BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Jörg Widmann, plays Schumann's Symphony No. 3 'Rhenish' and his Cantata in tempore belli.
BBC NOW brings the BBC National Orchestra of Wales to Brangwyn Hall on Saturday 13 February 2027, with Jörg Widmann conducting. The concert, titled In Times of War, runs through two very different halves, moving from a celebration of the Rhine to a direct plea for peace.
The first half is Robert Schumann's Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, known as the Rhenish. It's a tribute to the Rhine, and it opens with leaping, syncopated themes that surge with life. Heroic horn calls shape its noble character, and the fourth movement takes its inspiration from the solemn grandeur of an archbishop's elevation to cardinal. It's a work of celebration and landscape, and it's the side of the programme that looks back to the 19th century.
After the interval, the tone shifts. Widmann conducts his own Cantata in tempore belli (Cantata in Times of War), which he describes as a searing response to conflict. It weaves together biblical texts, poetry, and Wolfgang Borchert's uncompromising pacifist appeal Sagen Nein! into a statement against war and a hope for peace. For this half, the orchestra is joined by alto Jess Dandy and narrator Amira Casar, so there's singing and speaking alongside the instrumental parts. Between the two halves, the evening moves from celebration to an urgent plea for peace.
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It's a double bill that puts a Romantic classic alongside a contemporary response to war, and the same programme is given at BBC Hoddinott Hall in Cardiff the following day, Sunday 14 February. The Swansea performance starts at 15:00 at Brangwyn Hall.
