if the works are not staged, they can be very moving. In the second part of the concert, Symphonic Band, conducted by Salvador Brotons, performs the overture to Tannhäuser and fragments of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg), music that transports us to an unmistakeably Wagnerian world of sound. The first part opens with the overture to Rienzi, one of the German composer’s early operas, but one which bears the stamp of his work. A further attraction in Broton’s programme is the first performance of his Violin Concerto arranged for wind orchestra, with Mallorcan violinist Francisco Fullana as soloist.