For this final concert at the Cathedral before the summer break, we were treated to the  Suites for Two Pianos by Sergei Rachmaninoff   brought to us by Paul Bateman and Roderick Elms.

Video Extract from the Second Suite

Play – Extracts from Suite II

The music for this superb recital was supplemented with some poems read for us by the Cathedral Dean, Canon John Harvey.

Each poem was Rachmaninoff’s original inspiration for the four movements of the First Suite.photo  – Jake Scicinski

Poems

photo  – Nina How

Roderick Elms has broadcast regularly for BBC Radio 3 and Radio 2’s Friday Night is Music Night, and he has made many recordings with the Royal Philharmonic, London Symphony, London Philharmonic and BBC Concert Orchestras.

For several years he was organist to the London Symphony Orchestra as well as being London pianist to the legendary cellist Mstislav Rostropovich.

His many recordings include de Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain, Martin’s Ballade for Piano & Orchestra and Warsaw Concerto (a Classic FM favourite).

He has played on many film scores, including the complete The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Roderick Elms’ compositions are performed widely, both in the UK and abroad. His CDs include Moody Moves (featuring his sextet for piano and winds) and A Windy Christmas with the oboist John Anderson and the pianist Joanna Smith, conducted by the late Bramwell Tovey.

He recently completed a recording which incudes his new symphony Visions of St. Anne and other works. These include his concertino for bass clarinet De Profundis (recently broadcast by BBC Radio 3) and pieces for guitar (featuring Carlos Bonell). These recordings by the BBC Concert Orchestra were conducted by Barry Wordsworth and will be released in the autumn by Signum Classics. His autobiography Just a Little From the Top was published in 2020.

Paul Bateman studied piano, organ, singing and ‘cello at the Guildhall School of Music in London, and began his musical life as an accompanist, chamber musician and opera repetiteur.

He has since conducted recordings with the Royal Philharmonic, Philharmonia, London Symphony, Munich Symphony, Vienna Symphony and City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestras and has given concerts with the BBC Concert Orchestra, Malmo Symphony, Seville Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National, Dallas Symphony, Tokyo Philharmonic, Ulster orchestra and the Russian Philharmonic orchestra.

He conducts film music concerts all over the world and has conducted recordings of over thirty albums of film music including two volumes of Hitchcock film scores, albums of the music of Bernard Herrmann, Maurice Jarre, John Williams and Ennio Morricone, and collections of Korngold, Steiner and Tiomkin. His total discography now includes over seventy recordings, many of which feature daily on Classic FM.

Paul has conducted for major artists around the world including Sarah Brightman, Sir Bryn Terfel, Joseph Calleja and José Carreras and his arrangements feature on their albums, along with Jonas Kaufmann’s recent album ‘The Sound of Movies’. He also arranges for violinist Daniel Hope and the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, all of which have been recorded by Deutsche Grammophon. Paul is Principal Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra (UK).