Recorded at Barbican Hall on January 30, Sakari Oramo conducting BBC Symphony Orchestra in music by Cecilia Damström and Beethoven, with Elizabeth Bass playing Detlev Glanert’s Harp Concerto. Broadcast February 3 on BBC Radio 3.

What an unfortunate title! Given recent tragic headline-making events in Minneapolis then Cecilia Damström’s ICE might have taken on connotations unimagined by the composer. As it is, it’s the frozen-water kind, melting, and also standing for “In Case of Emergency”. The Finnish composer (born 1988) has written an atmospheric piece, of naturalistic effects, including accordion-like tones, and is not short of drama, suggestive of (climate?) chaos. At just over ten minutes, ICE is about the right length for what it is and was very well performed.

Detlev Glanert’s Ancient Greece-inspired Harp Concerto (2017, now revised for Elizabeth Bass) is a magical piece of writing, musically inventive as well as transporting us to an imagined place, conjuring numerous images, and suggestive of varied moods, although the music is strong enough on its own terms to not need extra associations, revelling in expressions and timbres that are their own rewards, easily sustaining close on thirty minutes. Bass (BBCSO principal harpist) inhabited what is now ‘her’ piece (she collaborated with Glanert on this re-working), playing deftly with an attractive range of touch and a storyteller’s outreach, the BBCSO experienced in Glanert’s works (including a piece for leader Stephen Bryant) and sounding totally involved under Sakari Oramo.

Two weeks ago, Herbert Blomstedt conducted Beethoven Four in a Bavarian Radio recording, memorably. And now Oramo, opening with a pensive introduction leading into a spirited Allegro (tangy woodwinds, prominent timpani), then a songful slow movement with darker emotions coming to the surface at its midpoint. The Scherzo was of athletic strides, the twice-played Trio tempo-related, and – attacca – a joyous Finale. Eminently stylish.

Cecilia Damström: ICE
Detlev Glanert: Harp Concerto [UK premiere of work; world premiere of this version]

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No.4 in B-flat

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002qh52

Sakari Oramo begins the new year with performances of Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony, Magnus Lindberg’s Violin Concerto and Stravinsky’s rarely heard Perséphone.

Recorded on December 12, 2025, at Joseph-Keilberth-Saal, Konzerthalle Bamberg, Herbert Blomstedt conducts Bamberger Symphoniker in Symphonies by Beethoven (No.4) and Sibelius (No.5). Broadcast on BR-Klassik (Bavarian Radio) on Jan.20.

Postscript: had this concert been broadcast live, it would have added a further layer of logistical dilemma to my organising!

If it’s a problem, it’s a nice one to have…