High spirits and the high seas.
Debussy dreamed of being a sailor, and when he composed La mer he worried that he hadn’t done justice to the beauty of the sea. Conductor Dima Slobodeniouk disagrees, and Debussy’s symphonic seascape is a gorgeous complement to Sibelius’s musical vision of a sunlit Mediterranean. First, though, things get frisky with two young composers in a hurry: Prokofiev’s delightfully irreverent ‘Classical’ Symphony and Richard Strauss’s uproarious Burleske. Soloist Martin Helmchen is a pianist who’s not afraid to take risks, and this is definitely music to make you sit up.
The brilliant Jussen brothers join the Philharmonia for sparkling Mozart, ahead of Tchaikovsky’s anguished but enduringly popular Fifth Symphony, conducted by Eun Sun Kim.
Shakespeare’s star-cross’d lovers have inspired composers for centuries, but nothing quite matches Prokofiev’s great Soviet ballet.
‘How silver-sweet sound lovers’ tongues by night, Like softest music to attending ears!’ Shakespeare’s star-cross’d lovers have inspired composers for centuries, but nothing quite matches Prokofiev’s great Soviet ballet: Romeo and Juliet retold in music as sharp as a rapier and as tender as a kiss. The love theme from Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Overture, meanwhile, is still the ultimate musical shorthand for passion. It’s hot stuff, but conductor Gemma New and soloist Randall Goosby cool things down in the most elegant (and enjoyable) way imaginable – with a delicious concerto by the teenage Mozart.
James McVinnie begins his Southbank Centre Residency with a concert celebrating the 70th birthday of the Royal Festival Hall organ, including music by JS Bach.
Resident Artist James McVinnie and producer/composer Tristan Perich present Infinity Gradient, merging primitive electronic waveforms with the sonic magnitude of the organ.
Hear the Royal Festival Hall’s organ at full tilt in a recital of dazzling masterpieces, performed by an acclaimed virtuoso.
Chesaba: a trio devoted to the multilayered textures of South African music are joined by BCUC – fresh from winning the WOMEX Artist Award 2023 – for an evening of kaleidoscopic Sowetan sounds.
Genius enjoys a challenge.
Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto begins with a chord that was supposed to be impossible, though with a violinist as great as Leila Josefowicz (‘Wonderful virtuosity’: The Daily Telegraph), there’s no such thing as unplayable music. Anton Bruckner, meanwhile, was aiming for heaven itself, and the opening melody of his Seventh Symphony came to him in a dream. That was what he said, anyway, but in the hands of guest conductor Paavo Järvi, Bruckner’s mighty climaxes, rapturous visions and soaring Alpine vistas become the deeply moving drama of a human soul in pursuit of a vision beyond words.
Seong-Jin Cho plays Beethoven's poetic Fourth Piano Concerto.
You can’t keep inspiration down. Michael Tippett heard the chugging of a steamboat on a Swiss lake, and his Second Symphony burst into vibrant, bustling life. Wagner wrestled with faith and philosophy, and created music that seems to hover, glowing, in mid-air. And Ludwig van Beethoven sat down at the piano and drew music out of silence: a piano concerto more poetic, and more personal, than he’d ever created before. And with Seong-Jin Cho – a pianist making waves globally since winning the Chopin Competition – joining forces with Edward Gardner, they are sure to strike sparks off each other.
Scottish guitarist Sean Shibe and the Dunedin Consort, Scotland’s foremost Baroque ensemble, join forces for a feast of early and recent repertoire, including Cassandra Miller’s new concerto.