Enigma Variations

Saturday 12 November 2016, 7:30 pm
Oxford Town Hall

Bax - Tintagel
Walton - Viola Concerto
Elgar - Enigma Variations

Timothy Ridout viola
Robert Max conductor

Bax's Tintagel is a highly attractive evocation of a Cornish seascape shaped not only by the Arthurian legend but also by his emotional entanglements. Walton's Viola Concerto, lyrical, yearning and bitter-sweet, was dedicated to the woman for whom he had an unrequited love whilst Elgar's Enigma Variations is a characterful, moving and entertaining series of images of friends (and a dog), all capped by a glorious self-portrait of the composer himself in unbuttoned mood.

Timothy Ridout, our soloist in the Walton Concerto, is a star in the making. This year he has been crowned with laurels by being selected for representation by the Young Classical Artists Trust, and by winning the Royal Academy of Music Queen's Commendation for Excellence and the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition.