The Hallé & Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus

The Hallé

Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus
Delyana Lazarova conductor
Hanna Hipp mezzo-soprano
RNCM vocalist tenor
Darius Battiwalla organ

DEBUSSY Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (10’)
BOULANGER Psalm 130: De Profundis (Out of the Depths) (28’)
Interval
SAINT-SAЁNS Fantaisie in Eb major for organ (6’)
SAINT-SAЁNS Symphony No.3, “Organ” (36’)

Delyana Lazarova, winner of the inaugural Siemens Hallé International Conductor’s Competition, begins this concert with Debussy’s sensuous evocation of the poet Mallarmé’s dreams and desires of a faun. Delyana then directs the massed forces of the Hallé, Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, a rising RNCM star and the stunning mezzo-soprano, Hanna Hipp, in Lili Boulanger’s ominous setting of Psalm 130, widely believed to be a reaction to the outbreak of World War One.

Sheffield treasure, Darius Battiwalla, pulls out all the stops in music by Saint-Saёns. His first published organ work, Fantaisie, has two contrasting movements: one, full of elegance and charm and the other, strong and confident. The concert concludes with his monumental, fascinatingly-textured “Organ” Symphony.