(Ulster Hall - after two years of restoration)

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This week's concert comes via the BBC from the newly renovated Ulster Hall in Belfast Ireland on March 9, 2009 featuring the Ulster Orchestra led by Kenneth Montgomery.

And here are the notes from that program:

A concert with the Ulster Orchestra celebrating the re-opening of their new home, the newly-restored Ulster Hall. Known locally as 'the Grande Dame of Bedford Street', the venue has been restored to its Victorian grandeur following two years of renovations.

The programme opens with Beethoven's Consecration of the House Overture, originally composed for the opening of the Josephstadter Theatre in Vienna in 1822. Belfast pianist Michael McHale is the soloist in Rachmaninov's showpiece, Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini, while Stanford's Songs of Fleet pays a passing tribute to Belfast's long association with the sea and the shipbuilding industry.

A new work by Brian Irivne, Big Daddy Motorhead, celebrates the past by marking some of the Ulster Hall's celebrated performers, before the closing piece - Stravinsky's Firebird Suite 1919

Michael McHale (piano)

Paul Whelan (baritone)

Belfast Philharmonic Choir

Ulster Orchestra

Kenneth Montgomery (conductor)

Beethoven: Overture (The Consecration of the House)

Rachmaninov: Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini

Brian Irvine: Big Daddy Motorhead (world premiere)

Stanford: Songs of the Fleet

Stravinsky: Firebird Suite (1919)

Since the concert is a little over 2 hours long, I've split it with the Beethoven and Rachmaninov on the player above and the Irvine, Stanford and Stravinsky on the player down here.

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Enjoy. And don't forget:

(Nicolai Lugansky - doing nicely with Rachmaninov)

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This week's concert comes via Radio Nacional Espana, recorded live in concert on May 2nd. Here is a rundown of what you'll be hearing:

Orquesta Sinfónica de Barcelona y Nacional de Cataluña

Concierto celebrado en L´Auditori de Barcelona a las 11 horas.

IVES: The unanswered question. JOAN GUINJOAN: Sincrotró-Alba. Sinfonía nº 3. RACHMANINOV: Concierto para piano y orquesta nº 2 en Do menor, Op. 18. Nikolai Lugansky (p.), Orq. Sinf. de Barcelona y Nacional de Cataluña. Dir.: Ernest Martínez Izquierdo.

Part One (the player above) features the Ives and the Guinjoan - Part Two (the player down here) features the Rachmaninov and an encore by Chabrier. Since it's live and direct from Barcelona, the announcements are in Spanish, but I've edited them down to fit.

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