Last night’s concert at the Palau de la Música Catalana, featuring the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Jaime Martín, offered a musical experience of great expressive power.
The first half was dedicated to Frédéric Chopin, with Piano Concerto No. 1 performed by Martín García García as soloist, in an interpretation full of lyricism and especially moving in the central movement. The pianist treated the Barcelona audience to Moszkowski’s Virtuoso Studies No. 6, Op. 72.
In the second half, Sea Sketches by Grace Williams created an evocative atmosphere, before culminating in Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations, Op. 36, full of character. The final touch was a fragment of the overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila by Mikhail Glinka.
A great return of the British orchestra, accompanied by national talent.