Thierry Fischer conducts the Nash Ensemble Mar 2009

Wigmore Hall, London,14 March

Swiss conductor Thierry Fischer, the Principal Conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and also, since April 2008, Chief Conductor of the Nagoya Philharmonic, came to Wigmore Hall to conduct the Nash Ensemble with mezzo-soprano Bernarda Fink in a sumptuous programme:

Brahms: Liebesliederwalzer Op. 52 (for strings)
Dvořák: Love Songs Op. 83 (arr. for voice and strings by David Matthews) (world premiere)
Suk: Meditation on an old Bohemian Chorale (St Wenceslas) Op. 35a
Dvořák: Serenade for Strings Op. 22

Brahms’s first set of Love Song Waltzes was heard in an adaptation for strings made during his lifetime; Dvořák's Love Songs were sung in a new arrangement by David Matthews. There could hardly have been a better end to the Nash Ensemble’s Czech series than with Suk’s patriotic Meditation and Dvořák's irresistible String Serenade.