Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Lan Shui, conductor
Jan Vogler, cello

Rachmaninov The Rock
Bloch Schelomo (Hebraic Rhapsody)
Elgar Enigma Variations

German cellist Jan Vogler returns to perform the deeply spiritual Schelomo by Ernst Bloch, one of the masterpieces of the cello repertoire. Schelomo - the Hebrew name for Solomon - is represented by the cello, and the work draws its inspiration from passages in the Book of Ecclesiastes. The mood is considerably more varied in the second half when Lan Shui conducts Elgar's Enigma Variations, a work of enduring popularity loved as much for the musical riches, as for the witty portrayals of "my friends pictured within". The concert opens with a symphonic poem by the 20-year-old Rachmaninov to which was attached this enigmatic couplet by Lermontov: "The golden cloud slept through the night/Upon the breast of the giant-rock."