School Concert – Schumann’s Third Symphony

The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra appears here in a programme where the orchestra’s own musicians take centre stage. Without a conductor, the concert is led by principal trumpet Joakim Agnas and concertmaster Andrej Power.

Paul Dukas composed his ballet La Péri in 1911, later adding a colourful brass fanfare to open the work. It is this fanfare we hear here, as Joakim Agnas leads the brass section. We also hear his arrangements of three Swedish folk songs. Folk music has been part of Agnas’s life since childhood, with roots in the Leksand region of Dalarna.

To conclude, we are taken to the banks of the River Rhine with the help of Robert Schumann. His Third Symphony, the “Rhenish”, is a musical declaration of love for the landscape and its people. It is music filled with light, rhythmic energy and a palpable optimism – a celebration of life. Violinist Andrej Power leads the orchestra from the concertmaster’s chair.