Bright Classics

Jane Glover

Jane Glover is a British conductor, and musicologist with a PhD. She is Music Director of the American orchestra Music of the Baroque in Chicago since 2002, and the Felix Mendelssohn Visiting Professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London since 2016. She has been Visiting Professor also at her alma mater, the University of Oxford. Glover's books on Mozart and Handel are sources of information that connect with a wide range of readers, extending beyond scholars and connoisseurs. Jane Glover has directed major symphony and chamber orchestras and opera companies in Britain, Europe, the United States, Asia, and Australia. A Mozart specialist, she regularly conducts all of Mozart operas worldwide. 

Jane Glover is an Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music, and a Fellow of the Royal College of Music. Glover was named Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2003 and was further honoured as Dame Commander (DBE) in 2021.

This concert marks Jane Glover's debut with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. 

Jane Glover - Conductor (jane-glover.com)

Imogen Cooper

Pianist Imogen Cooper has a significant international career. She is dedicated to live performances.

Imogen Cooper and conductor Jane Glover impressed with their 2022 Mozart and Beethoven concerts in the US. According to reviews, ’the easy give and take’ between them was ’striking’. Furthermore, [Cooper’s] ’tone was clearly projected without exaggeration, and she sorted textures to give her solos an irresistible flow. Glover and the orchestra matched every turn of phrase with a similar poise.’

Imogen Cooper declared her aspiration to become a concert pianist at the age of five. In 1967, she was awarded the esteemed ’Premier Prix de Piano’ of the Paris Conservatoire. Of her further mentors, Cooper emphasises the influence of Arthur Rubinstein, Clifford Curzon, and Alfred Brendel.

Imogen Cooper was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2007, and in 2019, she was awarded The Queen's Medal for Music. In 2021 she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE).

Imogen Cooper (imogen-cooper.com)

Louise Farrenc: Overture No. 2 in E Flat, Op. 24

Louise Farrenc (née Jeanne-Louise Dumont, 1804–1875) showed exceptional musical talent from an early age, and would later become a distinguished French composer and professor of the piano at the Paris Conservatoire. Until 1870, women were not, however, permitted even to study composition at this illustrious establishment, and her fees as a pianist were well below those enjoyed by men. She often did concert tours with her flautist husband, but after the sudden death of their daughter in 1859, she ceased being an active composer.

Farrenc’s output consists mainly of chamber music and was very popular and well-thought-of in her day. She did also write some larger-scale works, among them three symphonies, one of which has found its way into our present-day repertoire. She also composed two orchestral overtures, both in 1834. The second was well received at its premiere in Paris in 1840. Symphonic in style, it is bursting with sunny vitality despite its dramatic minor-key opening.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major KV488

The piano concertos by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) rank among his greatest works. He is known to have offered that in A major of 1786 to the court orchestra in Donaueschingen with a note saying that should His Highness not have any clarinets at his court, a competent clarinettist might transpose the parts into the keys suitable for a violin and viola. The orchestra was not, however, interested, and like many of Mozart’s other concertos, this one did not win an established place in the repertoire until the 20th century. Whereas the early concertos are basically in the light, entertaining “galant” style, the mature ones engaged in greater dialogue between soloist and orchestra.

The A major is a poetic concerto, and somewhat introspective. The cadenza (in those days usually improvised by the soloist) at the end of the first movement is Mozart’s own.

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F, Op. 68 “Pastoral”

Nature meant a lot to Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827), and his feelings for it are expressed more strongly in his Pastoral Symphony than anywhere else. The music, he said, reflects the feelings aroused by the countryside. The symphony, his sixth, was premiered in Vienna at a mammoth concert for which the programme also included his fifth symphony, fourth piano concerto and Choral Fantasy. He thought the music of the symphony spoke for itself and would need no explanation; the audience would recognise the birds chirping at the end of the second movement and the violent storm in the fourth. He nevertheless equipped the five movements with descriptive titles: Awakening of Happy Feelings on Arriving in the Country. Scene by a Brook. Joyful Gathering of the Country Folk. Thunder. Storm, and Shepherds’ Song: Happy and Thankful Feelings After the Storm. Though Beethoven was not the first composer to be inspired by nature (take Vivaldi’s Seasons, for example), he would make a tremendous impact on programme music of the Romantic period (composers such as Berlioz and Liszt).