It begins with the engines of industry: mechanical marches, pounding brass. An uneasy second movement, and then a nightmarish vision of life in Stalin’s Russia explodes in a frenzied succession of dance themes. Shostakovich withdrew his Fourth Symphony before its first performance, after hints that he was treading a fine line with the Soviet authorities. It shines on as an extraordinary vision of thwarted humanity. Brahms wrote his Violin Concerto with, and for, his friend, the virtuosic Hungarian musician Joseph Joachim, and its foot-stomping finale honours Joachim’s heritage. PROGRAM Brahms: Violin Concerto; Shostakovich: Symphony No. 4
LSO: Inaugural Concert – Sir Antonio Pappano
Two giants of British music, two blistering orchestral works from the early 20th century, as Sir Antonio Pappano begins his first season as Chief Conductor of the LSO. Elgar’s lyrical Violin Concerto was inscribed with the mysterious phrase, ‘Herein is enshrined the soul of ….’. Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang joins forces with Sir Pappano for “a concerto performance to treasure” (bachtrack). The whole ensemble glows across three emotionally wide-ranging movements – at times tempestuous, at others heartbreakingly tender. Completed in 1917, Holst’s The Planets can still surprise us. From ‘Mars’ – the piece that inspired countless film soundtracks – to the atmospheric fade-out of ‘Neptune’, this is composition on a cosmic scale.