Miracles and myths abound, from Béla Bartók’s surreal ballet to Jean Sibelius’ Finnish landscape – plus, a captivating new piece by Golfam Khayam.
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JS Bach hovers over an enticing programme from Australia’s premiere ensemble, embracing Gubaidulina’s sinewy tribute, and Shostakovich’s riveting Chamber Symphony.
Rachmaninov’s world was turned completely upside down by the Great War. Severed from his roots, he fled Russia and began a career as a globetrotting pianist. His devilish set of variations, performed here by Bruce Liu – winner of the 2021 International Chopin Competition – embodies this nomadic life: written in Switzerland, premiered in America, based on a tune by Italian violinist Niccolò Paganini and infused with Rachmaninov’s own Russian style. Composers Erich Korngold and Béla Bartók were also forced by politics to leave their homes: both fled from fascism to the New World, and Korngold’s swashbuckling film score is practically a hymn to freedom. Bartók’s spectacular Concerto for Orchestra, meanwhile, is more than just a multi-coloured showcase, it’s a struggle between darkness and light, crowned by a mighty shout of joy.
‘Music is life’, declared Carl Nielsen, ‘and like it, inextinguishable!’ Defiant words from a composer who’d seen a world laid waste by war, but they could serve as motto for this concert from the dynamic Finnish conductor Hannu Lintu. In a time of revolution, Prokofiev’s First Violin Concerto wove fairytale magic – and no-one makes it dance like our soloist Alina Ibragimova. There’s a vision of cosmic beauty from the late, great Kaija Saariaho. And finally, Nielsen launches a struggle for the future of existence itself: his shattering Fifth Symphony is one of those pieces that simply has to be experienced live.
Please note start time.
Life finds a way, and even under Soviet repression, composers were testing boundaries and telling forbidden truths. Arvo Pärt drew on the music of the past to liberate explosive new creative forces. Lutosławski reached for all the colours of a full symphony orchestra, and launched glittering sonic fireworks into grey Cold War skies. Eva Ollikainen rediscovers two modern classics, and Colin Currie – in the words of one critic, ‘surely the world’s finest and most daring percussionist’ – explores new ways of listening, with the extraordinary, culture-crossing Water Concerto by Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon composer Tan Dun.
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Join us for a late-night journey with percussionist Colin Currie and a London Philharmonic Orchestra string quartet, exploring rich textures and rhythms.
The programme opens with Bryce Dessner’s Tromp Miniature for marimba, a shimmering interplay of melody and rhythm.
Andy Akiho’s Aluminous pairs vibraphone with string quartet to create a hypnotic, ever-evolving soundscape, followed by Jessie Montgomery’s Break Away, a thrilling, kinetic work for string quartet.
The night ends with Robert Honstein’s Continuous Interior, a multi-layered exploration of vibraphone and strings.
Performance free for ticket holders for Tan Dun's Water Concerto.
An evening-long tribute to the limitless creative mind of Pierre Boulez, culminating in a rare performance of his five-movement epic masterpiece Pli selon Pli.
‘Peace Shall Defeat War’ wrote Boris Lyatoshynsky on the score of his Third Symphony, and the message of this great 20th-century Ukrainian composer has never felt more urgent or compelling. LPO Conductor Emeritus Vladimir Jurowski believes passionately that it needs to be heard, and you’ll be gripped by its epic sweep and uncompromising emotional power. Jurowski has paired it with music from Prokofiev’s operatic tale of Ukrainian struggle, and Mussorgsky’s pitch-black, darkly comic songs – perfect for a singer as dramatic, and as characterful, as the British bass Matthew Rose.
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