Grieg’s Piano Concerto

2025’s astounding winner of the Terence Judd-Hallé Award, Julius Asal, joins forces with returning Hallé conductor Lionel Bringuier to perform Grieg’s exceptional Piano Concerto.

This Scandinavian programme opens with Esa-Pekka Salonen’s enigmatic Helix, described by the composer as a spiralling ‘nine-minute accelerando’. While the pulse of the piece increases gradually throughout, the note values get proportionately longer, creating a fascinating experience, where the work seems to simultaneously speed up and slow down.  

Sibelius composed his Second Symphony shortly after the successful premiere of Finlandia. The symphony premiered in 1902 to great public admiration, its rousing finale linked by many to Finland’s struggle for independence. Whether intentionally patriotic or not, the symphony’s swelling melodic richness makes for a truly moving performance.